He's 11-Months-Old. A Month Ago, he was 10-Months-Old.

I'm behind on blogging. Sorry. But here I am ready to record Gideon's 10th and 11th month birthdays.

The past couple of months have come with a bunch of milestones for my little one. It's awesome to watch him grow. It seems like things are happening faster for him than they did for Caleb (at least motor skills-wise, the Gideon is still bald and almost toothless). People tell me that's because Gideon has Caleb to emulate. Whatever the case may be, I wish the kid would SLOW down just a little bit. He's becoming less of a baby by the day and that is bittersweet.

So during month 9 (between October 12th-November 12th) Gideon started crawling on all-fours as opposed to his favored army-crawl. He also started pulling up to standing. I walked into his room one day after his nap and there he was looking like this:

   Yes, of course I lowered the mattress after realizing he mastered this skill.

Note the proud smile.

Midnight snack? (I know he's not doing anything
special here but I thought it was cute.)

The same month marked the eruption of his first tooth and then almost immediately, his second tooth. Finally! I was beginning to think the kid might need dentures. You have to look closely but you can see them here.

Two bottom teeth.

Gideon at 10 months.

Now, month 10 through 11 (we're talking November 12th-December 12th, is this confusing anyone else but me?) was eventful too. It wasn't long (as in only several days after pulling up) before Gideon started cruising. Then those two bottom teeth were two real-deal teeth, not just little nubs. See?

He looks a BUNCH like Matt here.

Gideon celebrated his first Thanksgiving and Matt somehow convinced me to allow Gideon to have some pumpkin pie (perhaps my neurosis is waning). He was very into the pie. It was actually really cute to watch him anticipate each bite. He seemed to enjoy the turkey as well. A couple weeks later, he had his first PB & J and loved it. It was only about a quarter of a sandwich torn into small pieces but he was all about it. He's becoming more adept at eating in general and has started to eat a bit more solid food. He still much prefers what my body serves up and nurses quite a bit. That's fine by me. It's cheaper than solid food, less messy, and it's served with a side of snuggles. Not to mention the perfectly balanced nutritional content, immune system boosters, and the other countless benefits. Can't really beat that.

Gideon's temper has definitely started to show itself recently. His disdain for diaper changes continues and as he gets older and stronger, it becomes markedly more difficult to control his thrashing during said diaper changes. He's also a screamer. When he doesn't get what he wants (picture crawling baby going toward dangerous object and dangerous object being swept up before he gets to it) or when he's done being in the carseat or highchair, he lets us know. Loud and clear.

While we haven't spent nearly the amount of time signing with him as we did with Caleb, our lazy attempts have begun to pay off. He seems to have the "all done" sign down, or at least his version of it.

He babbles a lot and pays very close attention to everything his brother does. This could prove scary when Gideon is more able to imitate Caleb's behavior. He still likes playing with things that spin and roll and he enjoys being turned upside down and being tossed gently into the air. He also now lets go of things after pulling up and can stand on his own for several seconds at a time.

Here's Gideon's 11-month picture. He looks like a toddler already, doesn't he? Ah! Stop growing up so fast baby boy!

Gideon at 11 months.

And in case you're wondering how Caleb is with Gideon now that Gideon is older and more present around the house (i.e. interested in Caleb's toys and food). This picture pretty much sums up what a day in the life of Gideon is like:

Gideon's expression is priceless!

Outsourcing

Caleb becomes more and more clever as the days pass. Recently, he decided to outsource one of his tasks. He had just finished naughtily tossing bits of cheese all over the floor. My response of course was to tell him that this is unacceptable behavior and that his options were to either pick up the cheese or to have a time out. He dutifully got out of his chair and knelt down with me as I directed him to each cheese crumb and instructed that he pick it up and put it in the nearby bowl. After retrieving about three cheese bits and depositing them in the aforementioned bowl, he looks up and says, "Mommy do it," to which I tell him I will not be cleaning up his mess, that he must do it. During this exchange, Gideon has crawled his way over to us. Caleb looks up at me a second time, places a piece of cheese strategically in Gideon's path and says, "Baby eat it." While not the most compliant response to my directions, Caleb did derive two logical solutions to his predicament. I suppose I should be proud.

