Elliott - 10 Months Old

The first thing that everyone seems to notice about Elliott is that he is active. This boy likes to move and explore and is never still. He's still army crawling, but I see more use of his legs all the time. He can pull himself up and down a single step and is working on figuring out how to pull himself up multiple steps. Elliott does like to be upright, and he'll hold himself up if put in the standing position. Sometimes, though, he seems to forget that he can't stand alone and will just let go. He rolls constantly and doesn't seem to like to be on his back. He does this funny side lounge position when he needs to reach something, which is usually whatever also interests Madeleine, books from the shelf, or heating/cooling grates.

The other thing that is often mentioned about Elliott is his size. He continues to grow and is now pretty solidly into size 18 months. After a week or so of what felt like non-stop requests for nursing followed by a few days of long naps, I think he may have just gone through a growth spurt. He eats pretty well, doing most of the feeding by himself with his fingers and his well-developed pincher grasp. I'm hesitant to hand over the spoon for messy things because I know just how much mess is possible. He nurses four times a day (wake up, after each nap, and at bedtime), though I think he may be cutting out the feeding after his afternoon nap because he hasn't been interested in it the last two days or so. In general, his nursing is getting a lot faster, like less than five minutes total per feeding.

Elliott does some signing. He opens and closes his fists (the sign for milk) when he wants something, especially milk. We've been consciously working on more and all done, and it's a slow go. I think he's catching on to "more" by doing clapping as the sign, and he will sometimes repeat a noise that sounds like "all done" when I'm signing and saying it. Signs or not, Elliott has a lot to tell us. He babbles most of the time and loves the attention it brings him. I'm not sure that he properly associates the words yet, but he says "dada" and "mama." For the last week or so, "gah gah" has been his chant of choice. He tends to babble "nah nah" when he's unhappy (like at pre-nap diaper changes). I can't wait until I can understand all of his lovely stories and find out what it is that so frequently makes him squeal with delight!

One big change this month is that Elliott's gummy smile now has a couple of pearly whites. Two have poked through (upper lateral incisors, unusual) with four more on their way. Teething has definitely interrupted his sleep, though it has been a little hard to distinguish between teething interruptions and jet lag. It has also interfered with his normally ferocious appetite, and he has been happiest munching on cold melon, cold cucumbers, and peanut butter sandwiches. In general, we've been treating the teething symptoms with the occasional Tylenol and plenty of extra cuddles and naps on the lap.

Elliott continues to have two naps, one is usually an hour and the other 2+ hours. He sleeps about 11 hours at night. As soon as I lay him in his crib, he rolls onto his side or sometimes his belly. Even if he falls asleep right away, he seems to always end up with his head in one of the corners - silly boy. He still sucks his left thumb to put himself to sleep and sometimes while he's sleeping. I introduced a lovey this month to give him something to chew on when his teeth are sore, and he seems to notice it about half of the time. After I saw him pull himself to sitting and pull himself to nearly standing once on the crib, we lowered the mattress to its lowest setting. That was a sad moment to realize that my baby is growing up...and that the crib skirt no longer works for the bed height. It's a toss up as to whether Elliott is going to wake up screaming or happily babbling, and he frequently wakes up with bedhead now that his hair is starting to grow a little bit.

I'm so excited to see Elliott's personality develop. He is incredibly determined and persistent. He's also insanely sweet. I just love when I hold him and he gives me gentle, loving pats on the shoulder. He's generous with his infectious smile and loves to wave at people. He can be really goofy and loves playing games. I'm not very fond of the one where he grabs my glasses and laughs, shaking his head side to side while I sternly tell him "no" or the one where he pulls his sun hat off of his head as fast as I can put it on him again. Nonetheless, it's fun to see him anticipate the next thing that is going to happen or laugh at his sister playing peek-a-boo.

Apologies for this month's blurry photo. It was the only one where he was actually on his back. Every other time that I picked up the camera, he'd roll over and take off. See what I mean about the games?