Loving the Life We Live: February 2012

Guess who is finally getting his first two teeth?

Our newly minted 11-month-old is!

Yep, the two middle teeth on the bottom have finally begun to cut their way through his gums. For almost two weeks now, the sharp little tops have been out, and I am wondering how long it will take the whole tooth to come through.

In other news, his eating has definitely improved over the past month, although he prefers to have nothing to do with veggies (except for sweet potatoes and sometimes squash). I wish he would show some interest in finger foods, but he still seems to prefer the very smooth texture of purees. I'm going with that for now, since he really just started eating purees well. I'm trying to offer finger foods, though, to give him the chance to figure it out. He will sometimes accept bites of blueberries or grapes and had some pancake this morning. He has also been known to put a Cheerio or goldfish cracker in his mouth all by himself and eat it, as well as arrowroot baby cookies (what a mess those are!). This gives me hope because I know he knows how to chew something hard. I'm just trying to be patient and take baby steps toward the eventual goal of having him eat normal people food. :) I have tried to tell him that he's supposed to be eating table food by the time he turns one, but I think he's ignoring me.

I can't believe THE BIG BIRTHDAY in exactly ONE MONTH. Our family chooses not to make a big deal out of birthdays, so we won't be throwing a real party - just us, Davis, and whichever grandparents/aunts/uncles want to come over to share the experience of his first birthday. Nothing fancy - just a baby, a cake, and a wet washcloth to clean up the mess. :)

Yesterday also marked Davis' one month anniversary of getting ear tubes. He had a check-up at the ENT office (which lasted only 5 minutes) and his tubes are looking good! I mentioned that it does seem like he touches his ears more than he used to, and the nurse said that's common, maybe because things sound different to them and they wonder what's going on in there.

Davis has been sleeping much better for the past month, which is niiiiiiiiice. He is usually in bed approximately 7pm-7am, and usually only needs his mommy for one wake-up, although I sometimes hear him wake up more often than that on the monitor and promptly put himself back to sleep. He has been doing very well with going to sleep independently. It's so wonderful at bedtime to nurse him, then put him against my shoulder while he sucks his thumb for a couple of minutes, then lay him down in his crib (still happily sucking his thumb), say goodnight, leave the room, and let him take care of the rest on his own, without complaint. I have even had some success with this after night wakings, and he has even started putting himself to sleep more often for naps. (Knock on wood) For both his naps yesterday (and one today), I put him down, he cried for a minute or two, and then all quiet. Happy napping baby, happy dish-washing and blog-writing mommy. Yes, Davis, let's try to make this a habit.

At eleven months, Davis' favorite activities include:

playing with his Elmo phone
going into the laundry room whenever he finds the door open and playing with an empty water jug
opening the bathroom cabinets and taking out all his favorite shampoo bottles, etc.
swinging doors open and closed (he especially likes the pantry, and longs to get into the refrigerator - it's cute to see him try to pry the refrigerator door open with his tiny baby hand).
pulling the nightlight out of the outlet in the upstairs hallway
playing "chase"
trying to reach everything on the end table and pull it all off onto the floor

Eating a cookie