Tag Archives: army crawl

Dear Emmett

Posted on May 27 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

10 months!? 10 whole months old! Insane!

This month’s post is a little late because your baby cousin and her family were in town to celebrate her first birthday, so we were busy visiting.

Don’t worry, Emmett doesn’t normally ride in the front seat. He was only here because he had just finished nursing.

In last month’s post, I shared that you were still army crawling, it was literally the day after you turned 9 months that you started really crawling. I was in the other room and your dad yelled for me because (as he said it), “Your boy is crawling!” I ran in but you were already back on your belly but within no time, I got to witness you crawling. What a big boy! Here’s a funny story, I was picking you up from day care one day and I asked your teachers whether they had seen you do your big boy crawl yet, both girls said no. As if on cue, you stopped playing with your toy, got on your hands and knees and crawled over to me. It was adorable! Both teachers were very excited for you, and I can’t say I blame them. I am endlessly proud of you!

We celebrated my first Mother’s Day. You and daddy got me such nice and thoughtful gifts, a beautiful new charm bead for my Pandora bracelet and a gift certificate to my favorite salon, to be used for a massage or in another pampering way. Daddy also took us out for breakfast, it was a buffet and the food was really good. You weren’t really into anything, except for the french toast and a small piece of bacon. Then we went down to your Grammy’s house to spend the afternoon with her. It was a perfect first Mother’s Day!! I can’t wait for every year to come. 🙂

Remember last month when I said you were getting better at standing up and were slowly starting to coast? Well, you are now a pro at pulling yourself up and moving along, whether it be your crib, the pack and play or our couches. You grab, pull up and MOVE! Your dad and I have had to be much more careful about what we put places since you’re able to reach things now. Pretty soon, the coffee table will be completely empty because you’ll be able to reach all the way across.

Last month I also mentioned how we had started placing you at your motorcycle and how you’d take a couple steps and then fall down. Not any more, now you stand up behind the motorcycle and take it clear across the house. Your dad or I will follow behind you because when you bump into something you don’t yet understand how to back up or turn, so we help you readjust but you’re doing so well. I wonder if by next month’s Dear Emmett, you’ll be walking independently??? I think the reason you’ve excelled so quickly with walking with support is because of day care. They have a bunch of different toys for the babies to stand and walk with, so you get loads of practice.

You continue to be breastfed but we’ve reduced the amount that we send you to day care with. Instead of 3-six ounce bottles, we’ve been sending you with 3-five ounce bottles and it seems to be working out well. You are still a pretty good eater! Some days you don’t feel like eating a lot but for the most part, you are willing to try anything. You love grilled cheese sandwiches and also peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, when we can’t get you to try anything else, you will usually eat either of those two.

We also experienced your first ear infection. But we never would have known you had an ear infection if we hadn’t had your 9 month appointment. You were never cranky and your mood never changed, so it was very surprising when the doctor looked in your ear and said you had one. You were on amoxicillian for 10 days and loved the taste of it. I’m glad the ear infection didn’t cause you any pain, but I am also glad that your doctor caught it when he did.

Speaking of your 9 month doctor’s appointment, you weighed in at 23 lbs 2 ounces and 27 inches long! Big boy! You fell into the 95th percentile for both height and weight for a 9 month old. You’re even beginning to wear 12 month clothes because 9 month stuff is getting too small. Your dad and I are in for it!!

I think you’re teething again because you’ve been drooling like crazy, shoving even more stuff into your mouth and you’ve had a pretty bad diaper rash (which I’ve heard is an indication of teething). I wonder which are growing in?

We think you are learning the sign for ‘more,’ but it’s hard to tell if it is that or you clapping because they are so similar. We just keep doing the ‘more’ sign hoping that you will catch on. You also say a lot of mamamamam’s and dadadadada’s but we’re not sure if they actually mean momma and dada yet, but each time you say one or the other we repeat it and point to the correct person.

You unfortunately also got your first black eye this month. 🙁 I got a call from the director of your day care while I was at work, letting me know that you had fallen and bumped your eye and it had bruised pretty badly but that you were perfectly fine and seemed very happy. When I got to you at the end of the day, I couldn’t believe how dark and big the bruise was, poor guy! I guess what happened, was that you were pulling yourself up on one of the bookshelves and you went to grab a toy and let go at the same time and fell and slammed your head. It took nearly a month for those bruises to heal but you are finally back to normal.

As each month passes and we get closer and closer to a year, I am amazed at what you are able to do. You seem so inquisitive and curious, I can’t wait to teach you everything and more.

