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| 10 months, eating a toy crab while having serious bed head |
Locomotor Development
Mattimeo is a very confident crawler now. I would even say that he is fast. While inside, he speeds around on hands and knees. Sometimes outside, if he is wearing shorts, he doesn't like touching the ground with his knees and will do a monkey crawl with his knees of the ground.
His preferred mode of travel though is cruising. Most of the time he is standing these days, holding on to some piece of furniture or toy with either one or two hands. At this point, he holds on just for balance/confidence. He will even just use a wall, without anything to really grasp onto to support himself.
He then will cruise around the house/outdoors/wherever he is. He is getting really good at it too; he doesn't look clumsy anymore as he side steps around with ease. When his next point of interest is not connected to the surface he is currently using as support, he will reach for it, touch it, and walk over to it. If it's too far for him to reach, he will still crawl, but it looks like he is starting to consider walking. He is an expert squatter, and will go from standing and squatting numerous times to pick up toys and other objects of interest off the ground. I think it's pretty amazing how controlled his up and down motion is; he is really strong.
He can walk supported really well now. We got him a Radio Flyer push wagon and he pulls himself up on it and walk around the house and outdoors with it. He is really surefooted, and it's super cute to watch. See for yourself. This is the first day he started using the wagon:
And this was yesterday:
Robbie and I have already noticed an improvement with how well he walks with us using our hands for support since he's gotten the wagon. Now he keeps his hands down lower instead of hanging, and just uses them for support as he quickly steps across the room.
He has managed to stand up without and support at all several times now. Sometimes he is surprised and very pleased with himself. Other times he doesn't even seem to notice he's doing it. He doesn't just go from sitting to standing in the middle of a room yet; he always was holding onto something then stops for several seconds, but I feel like he is getting closer and closer to that point.
Finally, he is beginning to climb. He can climb up and down his mattress with easy, he can step up onto my lap, and I've even seen him crawl up a step on the porch.
Sleeping
Meo has all of his naps in his own bed now, unless he is sleeping in his car seat or in the ERGObaby. He usually naps 2-5 hours a day, and once he is asleep I almost never have to nurse him back to sleep (although he still nurses to go to sleep initially). If he wakes himself up, he is able to reposition himself and fall back asleep without anything; it's great. He is taking two naps now most of the time, but seems to be on the verge of transitioning to one nap a day. So this has been challenging for both of us. Me, because I know he is tired and sometimes its hard to get him to settle down. He, because he is more tired if he only has one nap, but sometimes isn't tired enough for two. We just take each day as it comes, and Meo and I have a good understanding of each other by now so we are doing our best to make this transition gentle and natural.
At night, we are still co-sleeping. Lately he has been beginning the night in his own bed, which is great because Robbie and I are able to have some alone time before we go to bed. Last night we were even able to watch an entire movie while Meo snoozed in his bed in the same room. But I don't think Meo or I are quite ready to be parted for the entire night, and I put him into our bed once he wakes up. Its nice to be close to him, and frankly, I am too lazy to get up and go nurse him if he was to wake up in the middle of the night. But as I said before, he is getting much better at putting himself to sleep and before long he'll be in his own bed all night through.
One interesting thing that has happened recently is that my normally still as a sack of potatoes sleeping baby has gotten squirmy in bed sometimes. Like last night. At one time he squirmed down to my leg and laid against the crook of my leg and fell asleep. After a bit, he woke up, whimpered because he was lost, crawled back to me and planted himself on my chest trying to find my breast to nurse. Silly baby.
Hand Skills
Mattimeo is really good at picking small objects up. He likes to point his index finger out at it as he reaches for the object then will pick the object up with great precision.
One of Meo's favorite past times is taking smaller objects out of bigger objects. For this reason, he loves his stacking cups. He really enjoys taking one cup out at a time from the stack. He also likes taking laundry out of laundry baskets, Mommy's clothes out of her bureau, toys out of his wagon, etc.
Meo will occasionally sign "more" but hasn't really advance beyond that yet. We are still signing with him regularly though, I am sure he will catch on soon.
He loves to point at things he spots that he finds interesting. For example, he will point at Theta or other cats outside. When we were in the lake this weekend, he pointed at the sunfish that were gathering near my feet in the water. He will point at birds in the trees. Sometimes he surprises me with the things he notices. I always tell him the word for what he is seeing and sometimes he will try to say it too.
He will roll a ball back and forth with us now which is really cute. He also started being a pretty good drummer, and sometimes will bang his drum to the beat of a song. We think he has a great musical ear.
Personality
As he grows, his personality is becoming more and more evident. Mattimeo is a fun and happy baby. He loves to laugh, and its very easy to get him to break down into hysterical laughter by tickling his neck, playing peek-a-boo, making silly noises or face, or doing any other goofy thing. He loves when we laugh too. Often times we will start giggling while having a conversation and are surprised to here Meo laughing too even though he isn't right there with us. He's so cute!
He is very curious and will study objects very intensely. He will pick things up and turn them around in his hands, taste them, and make a very studious face as he babbles about his discoveries. He likes to pull out books and flip through them over and over. We will often read the books he selects to him; otherwise we let him try to read them to himself.
He loves music, and sometimes will try to sing with us. He seems to understand the concept of musical call and response, and will not only wait for his turn to sing/play a phrase, but also pause to allow someone to respond. This is amazing to me.
He knows what he wants and is not afraid to tell you. Lately I have been giving him a baby toothbrush so that he can brush his teeth while I do. He loves it, but will get really upset when it's time for me to take it an put it away. So much so that he will shriek in protest. I always respond by calmly explaining that we are done using said object and it's time to put it away now, and I am sorry. I never give it back and he always stops protesting almost immediately. So even though he knows how to have a little temper tantrum now, they never last more than a second and then he is perfectly happy again. I think this is reasonable, after all, he doesn't really have any other way to protest at the moment.
He is a snuggle bug. He never gets tired of being held or worn. He prefers to be in our company, whether it be sleeping or playing. But he does well being independent too, and can entertain himself for long periods of time. His face always lights up when he sees us though. My favorite thing he does is when he crawls over to me and rests his head against me, or when he snuggles against my chest or neck when I am carrying him around. He is so sweet.
Meo is also a big goof ball. He likes to make us laugh, and he likes to act a little crazy. I can't imagine where he gets this from.
Overall, he is extremely sweet and good-natured. He loves to share, and almost never fussy (unless he is overtired or wants his mommy, but who isn't fussy then??). I could go on and on, but the last thing I will note for now is that he loves playing in water. Whether it is a pool, the ocean, a lake, or his bath tub, he loves splashing around in the water. He is really brave, and I am excited about taking him swimming a whole lot this summer.
I love this baby, and I love watching him grow into his own little person everyday. He is amazing and I am so privileged to be his mom.
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| I love his messy bed head |
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