10th Month Birthday

Car-car-

Happy 10th Month Birthday! The months are flying by now and soon you'll be a toddler.

 Fun facts for the month-
 1. Another tooth on the bottom showed up. 7 teeth before 10 months!

(Check out the new blue ear molds. Mommy got to pick this time, and decided to change it to a different Nationals color. You look good in blue.)

Food Update-
2. You had a couple weeks of seeming "off" with food this month. You eat most of Ms. Pearl's lunches at school and at home have been enjoying ham for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; plus ravioli or pasta with sauce. You will not eat it without sauce! You've been refusing bananas and broccoli lately; so I've been sneaking them in cottage cheese or applesauce.

3. Since your last update, your ear infection never cleared up. You just finished your 4th round of antibiotics and last Friday, you had tubes inserted in both ears. Surgery went great. I think it took all of 5 minutes, and you were asleep for maybe 10 minutes. Vanderbilt is, of course, great and you spent the morning (before surgery) flirting with the nurses and riding in this cool car.

Milestone of the Month-
4. Standing, Waving Hi/Bye, and Clapping- You've mastered standing, and I've seen you take a step or 2 and then lunge. We've all been working lots on getting you to wave, which you're doing regularly now. (see below) I think clapping just came naturally. Yay!

Speech/ Hearing Update- 
5. Unfortunately you've spent most of the past month with only the left ear in because of infection and now because your right ear is still draining lots of fluid, even one time filling up your hearing aid tube. Plus it really seems to be bothering you; you won't let anyone touch your right ear. So we are going to finish with prescription drops (for the tubes) this week and then try again this weekend. Even with the 1 ear, you seem to be localizing sound really well.

I quickly looked online at some 10 month milestones and you are doing great! 

• He is stringing a range of babbling sounds together to makes a 'sentence' - Yes, lots of ga, la, za, ja, va, ma, ba, yeah-yeah, da
• By 10 months, he can shake his head to indicate 'no' - Hmm, I think yes. You definitely understand no, and I've seen you shake your head when I try to give you medicine or something you don't want.
• He understands a couple of words including his own name- Yes, you definitely know your name, bottle, ball, car, bang-bang (bang on table/floor), and moon! This is a big one- every night we read The Going to Bed Book and I always point out the moon (and boat) to you several times. Both Mommy and Daddy have seen you correctly point out the moon in multiple books by Sandra Boyton.
• He can copy sounds that he hears- Maybe. I repeat a lot of the sounds that you make and then you'll repeat them again. We also sing Mommy's favorite vocal warm-up a lot (all those years of musical theater paid off!) and you like to sing along or respond back. 

(adorable feet below)

New this month-
Dancing- Your speech therapist told us to be on the look out for dancing and I finally started to notice your little booty bounce this month. I brought out Maevy's tea pot over the weekend that plays some fun songs. You immediately smile and start bouncing when I press the music button. We also have fun opening and closing the lid. Daddy thinks you should have some more boy-toys. What's wrong with the tea pot?

Whining- Like most boys, you love Mommy. You have spent many mornings whining the second I'm out of sight and crawling/chasing me all over the house, which usually ends with your head on the floor from exhaustion, and lots of whining/tears - "why won't Mommy just pick me up!". Of course, I do eventually pick you up, but you know sometimes I have to put my jacket on, get dressed, brush my teeth..you know things!

Despite all the doctor's visits, you really are doing great. Let's hope this next month involves a little less snot. Love you stink-pot.

- Mommy