Filed Under: Emmett, Family

Dear Emmett,

Posted on April 24 by Jillian416 • 1 Comment

Do you realize that there is only 3 more months until you are a year old? This blows my mind! At this time last year, your father and I were anxiously awaiting your birth and here we are a year later, having the time our lives.

We celebrated your first Easter this month. Your dad and I didn’t decorate, dye eggs or get you an Easter basket because we knew you’d probably be getting one from your Grammy, we weren’t wrong. You got the cutest basket from her, it is a monkey’s head and inside of it was a stuffed peep (since you can’t eat the marshmallow ones yet), a VERY cute barn with 4 different farm animals in it that make noise and a chicky bird sippy bottle. I think there might have been one more thing in there but I’m drawing a complete blank. It was really cute stuff and I really love the barn, I can’t wait until your a little bit older and can play with the animals with me.

You are so SO mobile! I remember when we used to be able to put you down on the floor to play and you would stay there, now, no way! The second you hit the floor you move, move, move. You continue to do your army crawl, where your right arm is straight out, pulling, your left is bent underneath your chest pushing you forward and your legs every once in awhile will give a good push but mainly it is your arms doing the work. You still get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth but you haven’t yet done any “formal” crawling, who cares, though!? You are able to get around perfectly well the way you do it now. You’ve become really really good at doing planks and downward dog, obviously you have no idea they’re called that but you have inspired me to start planking or doing downward dog when you are doing them. So thanks for the motivation! 🙂

Going along with your crawling, you’ve also become really good at standing. Your dad or I can stand you up, holding onto your crib or pack ‘n play and you stand there all on your own for long stretches of time. You actually love it quite a bit because now you can watch your daddy cook. At the start of the month, you were just standing there for a little bit and then falling down, now you like coasting along the side. So if I am in my bedroom and you want to see what I’m doing you’ll slowly inch your way around to the other side so you can see me. You’ve also pretty much mastered sitting down from standing. Initially you’d just let go and fall, sometimes you’d land on your back other times on your butt but at this point, most of the time you land your on your bottom in a sitting up position.

We’ve even experimented with your toy motorcycle that you can use as a walking prop. When we set it up so that you can hold on and walk behind it, you’re pretty good at taking 3 or 4 steps before you stop and sit down. You seem to get tired or bored of doing this because you’ll only do it once or twice but you’re getting better and better. Sooner or later, you will be walking and then, everybody better watch out!

In your classroom at school they have short plie bar attached to a mirror and then attached to the wall. You love that thing! The second your teacher puts you up on it and you start looking at yourself in the mirror you start talking. You yell and smile, babble and grunt, you just adore it. Your teacher also tells us that you are very talkative, that all day you are making some sort of noises. I have a feeling your dad and I are in for it. But I’m pretty sure I was a talkative toddler, so it only makes sense.

Midway through the month, your dad and I started to get a little nervous that maybe you weren’t getting enough solid foods down. You were definitely getting enough breast milk but at around 9 months you start needing the nutrients from whole foods. We considered starting to give you more pureed food and we even pureed some sweet potatoes for you, but in the end our worries were for nothing. You are a champion eater! You are now eating and swallowing pretty much everything without any trouble, this includes meats like chicken, pork or steak. Vegetables and fruit are no match for you, you grab them tight and chomp away. It has been quite the experience watching your eating abilities grow with each passing week.

You love to play with everything but mostly with items you shouldn’t be playing with. Your favorites tend to be the outlet that is strangely in the floor, that we’ve put an outlet cover over but you still want to crawl on over and take it out. You also love grabbing for the cable box and Blu-ray player, which gives your dad a heart attack nearly every time (understandably). I’m personally, not looking forward to when you can reach the TV because that is one expensive piece of equipment and it would be very sad if it got damaged. We’ll just need to be extra vigilant when we get to that point.

We continue to teach you the signs for different words so that it makes it easier for us all to communicate before you are able to speak. Last month you conquered milk and continue to do a great job with that, this month, we’re pretty sure that you’ve mastered “more.” We use it mostly to ask if you want more food, or for you to ask us for more food. We’re still working on “diaper” and “all done.” I have no doubt you will get both of those very soon.

You and I are doing swimming lessons and you are having a blast! When the other babies are bothered by the chilly water or even just being in the water, there you are, happy as a clam, splashing and smiling. I’m so happy we can experience this together. Since before you were born I knew I wanted to do a mommy and me class but couldn’t find one that was the right fit for us, swimming is perfect and something I’m good at. My hope is to continue doing these classes together until you’re 24 months, when you’ll have to start doing the classes on your own with a swim teacher.

