10 Months and Counting

Cutie Pie reached the all-important milestone of double digits: 10 months. Since I have been breastfeeding him this whole time, I now consider myself an expert breastfeeder.

We had our share of problems in the beginning. I remember reading about different personality traits babies have that can contribute to difficulty feeding. Cutie Pie had all of them. Excited Ineffective: when he sees that it's time to eat, he gets so excited that he can't eat correctly. The Rester: likes to eat a little, then sleep a little, then eat a little more, then sleep a little more... The Gourmet: likes to taste the milk first and will not be rushed into eating. The Baracuda: digs right in and eats enthusiastically, sometimes painfully. And finally, The Procrastinator: gets upset if the milk is not there NOW!

Somehow we made it through those painful and emotional early days and got to the point where nursing part of our routine. We love to cuddle in our rocking chair at feeding time. Cutie Pie is just as much an expert as I am.

As Cutie Pie approaches his first birthday, I know my breastfeeding time is coming to a close. It really makes me sad that my baby is growing up so fast. The kid is eating solid food like a line backer. He's going to have no use for milk very soon. This next phase in our lives is going to be a hard one for Mommy.

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Is This How You Catch A Cold?

Well, Cutie Pie did it again. He caught another cold.

This time Cutie Pie got his germs from me. I was absolutely miserable over the weekend. We were supposed to go meet a friend's new baby but the evil cold put a halt to our plans. We know all too well that new babies shouldn't be around sick people. When Cutie Pie was born, our Doctor all but drilled that into our heads. I had to do the responsible thing. I stayed home and sniffled. I was devastated that day, not because I felt sick, but because I couldn't stand to be trapped in the house for another day. I love spending more time at home with Cutie Pie but I also love going out. Unfortunately, there are only so many places I can take a nine month old. I get excited every time I get to leave the house.

I was quite proud of myself for keeping Cutie Pie germ free during my cold. I kept my hands washed and avoided sneezing and coughing when I held him. I did everything those Swine Flu people have been telling us to do. I guess I didn't do as good a job as I thought, Cutie Pie woke up this morning with a drippy nose and no appetite. It's amazing to me that Cutie Pie can be so sick but keep smiling. I wish I could be more like him.

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Ouch! Teething hurts everyone.

More teeth! Cutie Pie thinks he is a dinosaur. His new favorite game is to screech, grab my neck in a bear hug and bite my shoulder as hard as he can.

It makes me so sad that he bites when he hugs me. I love hugging my baby boy. I don't love it when he sharpens his new chompers on my shoulder blade. Now, when he hugs me, I have to play defense. I can only relax when his mouth is already full.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to not scream and scare him to death. I have been passing out teething rings for so long now that I don't know where they are anymore. It doesn't matter anyway. He doesn't want to bite those boring, tasteless teething rings. He wants to bite Mommy. I've got black and blue spots on my shoulders as proof.

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These Shoes are Made for Walking

We have a walker! Cutie Pie is getting to be quite good at walking. I am so excited that he is moving around. He is growing up so fast. He's pretty pleased with himself too. Now he can reach all kinds of new things. I even saw him standing on his tippy toes trying to reach the door handle. Who taught him how to open a door?

So after we finished jumping for joy at seeing Cutie Pie take his first steps, we got down to the very important business of buying Cutie Pie his first shoes. He had a couple of pairs in size five that I picked up a month ago. I figured he would grow into them. I crammed them onto his feet a couple of times over the past month. I had a hard time getting them on but I figured it was because Cutie Pie is always curling his toes. The shoe seemed a little big so I guessed that Cutie Pie was a size four. So I went out and bought my Cutie Pie the cutest little size four Reebok you ever did see. I couldn't even get them past his toes.

It became apparant to me that my baby was one of the unlucky children with extra wide feet. I was going to have to buy his shoes from a specialty store. And not just his first shoes. Every shoe I buy him. Forever. Great.

We made a trip to Stride Rite, where they quickly fitted Cutie Pie with size 5 1/2 Wide. After spending more money that I would on my own shoes, Cutie Pie walked out of the store officially a big boy. He cried a little on the way home because he didn't know what those giant things on his feet were. But Cutie Pie has gotten used to wearing shoes over the past few days and now they don't seem to slow him down one bit.

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Three Scary Words: Working From Home

In this month's American Baby Magazine, there was an article about how hard it is to work from home. Yeah, no kidding. I work part time at the office and part time at home to keep my full time job. While I'm at the office, I feel overwhelmingly guilty about leaving my child with other people. He loves it. When I'm at home, I put Cutie Pie and playtime first but I'm always thinking in the back of my mind about what files I need to finish next. I can never snap out of my work mode. It's hard to relax and just enjoy being a Mommy when there's a soul-crushing pile of paperwork sitting in the next room.

The article gave tips for carving out time to work but it basically recommended that you find someone else to watch your kid because you can't work and be Mommy at the same time. Thanks for the tip. I make time for work when Cutie Pie is sleeping. The problem is that I bring home about 20 hours of work a week but Cutie Pie does not quite sleep enough for me to complete my work, housework and sleep myself. This is how I end up like I was last week: an exhausted mess, buried under mounds of paperwork. I might actually be happier if I worked from WORK!

But no matter how I look at it, I just can't give up my extra time with Cutie Pie. Working from home is hard but missing Cutie Pie all day is harder.

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Let's Play!

"Yeah! Da! Ba! Da!" Cutie Pie loves to play.

It is so cool to watch him play and discover new things. Cutie Pie seems to learn something new every day. Yesterday he learned how to climb on top of a box and fall off. It's enough to make a mother beam with pride!

I've been trying to keep the house stocked with educational toys. This isn't exactly an easy thing to do. When you walk down the aisles at Target, everything has a sound chip in it. This is great for capturing Cutie Pie's attention for the first few seconds of play but he honestly prefers to discover new things without lights flashing and annoying nursery rhymes blaring. I am so glad because I enjoy every quiet moment I can get.

Recently, I noticed that Target is carrying a new line of Circo wooden toys. I picked up an inexpensive hammer and peg set for Cutie Pie to try. The hammer went straight to his mouth, of course. Within minutes, his new little teeth scraped the paint off the handle on the hammer. So much for that

Cutie Pie plays longer and more intently with wooden toys and just objects from around the house. Lately I have noticed that Cutie Pie seems to have a preference for round objects. He likes to put balls inside rings and fit cups together. It's absolutely fascinating to watch him. He looks at everything very closely and his breathing gets faster. He finally fits his circles together then tosses them aside and crawls away laughing. Next!

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