And not a baby anymore!
This month has brought A LOT of changes! Jack has officially graduated from baby to toddlby - not quite a toddler yet, but definitely no longer a baby! I think this term was originally coined by
Grumbles and Grunts and it certainly describes Not-Baby-Jack to a "T".
Who is Toddlby Jack?
Toddlby Jack is a little explorer whose greatest aspiration in life is to touch all the NO-things in the family room at the same time. If only his hands could reach the DVD and DVR players, the outlets, the cords, and the dog's toy basket all at the same time! Oh, what a wonderful new world that would be!
I can only assume that Baby Jack spent all his time sitting complacently, awaiting the day when he would be mobile and making a list of all the things he couldn't wait to get his hands on! It's no longer a wonder why he was stationary for so long, the list of things to touch was long and detailed!
Because Toddlby Jack's new favorite thing is not one of the many toys he got for Christmas, noooo, those mostly just get in the way of his exploring, but getting his hands on anything he shouldn't. He is expert at figuring out what he can and can't have and has made it his life's mission to get his hands on the can't-have.
Jack travels far and wide across our family room to push buttons, pull out cords, and pick up dog toys. He pulls things off tables and shelves and one of his new favorite things is to crumple and shred junk mail with his toddlby hands. Anything new and different is exciting to him. He's exploring his new world.
So, I'm sure you assume he's crawling now, right?
NOPE!
He's scooting. Right around the 10-month mark, Jack started scooting. On his butt. He has zero interest in crawling and at this point, I'm certain he's going to move straight from scooting, which is infinitely harder than crawling, to walking.
Here's a peak at how he's getting around these days:
Anyway, with mobility we said goodbye to our formerly relaxed, stationary baby.
This new stage is fun and frustrating at the same time. It's amazing seeing his development change. Practically overnight, literally, within a few short day's time, Jack went from a baby to not a baby. The things that interest him have changed. His attitude has changed. He now has an OPINION! And when he gets his mind set on something, say getting the computer cord, if his plans are thwarted by momma or daddy redirecting his attention, he'll let you know of his displeasure. It's amazing seeing his brain develop. Seeing everyday objects become exotic in his hands. Watching him test his limits.
At the same time, it's frustrating because we now have to have eyes in the back of our heads! He gets into everything and we spend all day redirecting him. Anyone know how long it takes for babies to figure out that something shouldn't be touched? Because I already feel like it's been eons. The simple sound of him scooting along is enough to strike fear in our hearts as we wonder what he's going for now.
Just the other day Jack discovered that when I "disappear" I'm really just in the kitchen. He now knows where it is and will follow me. Sweet as anything to know that my baby boy wants to be with me, but hard to get even a few minutes worth of something done.
For example, last week... it's late morning and we have to leave the house momentarily and I'm trying to throw something in the CrockPot for dinner. As I have my hands covered with icky meat juices I hear the dreaded pitter patter of little
feet hands coming as Jack scoots himself into the kitchen. And not only does he discover Momma with meat juice covered hands, but the dog's water bowl is just sitting there, out in the open, begging for him to play in it!
I immediately see his eyes fall upon the water dish and I say, "Jack! No. Do. Not. Touch!" He scoots over towards the bowl, arm outstreched. I say, "Jack! NOOO!". He looks up at me, arm still outstretched, then slaps his hand down right into the bowl, upending it in the process. And of course water goes everywhere. Needless to say, we were late getting to where we had to be that day. *Sigh*
But with the bad and frustrating comes the good and amazing. He has changed so much just since he hit 10-months old.
One day he started trying to pull himself up at the edge of the coffee table and was only able to pull his bottom a few inches off the ground. The next day he figured out how to pull himself up onto his knees. The next day, he's got one knee on the ground, but has figured out how to get into a kneeling position with his other leg. The following day he figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position!
A mere 11 days ago was the first day he successfully pulled himself up to a standing position. Now? He's pulling up on anything and everything. And I know it's a great accomplishment for him because you can see him working at it and getting frustrated or pleased with his results.
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| {This is one of the first times Jack was standing without us holding him up} |
And with Jack's new found freedom and need for exploration comes a new state of parenting: Discipline.
Cue ominous music *dun dun duuunnn* The importance of bonding with my baby during his early months has been replaced by letting him be to find his independence. Implementing tummy time, knowing the "right" way to encourage my baby to sleep, teaching him how to eat from a spoon, all have been replaced by things like redirection, creating boundaries, and babyproofing.
At this point, I feel like I'm old hat at parenting a baby. I know how to do that. But a toddler? Scary! Jack and I are back to learning together. He's learning how to be a toddler and I'm learning how to be a parent of a toddler.
What else is 10-month-old Jack up to?
He has *finally* mastered sitting up from a laying position. He used to struggle to sit up and all he accomplished was baby crunches before getting frustrated, but now, he has figured out how to manuver his body and use his muscles (toned from all those crunches!) to get himself into an upright position.
Jack decided it was time to go on a hunger strike recently. About 2 weeks ago, our formerly awesome eater decided he'd start refusing food. I thought maybe it was because he was sick of the same old purees (heck, I would be!), but when we tried to feed him bites of things he still had a really strong gag reflex and wasn't really sure what to do with the food. Well, apparently the hunger strike was his way of telling me he was ready to move on from purees because about a week later, his gag reflex was much improved and he was nomming on bites of things like banana, avocado, black beans, and eggs. I'm so excited for this next stage as it really opens up his diet to new foods!
He has 6 teeth! For the longest time, he only had one of his front two teeth on the top. His second one has finally come through and he's starting to look older with such a mouthfull of teeth!
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| {Here's a peak at his teefers before his 2nd front tooth really came through. He's more balanced out now!} |
His new favorite game is playing with the dog. He loves to put his hand out to call her over and he giggles and belly laughs so hard if she licks his hand, head, or face (:-/). He just really thinks she's the funniest thing ever right now.
Jack can wave! We've been working on this for the last few weeks. First, he started by just kind of throwing his hand awkwardly out to the side. Now, he'll actually make a waving motion, but he turns his hand towards himself instead of facing out. I guess it's because it's what he sees us doing from his perspective! Waving is still kind of hit or miss though. Sometimes he'll wave on his own or throw his hand out to the side like he was doing at first (randomly), sometimes he'll do either of those things when prompted. But this is how he started with his clapping (which he still loves to do) so I'm thinking he'll have waving mastered by next month!
It's hard to catch a toddleby in his natural habitat because they are rarely stationary, but here are a few shots:
We are getting dangerously close to Jack's 1-year birthday!