Speaking of water, bath time is a blast! Getting you squeaky clean isn’t the easiest because you like to move and squirm but once that part is done, playing with your toys is the best. I’m not sure how it got started, but one day I started calling your toes vinegar toes, now every time I wash them I say that, it’s pretty funny. You have started moving around in the tub to reach your toys or the hose and sometimes you’ll turn your little self around and moon your daddy and I, thank goodness it is such a cute dupa. You like when I lay you back and let you float with my hand underneath your back, it seems like you find it so relaxing. I think if your dad and I let you, you’d stay in the tub forever.

Your 9 month doctor’s appointment is on May first, so I don’t have any of your weight or height information to share this month, but I’ll make sure I include them next month. I am anxious to see what you weigh and how tall you are because you just seem so ginormous.

Well Emmett, my happy beautiful boy, I love every precious moment I get to spend with you and can’t wait to see what is on the horizon this go round.

XO

Filed Under: Emmett, Family

Dear Emmett,

Posted on February 23 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

We started the month with your 6 month visit to the doctors, I was super excited to see how much you had grown since our last visit. When the doctor placed you on the scale you jumped all the way up to 19.1 lbs, my big boy!! They also measured your length and you were 27.5 inches, you’re getting so long but since neither your dad nor I are short people, that’s no surprise. Your doctor even told us that you are the size of an average NINE month old at 6 months. Holy smokes, we’re in for it!

Sweet Potatoes

You also have had your first solids. We didn’t take the normal path that most people take, your dad and I decided to follow Baby Led Weaning for introducing you to solid foods and so far it has worked very well. There has not been one food you’ve turned away! When you try something new you make a really funny face but you stick with it and spend some time gumming whatever it is. The very first food you had was roasted broccoli and you really seemed to enjoy it. So far, you’ve had broccoli, sweet potatoes, baby yogurt, mum mum crackers, plums, apples, bananas, avocado, green peppers, strawberries, brown rice, bread, cheese, meatloaf, chicken and pork. Look at all those foods you’ve tried and LIKED and we’re only 4 weeks in. Can you imagine what’s left?!

Emmett’s Very First Food

We are still working on getting you to sit up like a big boy. You do a pretty good job when we put the boppy around you and then place a toy in front of you but then there are times when you just don’t want to sit at all and won’t bend at the waist. We keep trying but as long as you keep developing in other ways, I’m not too concerned.

Your favorite mode of transportation remains rolling around the floor. You’ve definitely started bouncing yourself up onto your knees when you’re on your belly and occasionally you’ll propel yourself forward a bit but for the most part, if you see a toy you want, you roll on over. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch!

You Fisher Price jump-a-roo continues to be one of your favorite toys. We actually decreased the size of the book that we place underneath you. Previously the book we were using was about 4 inches thick, then we decreased to a book that was an inch thick and now that’s not even needed because you can bounce without it. When we put you in that think you go crazy! You get the silliest face on and bounce bounce BOUNCE! You love bouncing so much that whenever we take you out of your jump-a-roo you continue jumping on whomever is holding you. So cute!

Your personality makes your dad and I so so happy!! You are constantly smiling and now we can even make you giggle and that sound is so beautiful to our ears.

You’ve also started taking longer naps too. Instead of 3 shorter ones, you’ve been doing 2 longer ones, they fall in the morning and then in the early evening.

Remember how I mentioned last month that you had started babbling more and yelling less? Well, the yelling is back! LOL You still babble but if I’m being honest your favorite form of communication is yelling. You yell when you’re happy, when you’re angry or just when you’re bored. My favorite is when you have a toy and you are playing quietly and then all of a sudden you start to yell at the toy, like “Hey! You’re not doing anything! Play with me!” Adorable!

Two very exciting things happened just before the end of your 6th month…

The first is that you are now sitting independently! I am so proud of you! We’ve been working on it at home and you’ve been working on it at day care but at long last when I picked you up at school on Thursday you were sitting there all on your own playing with toys. I was so excited and I made sure you knew it too. I squealed and told you what a wonderful job you were doing. You still are working on balance because sometimes when you’re not paying attention you’ll fall backward but you are going for longer and longer stretches of time in a seated position. You are becoming mommy’s big boy!

The second is (drum roll please) you are now creeping along! You love doing the army crawl and you even sometimes go all the way up onto your knees, to reach your toys. You aren’t moving super fast and you tend to move just a little at a time but you ARE moving. I am literally so so SOOO proud of you.

Watching you grow is just such an amazing thing. I knew that I would love you, that was never a question, but I had no idea how MUCH I’d love you. Every single thing you do is interesting to me and I love watching you do it all. You are growing so quickly, I’m loving it but I wish you’d slow down just a bit. I love you being mommy’s baby boy.

I love you!

Filed Under: Emmett