I know I usually save these updates for once a month, but it seems like so much has happened, I won't be able to keep track of it all if I wait for another two weeks!
Michael is doing increasingly better making his way to pretty much wherever he wants to go. He is spending more time crawling on his knees, but still much prefers to drag his belly. I wonder when he will learn that the other way is much more efficient because, let me tell you, that belly of his can produce quite a drag!
Michael is moving into the realm of the vertical, and in his opinion, he can't get there fast enough. He is pulling up on whatever he can, or pushing up if there is something lower that he thinks can support his weight as he tries to climb on it. Once, he even tried to climb a stroller wheel and was a little miffed that he kept rolling to one side or the other. It was funny to watch.
We spend a lot of time after his nap times when I lower the gate of his crib, and he has fun pulling up on it. I'll usually attempt to "bite" his hands, feet, knees, or whatever I can, and he will shriek with delight as he falls back in his bed, then pulls up and starts all over again. It is really cute and very enjoyable.
He, on one occasion in his bed, even pulled himself up to standing! He so badly wants to do that all the time, but just hasn't gotten the hang of it all yet, though I think watching his cousin Peter on Friday who quite the master at it, did a lot to continue to spark his enthusiasm.
He loves to climb over things, like pillows or Mommy. That is fun for me, and I'm a sucker for attention from Baby Michael, so any time he comes charging towards me, pawing at me to climb over me, I savor the moment very much.
Michael's language skills are really taking off, often in a way that completely catches me off guard.
Some things he's been able to say for a while:
"Dada"
"Wow"
"Hi"
and "Mmm" (as in "this food is tasty")
He also as associated his own word with the crucifix which he very much still enjoys looking at. The word sounds something like "Gah" and he uses it pretty much every time he lookes at the crucifix and he only uses it for the crucifix, so he definitely has assigned some connection between the word and the thing. His father and I would like to suppose that he knowingly acknowledges Jesus as God...but maybe that is just one of those things parents think/say about their kids because the are convinced their kid is the smartest kid in the whole world. But whatever he is trying to say, we do like that he is making the word/object connection.
Also, another cool thing that I just can't possibly assign to coincidence is what he says whenever we come home to our apartment. Several weeks ago, we noticed he was fixated on the number aove our door posted on a large tile.
"99" it reads.
As we would unlock the door, he would stare up at it, and of course, we would say "ninety-nine! that's where we live! ninety-nine!"
One day earlier this week, I brought Michael home from somewhere, he looked up at the tile and said, "nah-eh-nah!"
I kid you not.
He does it, I would say just about 80-90% of the time when we come home. And the interesting thing is that he doesn't even hear me say it first. He just remembers that sound goes with that thing. It's neat!
It's also a super thing that we don't live in apartment 112 or something, since it would give me one less thing to brag about :)
Of coure, throughout the day, he's constantly babbling, sometimes saying things that really sound like real words--the most common I hear is "Ok." Once, he was hitting his dinner table with his hands (which I don't like!) and I told him "no hitting please" and he said "Ok" and then stopped.
For the life of me, I can't get him to repeat it, so I think it's just a sound, but those times when the sounds happen to fall into the context of being appropriate are always amusing, and they always make me wonder just a little bit how much knows compared to how much I think he knows. I can't tell you how many times a day I think to mysefl, "wow. Babies are smart!" I think underestimating is always a bad idea :)
His eating is continuing to do great and I am enjoying trying new things with him and he is enjoying it too! He loves to eat whenever we are eating, so if we are eating a snack during the time he is playing on the ground, he has to make sure he gets some too, and sharing it with him is very fun.
Sleeping is continuing to do well. Night sleep just keeps getting better and better! We are now well into a pattern of him not waking up before 7am (he even inexplicably slept until 7:45 once) and he is going to bed instantly at around 7pm each night. Morning nap time is pretty much a thing of the past, but afternoon nap time is great and actually no longer entails lots of bucking bronco wind-down time. Most days, I put him in his bed and in one minute, he is asleep. it's great!
So at 10.5 months, we are just continuing to do great!! What a boy!
But, fortunately, things turned around and his hair started to grow back, slow but sure.
I mean look at that rug on that kid! It almost looks fake!
Then one day, the straight toupee' style started to get a little "body" to it. It started to get a little wave (even though the sides stayed pretty short).
But what started out as a well-groomed style on the sides, started to itself grow out of control. Little "wings" on the sides started to develop. Peter, here, thinks to himself "I told him so" when his advice to Michael to switch to a non-store brand conditioner went unheeded. Michael is clearly a bit embarrassed.
Who, after all, wouldn't be proud to display such an impressive mop top at such a tender age?
And so here we stand today, not many months after his receding hairline days, with curls that keep curling more and more each day....
Or maybe even each minute!!
