10 months old and growing

All dressed up for his first Easter. 

Our little guy amazes us every day. As he becomes more and more mobile, he is exploring everything and loving his new world. There is nothing like watching him discover something new. He gets so proud of himself. He just looks back at me and smiles the biggest grin.

This month has brought a lot of changes. He is still army crawling, but he is moving at lightening speeds. It is kind of funny when he sees something across the room that he wants and heads over to it. He giggles and makes the happiest noises all the way to the object. Except for when he is trying to get close to our dog. He does more of a sneak attack on her knowing that if he goes too quickly or loudly she moves before he gets the chance to touch her. I don't think our dog is enjoying Calan's mobility as much as I am.

Playing with one of his favorite toys.

Calan is also pulling himself up on everything. It is hard to keep him in a sitting position. He would rather be standing most of the time. However, with puling himself up, has come many head bruises. Not sure if Calan just bruises easy or if his pale skin shows the bruises more, but I swear the kid can't go a day with out getting a new bruise. As a mom, I know that it is all part of him learning, but geez does look bad.

This month, I really expanded Calan's eating. He is eating a ton of new food and liking most of it. He is getting pretty good with finger foods. I try to include something that he has to pick up and eat at every meal. The other day he tried strawberries for the first time. He wasn't a huge fan at first, but he definitely likes them now. Usually whenever I introduce anything that is pretty new in terms of taste and texture, he tends to make a face of disgust, but he still eats it. I would say that it takes about 3 attempts before he decides if he likes it, which usually he does. I would say his favorite meal is plain yogurt with mashed bananas and a dash a cinnamon. He loves it and devours it. While he eats it, I think green beans are his least favorite. I usually don't try and push too many of those on him at once.

With more finger foods that I give him, I have found Calan reaching more and more to the spoon I am feeding him with. To solve this, I have given him his own spoon. He is actually getting good and putting it in his month. Maybe this month, I will try letting him feed himself a little with a spoon and see how that goes. I know that I shouldn't care, but I am definitely a mother how doesn't want to clean up a disaster zone after each meal, so I think the self-feeding with flatware will be a slow process for us.

For the most part this month, Calan has slept great, but there have been some of mornings and some off naps that have been pretty trying for me. There was a week where he was waking up closer to 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. While I got him out of his crib closer to 6:30, the hour change really messed with our day and how well he napped. Last week, I had a few days where his afternoon nap was a complete struggle. One day he didn't even take it at all and the other day he cried for about 30 minutes before passing out. I tried most everything to help him sleep, but nothing worked on those days. I had to keep reminding myself that I can only do so much, but I can't make a baby sleep. I just focused on maintaining our routine whether he slept or not and he fell right back into afternoon nap on the third day.

Calan's hand is also healing well. There is no longer any scabbing from the surgery. The scars are still pretty red and his fingers are still a little swollen compared to his other hand, but overall he is doing great. He has an appointment this week as his last follow up and I am sure that the doctor will be pleased too. He is just a normal 10-month-old with 10 fingers now. He also finally got his fourth bottom tooth this month, which brings our total to 8. I think that he might be getting his molars shortly. His drooling is back up and he has been gnawing on his fingers quite a bit. Hopefully, it is a pretty painless process.

Over the next month, I hope to watch Calan become more mobile and balanced (no more bruises). I don't think he will walk, but he is just beginning to realize that after he pulls himself up he can move a little to the left or right. He doesn't move far, but I am pretty sure that will change over the next month. I also hope to take him swimming for the first time. I think that it is time for our little guy to have some fun in the water.