October Wrap-Up a Whole Month Late

I'm slacking. There were several posts I had in mind for October. I just never seemed to get around to writing them. So here is my October wrap-up if you're interested.

Disclaimer: This post is VERY picture-heavy. Avoid if you're unable to handle the sheer cuteness of my offspring. :)

My in-laws came to visit at the beginning of the month. We crammed in two outings in the short weekend they were here. If you want to see a super-excited 2-year old witness his very first dolphin show the very first time he ever set eyes on a real live dolphin while at the aquarium for his very first time, you'll most definitely want to watch this video.

I'm almost certain that the people in front of us may have thought Caleb was a bit too excited, but I thought it was pretty endearing. In fact, I had to sort of choke back tears since I've never seen Caleb (as a toddler at least) that excited about anything before. It was pretty awesome!

Then they took us to a harvest festival. Caleb had a blast pedaling the little tractors, playing in the corn bins, seeing the animals, taking a hayride, and picking pumpkins. Gideon relaxed in the stroller and wound up with his first sunburn. Nothing major, just slightly pink cheeks and nose...not that it made me feel any less guilty for not putting sunblock on him. (Note to self: your children are EXTREMELY pale, use sunblock often and generously!).

Future farmer of America? Perhaps.

Gids and Pop-O. 

Caleb hitchin' a ride on Dad.

Yup, that's a pretty good depiction of us.

Nonna and Caleb on the hayride.

I guess this is how he picks the "right" one?

It passed the taste test.

Cutest pumpkin in the patch for sure.

And that? That's just cute! 

Matt spent some time raking the leaves into a pile one weekend for the sole purpose of Caleb jumping in them. He had a good time.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Halloween by dressing the boys in costumes and taking them for their first trick-or-treat. Gideon was only along for the ride. We did not exploit him to gather candy for ourselves, although we did consider it.

My little knight.

Superbaby. Hard to believe Caleb wore this
last year.

Full regalia.

Double-fist lollipops. He was pumped!

We're still eating Halloween candy. I can't imagine if we'd made it farther than just around the block. And while we didn't take advantage of the offer, the best thing we came across was a family giving out hot dogs and hot apple cider to the parents of the trick-or-treaters. Awesome!

Phew! Thanks for hanging in till the bitter end. October wrap-up is officially complete. Now, I better get on November right away!

It's the Little Things

You know how I know that Matt loves me? I mean other than the fact that he works hard to provide for our family, he cleans the house, he kisses me goodbye every morning and hello every evening, he endures my endless nagging, reassures me when I'm doubting my effectiveness as a parent. Besides all that? 

Yesterday, I was recovering from a nasty stomach bug, one that both Caleb and Matt had just gotten over as well. I had just tucked Caleb in and went into our bedroom where Matt was lying in bed reading. He looked up at me and said, "I know you said you're cold. I put the heating pad under the covers so when you're ready to sleep, it will be nice and warm." I'm pretty sure my heart melted right there on the spot. It's the little things folks! How thoughtful is that? 

I love this man!

It's Cold Now but it wasn't Then

I'm going to pretend that I was super-clever and decided to wait until a chilly day like today to post these pictures. Ya know, as if I had forethought and knew I'd want to be reminded of summer's warmth and the beach. It's more likely however that I just never got around to blogging about the boys' first trip to the beach. So, I'll do it now.

Over the summer, the same weekend as our sixth anniversary, we took advantage of my parents' close proximity to the beach and introduced the little ones to the surf and sand. Even though Matt and I had planned on taking the boys to the beach that day, because I'm neurotic and tend toward being anxious, it took some convincing for me to agree to actually go when the day arrived. I could just picture Gideon eating fistfuls of sand and Caleb charging toward the ocean only to be swept away by a large wave. Or more likely, Caleb running up to a group of people and stealing their sandwiches or their children's toys or even knocking over a sandcastle built by a darling little toddler wearing tiny glasses (I have a thing with kids in glasses, it's like they need extra protection or something).

Of course it was nothing like that. We got to the beach and hung out with little to no drama. Caleb loved it and he was cautious of the ocean so my fear of him drowning was put to rest shortly after arriving. The section of beach we chose wasn't crowded so that helped prevent my other fears from occurring and Gideon stayed planted on the beach blanket so no sandy snack for him. It was a really good time actually.

