10 & 11 Months Old

I feel as though I need to combine these months because nothing really changed from one to the other. Don’t get me wrong, a lot has happened in the terms of development with Beau but I thought I could capture the changes all at once.

We went to the doctor and he weighs 23 pounds and 30 inches long at his most recent sick visit. He had a cold which was much more tolerable than those horrible ear infection. Here are some highlights from the past few months:

 Sleep- Beau is a rockstar when it comes to sleeping. He really should be every baby’s prime example. He is a stickler for his 6-6:30pm bedtime and we don’t waver too far from this or else we are in for a miserable child. Jon and I both agree that sleep is one of the most important things in Beau’s life right now as he is growing so fast. When he was really small I read the Baby Wise book because I prayed I would have a good sleeper and everything seemed to turn out just like I had hoped. He sleeps at least 12 hours a night and does not wake up in the middle of the night. He will sometimes let out a noise but most of the time it is while he is sleeping so I guess he is having a good dream. He is such a happy boy in the mornings. He will play in his crib until one of us gets him out and he does not cry for us. He has known to play up to an hour in his crib in the mornings without making one sour sound. One of his new tricks is to stand up and push the button to turn on his mobile which plays soft music. It is so cute to watch on the monitor. When we go in his room to get him he will stand up and smile at us. He is always happy to see us! This is heaven for me because I am someone who needs at least 8 hours of sleep at night. 

 Naptime- Beau still takes one really good nap every day around 10:30-11am. He loves to nap and will let you know when it is time so lay down by sucking on his two fingers or he will get to the point where nothing makes him happy.

 Eating- Beau is not a picky eater at all and he loves pretty much everything we give him. Some of his favorites are mandarin oranges, cheese toast, pancakes, pasta, rolls, avocado, diced carrots and apples, cheese and graham crackers. We still feed him the stage 3 purred baby food at night and he will eat two to three containers. I have been making all of his food for lunch at Mrs. Pats so all she has to do is get it out of the freezer. I will puree sweet potatoes with carrots or eggplant-corn and squash combos. For fruit I make apples and pears with cinnamon or pureed mixed fruit. He loves it all!

Clothes-Beau is getting taller and not getting as full which is associated with all the crawling and pulling up he is doing. So he has moved onto the 18 month clothes size. The weather is very warm so he is wearing a lot of onesies that have little shorts which is easy for dressing in the morning. He has started fighting us when we change him so in order to distract him we give him something to play with. We have to be quick to change him or he will squirm around and it is like fighting a bear. We still don’t put shoes on him because there is really no reason to. He will take them right off and he is not walking around yet.  

Diapers-Beau is still wearing the #3 diapers. Our favorites are Swaddlers by Pampers because they don’t leak…ever! We put the “nighttime” diapers on him when he goes to bed and they hold everything in all night. We don’t ever deal with diaper rashes so the diapers must be doing their job!

Crawling- Beau is crawling on all 4’s and gets around the house fast! He can crawl from one side of the house to the other and loves having the freedom to explore. He like to follow Lilly dog around and laughs when he gets close to her tail. It is precious to watch! He will crawl and pull up on everything. He does not like to be locked in the front room anymore because he wants his freedom to explore the house. 

Standing-Beau’s loves to pull up and stand. He loves to walk around the coffee table by holding on. His favorite game is “Where is Beau”. He will squat down and we will say “where is Beau” then he will stand up and laugh and we say “there he is” then he will squat down again. He things it is so funny and we do too. He can stand up on his own for about 1 second before falling down but we are working on that. He is not walking yet but I am sure he will in the next few months. 

Coordination-Beau has great coordination and I feel the crawling is helping out his motor skills. He is having to move his body to make himself crawl so his brain has to think about it fast. He can catch a rolling ball and will toss it back to us. He can pick up a puzzle piece and try to put it back in its place. He loves ball and eggs and will spend a lot of time trying to close the eggs. Most recently he has been trying to put our shoes on our feet and our water bottle tops on our bottle. He is so smart and is starting to realize little things like where tops and shoes go. He is catching on fast!

Babbling-Beau has his own language. He will point and say “guh” to almost everything he sees, all day. He will babble and carry on his own conversation for a long time while he plays or rides in the car. He has started mimicking things we say like the clean-up song. I will sing “clean-up, clean-up, everybody clean-up” and he will sound out the tune. He can say Bella which is Mrs. Pat’s little dog and he can say “momma and dada” really well. He loves to talk so I think he will be a big talker.

Socialization- Beau is a baby who never meets a stranger and loves everyone. He will go to anyone who will hold him and will study their face. When he gets around people he does not know, he will stay quiet and not make a sound. He will watch people to see what they do and give them a smile. When he is in a group of kids he will sit by himself and watch all the other kids before playing with them. He observes everything going on around him and will slowly warm up to the situation. He is super sweet when playing with other kids and never cries.

Bath-Beau still loves his bath. He will crawl around the tub on all 4’s reaching for toys. He loves to put his hand under the running water and laugh. He has found the silver drain circle on the tub and I guess he sees himself because he will point and smile. He will get really close to it to see if someone is in there. It is too cute. He has started pulling up and standing on the side of the tub so we have to remind him to sit on his bottom. He loves to see the bubbles floating on the water and will try to pinch one. He plays with his bath toys and just truly loves his time in the water. He never cries is water gets in his face or in his eyes. He does not mind me washing his hair or his body. He is also very good when we get him out of the tub to dry him off. He will lay back and let us dry him off then go put on his PJ’s. He could not be more cooperative. We still dress him in footed PJ’s for bed because we don’t want him to get too cold from the AC at night. He will snuggle up to his blankets but we still don’t want him to be too cold.

Walks-Beau loves to go for walks around the neighborhood in his wagon or in the stroller. He enjoys looking around at the houses, birds, people, dogs, etc. that come our way. He smiles and laughs and just enjoys life. He really enjoys being outside so he does not care how long we walk. Most of the time we bring Lilly along with us and Beau likes to watch Lilly bark at the birds or just explore out in front of us. It is a joy to have my two “kids” walking with us.  

Car-Beau does pretty well in the car but it is not his favorite place to be. He is all about his freedom and really does not enjoy being strapped down. He does not cry much in the car but occasionally will whine. He will suck his fingers and look outside so he enjoys looking around. He is still facing backwards and will stay that way for a while.

 Outside- I think the biggest change of all has been his love for the outdoors. He will point at the door and say “guh” which might mean “go” but we all know that he wants to go explore. He will crawl around the concrete and then crawl off the patio into the grass and take off towards our garden. He does not care at all that the grass is prickly or the concrete is hard. He just enjoys being outside. He whines when he take him inside. The other weekend Jon and I decided we were going to Lowes to get some gardening stuff and we came home with two carts full of stuff. We spend the entire day out in the warm weather updating our yard by planning flowers, more veggies, putting up lattice work for plants, spreading out mulch, cutting the grass, weed eating and feeding plants. We had Beau out there with us the entire time and he loved every second. The he was the stinkiest he has ever been when I gave him a bath that night and he slept in the next morning. He is a trooper when it comes to being outside. 

Overall, Beau is a perfect child in our eyes. He is so easy going, does not cry unless he is hungry or tired, loves everyone, sleeps well, eats a lot, will entertain himself, does not have to have people around him at all times and of course the most precious baby boy you have ever seen! His blond hair and blue eyes and chubby cheeks will melt your heart and I think he is just beautiful. His personality mixed with his looks is just perfection. His first birthday is coming up in a few days and we cannot believe we will have a 1 year old in our house. Let the adventures continue!