The theme of this last month has without a doubt been movement. Now as a 10-month old, Ben is constantly on the move! His body has basically been always moving, but now he can get from one place to another and then across the house in 2.832 seconds.
Diaper changes are proving to be quite interesting with our wiggle worm – within .3 seconds of putting him on his back, he flips onto his tummy. Repeat 253 times until diaper is loosely on and parents give up. In any case, we are having so much fun with this kid and watching him grow up is pretty much the best thing ever.
Ben’s 10 month stats:
- Weight: 17 pounds 12 ounces (5th percentile)
- Number of teeth: 2!!!
- Won’t know height until 12 months unless we measure
In the last month Ben has gone from crawling within about a 5 foot radius to exploring the whole house. He is really getting fast, too! Within about 2 weeks of learning to crawl, Ben had become adept at pulling himself up. Now he can pull himself up simply by balancing on something – he’s been using my shirt to hold sometimes. It’s really impressive how quickly he picked it up.
So far he has only taken a couple of steps when he’s holding onto something, so no furniture surfing yet. I have a feeling that will comeĀ very soon!
Ben has become such a cuddle bug. It is the sweetest thing! He’s surely making up for lost time. He’ll crawl over to a plush toy, scoop it up into the crook of his neck and just nuzzle it. Sometimes he’ll crawl over to one of us and bury his head in our lap. I’ve been able to sit in the chair with him and read him stories – something I’ve longed for for quite a while.
In the middle of the night Ben has been waking up a lot over the last two weeks – partly because he was sick. Many times it seemed like he just wanted some love. I was happy to oblige and cherished the moments of holding him like a baby, something he never used to tolerate. There really is something special about the middle of the night. Perhaps that sounds crazy, but it’s the only time when our house is silent, I can sit in his beautiful chair in his bedroom, peacefully rock him and look at the stars and the moon. He isn’t going to be a baby for much longer, so I’ll savor these moments while I can.
Alex is less enthusiastic about the middle-of-the night cuddle parties and last night we didn’t have any! I’m ok with sleep too š
In the last week or so Ben has made really exciting progress on feeding himself. We’ve changed our course a bit and are pushing finger foods over higher-calorie purees and it has made mealtimes more fun for everyone.
Our initial thought about the purees was to replace calories from breastmilk because I couldn’t produce the 36 ounces he kept eating each day and he refused formula. Now, thankfully, he’s been taking a bottle of formula every day so we can all breathe a bit easier and focus more on finger foods. I’ve heard that 10 months is a big turning point in solid food for babies and they really start ingesting more finger foods.
We’ve started having family breakfasts and dinners together and share with Ben whatever we’re eating. It’s infinitely easier than making purees. We do still try to spoon feed him a little puree or cottage cheese, yogurt, soup or something similar because he seems to enjoy it. I love our mealtimes together and it seems like Ben loves eating with other people and not just by himself.
His personality is really anything but little. It is so fun watching it emerge and getting to know him. He’s started yelling at me when I’m on the phone and not paying him 100% of my attention and he’ll squak at us when we don’t feed him fast enough. He is really finding ways to communicate with us.
Ben has started trying to be sweet when he’s doing something he’s not supposed to. It’s really hard not to laugh! He will look up with sweet puppy eyes, smile, giggle and then grab something he knows he’s not supposed to get. I have a feeling he’s going to be a big sweet heart and a piece of work!
He is making a lot of new sounds, still only says “dada” but he’s really seeming to start to understand more of what we’re saying. He definitely knows what “no” means.
As a 10-month old, Ben has one stamp on his passportĀ and he has been on two plane trips, with a third coming up next week {he and I are going to Minnesota}. He’s been to three of the 50 states {Washington, Illinois and Arizona} plus Canada. Hopefully we’ll get him at least to California, Oregon and Wisconsin, in addition to Minnesota, by the time he’s two.
This little boy makes our hearts so full and we can’t wait to see what Ben is like as a 10-month old. Stay tuned for more updates!
P.S. – our 10-month “photo shoot” was the hardest one yet. Ben didn’t want to sit up in the chair so he kept sliding down, rolling over and farting… I have a feeling this is only the beginning!