Headed to the beach.

Matt's disgust at how many pictures I requested he take.

I call this "Little Boy, Big Ocean" 

This one is entitled "Baby on Blanket"

Gideon's first toes-in-the-ocean experience and Matt's
AMAZING farmer's tan!

It was pretty impossible to get him to stand still.
This was about the best I could do.

Yay! Lets bathe in sand! 

What I hadn't anticipated was how long it would take for us to leave the beach! I should have gotten myself worked up over that! We spent the same amount of time packing the kids up, walking down to the bathroom, rinsing the kids off, changing diapers, wrestling/putting kids in dry clothes, walking back to the car, nursing the baby, getting kids snugly in their carseats and then finally setting off for the drive back to my parents' house as we had spent on the beach. That was the stressful part. Thankfully, the making memories part outweighs the stress part hands down every time!

Because I Need a Reminder

I need a reminder that all my hard work is not going to the wayside. I need a reminder that Caleb is two and irrational and impulsive and illogical. And that it's completely normal. I need a reminder that somewhere in his adorable skull, there are synapses forming that will allow him to one day be completely responsible and wonderful and good at decision-making. Right now it's really hard to see that that day will come. Ever. Right now it feels like I'm the mom every other mom is completely thankful not to be since my kid can be so wild and out-of-control. Right now I'm the mom who would have gladly crawled into a deep, dark hole this morning because my kid ran amuck and refused to stop tackling his playmate.

So, because I need a reminder that it's really and truly not that bad all of the time, here's a list of my firstborn's recent cuteness:

-he calls a toucan a 'tooth-can'
-he calls a caterpillar a 'cat-ah-pillow'
-When he has something stuck in his teeth, he looks up at me with pleading eyes and says, "I need floss!"
-When he wants a certain anything he begins with "How 'bout...(fill in the blank with a snack, tv show, toy)"
-He exclaims "Holy mackerel!" at appropriate times.
-Recently, after he fell off of his toy truck, I asked what he was doing. He responded with, "falling."
-When I'm walking up or down the stairs with him and he wants me to carry him he says, "carry you" and holds his arms up waiting for me to pick him up.
-A couple of weeks ago, he would randomly put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses and just go about his business all nonchalantly.
-At 3am this morning when he wandered into our bedroom, he laid still on my chest for a few minutes, matter-of-factly kissed me on the cheek, then put his head back down.

Parenting is a tough gig! I just need to remain cognizant of the rewards even when the challenges seem to overshadow them.

That was a Quick Nine Months

It seems like only yesterday I was holding a 7lb, 3oz baby in my arms and wondering why his nose looked so large and why his ears seemed weirdly flattened against his head (hey, I know it sounds mean but I can't be the ONLY mom who thought her newborn looked slightly um...different than she imagined).

Seriously though? I loved every inch of
him from the moment I laid eyes on him.

But, here he is a whole nine months later and he's SO stinkin' cute and smiley and bouncy and awesome!  You think so too, right?

Gideon on 10.12.11 at 9 months old.

Here's the rundown:
-weight: 22 lbs, 3.5 oz (yow-zah! This kid is BIG!)
-length:  29.5 in. (see above parenthetical comment)
-diet: I'd say at least 90% mama's milk and only 10% table food (Who says nursing babies need solids? ha! See above parenthetical comment)
-teeth: still no teeth, but his bottom gum feels a little rough and I can see the whiteness right underneath so I'm guessing soon
-loves: bouncing, smiling, giggling, and outside
-hates: diaper changes and really loud noises
-milestones: He can independently go from lying down to sitting upright, he army crawls like a champ, he appears to be a Yoga natural (he frequently puts himself in a "downward dog" pose). He has mastered a multitude of consonant/vowel sound combos.

Gideon is such a sweet little guy. It's neat to watch his personality develop and I'm excited to learn what he'll be like as he grows older. I really can't believe that he's only 3 months away from being a year old though. How in the world does time go by so quickly???

As an aside, my mother-in-law sent me a picture of Matt as a 9-month-old. I keep hearing from people that Gideon looks like me. I stand by the notion that he looks a LOT like his daddy. You be the judge.