Man, I am clearly failing at being remotely on time with these... at least I take notes!
10 months is such a fun age! This little guy is SUCH a ham! If he does something that makes us laugh he'll keep doing it over and over. If he does something and doesn't get the laughing reaction he's looking for, he'll just fake laugh at himself. He is "talking" to us although not really saying any words yet. He will repeat "mama" and "dada" and some other sounds, but he's not associating them with anything yet. He waves, claps, and gives sloppy kisses. He makes car sounds when he "drives" Marshall's toy cars and trucks on the ground. As far as toys go he just wants whatever Marshall has. No baby toys for this baby!
At playdates, park outings, and story times he jumps right in with the big kids. In fact most of his frustrations stem from the fact that he thinks he's a big kid too:) He wants to go down the stairs, dive off of things face first, climb the play structure and go down the slide alone, have whatever Marshall does, and just do a lot of things that the big kids are doing:)
He loves being outside and bolts for the door the moment it's open. He loves climbing and will pull the throw pillows off the couch and use them to boost himself up. Climbing onto Marshall's bed is another favorite:)
Miller now has 2 bottom and two top teeth. He wants to eat food so badly but because of all his food allergies (that we can't seem to figure out and deserve a blog post of their own), is barely getting any solids. Almost every thing he eats results in a hive outbreak, his eczema getting worse, and him up screaming and itching all night. He refuses to nurse so I'm still exclusively pumping. The one positive thing about this scenario is I am no longer solely responsible for night wakings:)
He recently started a HUGE "daddy phase" which Jerad is just tickled pink about. He also loves the crap out of Marshall even though Marshall is continually taking toys away from him, pushing him over, and just playing too rough. For the most part I don't intervene and let them work it out themselves unless it looks like Miller is legitimately going to get hurt. He's shaping up to be a tough little guy, most of Marshall's love/abuse doesn't even phase him.
His sleep habits are finally getting reasonable. It's a piece of cake to put him down for naps (he's still taking 2/day), and I'd say he sleeps completely through the night about 40% of the time. Sometimes he needs a bottle or some eczema lotion. but always settles right back down. I said he takes 2 naps, but really he goes to "bed" around 7 then typically wakes up 30 min to an hour later and parties until 10 or 11 so I guess that's like a third nap. His other two naps are at least 2 hours each so I don't really count the 30 minute's he fakes me out every night. We're really trying to encourage him to go to sleep earlier. I love the crap out of my kids, but I need them to go to bed at a decent time in order to be a patient mommy and keep the house looking decent:)
I'm trying not to focus on it because I've learned sleep does not progress in a linear fashion. Things get better, they regress, what works one day won't work the next. Eventually all kids work it out and I am positive we'll miss this time one day so I try to enjoy it. We always did whatever it seemed like Marshall wanted and needed at the time (nursing, rocking, co-sleeping, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, reading books, music etc) and by the time he was 1.5 he would crawl up the stairs and happily get in his own bed when he was tired which was always around 7pm or so. Even though I'm hoping Miller changes his mind about this late bedtime business soon, Jerad and I do love the one on one time we get with him once Marshall is asleep. He also really enjoys having us and all the toys all to himself during that time. Just like Marshall, he will ONLY sleep at home and in his own bed. He never passes out on the floor, Marshall's bed, friend's houses, and rarely even in the car. I blame this trait on Jerad because I can literally pass out anywhere in under 5 minutes:)
We're going on a 4 day snow trip in December and I'm already dreading getting the kids to sleep.
I tried weighing him on our home scale and I think he's somewhere around 18 pounds, so just a peanut:) He can wear 6 or 9 month clothes, and 9 or 6-12 month pants. His feet are small, he's not really even a size 3 shoe yet.
I can't think of much else to say. Although by far he is my most difficult child, he is still such an absolute joy to be around and adds so much happiness to our little family. It seems like every day he is learning something new or doing something funny. I'm really trying to relish every stage and enjoy every milestone but man, time is still flying by so fast! It seems like Marshall was just
10 months old.
I'll try to get the 11 month post up before he turns a year:) Somehow procrastinating feels like I'm keeping him a baby longer...
