Hellobee

Jacobi has become like a new little person this month. So much of his demeanor has changed – for the better! Not that he was a bad baby, but he was always more reserved and quiet. Now he is full of energy, spunk, joy and love. I used to be anxious for the end of the first year, but I’m embracing it now – it is so fun!

I have always said Cobi is a happy baby, but he isn’t very social and by nature tends to be cautious and a little more reserved. Though he is most comfortable with us, he has always limited his excitement and stayed more observant. But all of a sudden this month he is laughing and giggling at everything! It has always taken crazy antics and over the top efforts to get him to crack a smile or giggle before, but now everything is making him laugh! It is absolutely hilarious and so much fun. He has started interacting with his books; at the library we read a farm animals book and he laughed at a bunch of the pictures of animals. He especially seemed to think the lamb was funny.

He loves loves loves pictures of other babies or children. We often watch Elizabeth Mitchell music videos, or “Shining Star” by Baby Signing Time and he loves watching all the kids and laughs in pure joy seeing baby faces. We have a few books that consist of pictures of children and he could “read” those over and over. Obviously the best is when he’s around other babies or children; he won’t take his eyes off of them and wants to do what they do.

Toward the end of the month he developed a new skill: throwing blocks and balls into buckets or bowls. It’s exciting to see him master those concepts of putting something inside and taking it out. He mostly enjoys throwing though; he loves to chuck his balls across the room and he has a really good arm! He is also predominantly right-handed. I was a little disappointed because I am a lefty and was hoping he’d take after me!

He is finally starting to stand unassisted! He realizes it’s a fun new feat and loves to practice this new skill, and clap for himself!  It’s adorable to see how proud he is of himself. He has tiny little chubby feet so I was kinda worried it would be awhile for him to do this. We lent our walker to my nephew, but he’s made do by pushing cardboard boxes along the wood floor in the kitchen and he loves it. He’s started pushing his wheeling toys like his vtech truck even on the carpet now too. It makes me excited to give him his birthday present (a Green Toys recycling truck!).

Separation and social anxiety has taken place now. Whereas he never used to notice when we dropped him at the church nursery, he now gets sad and often when we return to pick him up, he is crying for us. It’s so sweet though how he immediately perks up when he sees us and tries to squirm out of the childcare workers’ arms to get to us. As hard as it is to see him sad and not playing well apart from us, I have to admit I kind of love tangibly seeing how much he loves and misses us. I know it’s just a phase, but I love feeling needed and wanted.

Speaking of which – he is so affectionate! When we pick him up after naps, he lays his head on our shoulders for a minute. He loves giving lots of kisses and being cuddled.

Lanuguage: He is mastering new sounds – at the beginning of the month he was say “poh, pah, pooh” over and over. And mid-month he now says ma ma ma mom mom. I had no idea what it would do to my sappy little heart to hear that precious voice say ma ma! I don’t think he understands quite yet that I’m “ma ma” but it doesn’t even matter! He still says dad da dad a lot as well. But mostly he loves to yell. And loud. He never used to be loud, but he loves hearing his own voice now! He also loves to squeal and squeak, especially when we chase him.

Eat: For the first time in his life had actually refused food a couple times this month. Once was pot roast, another was quinoa patties and the third time was tempeh and again with eggs. However one of the times he would eat anything sweet we gave him – kiwi and berries! He ended up not eating much for dinner those nights, but he always makes up for it the next day.

For the first time I gave him almonds this month. I’ve been holding off on all nuts but it’s hard since we bake primarily with almond flour. I gave him a cookie we baked with almond flour and he loved it! There was no allergic reaction and I’m elated.

He finally mastered his pincer grasp too! However he tends to use it more for toys and small pieces of lint he finds in the carpet rather than for food.

Sleep: Sleep is good. It’s actually pretty good! He still wakes at night to nurse, anywhere from 1-3 times, however this last week he’s slept through the night twice which has been heaven. He is going to bed a little later now, usually around 8pm and he sleeps in until 8:30-9am. I love having a baby that sleeps in because I am not a morning person and highly value sleep!

His naps are decent but they are a regression from previous times. He was always a stellar napper but lately he only naps 30-60 minutes which isn’t bad, but not as amazing as before. Maybe once a week he surprises us with the 1.5 hour nap like in the past.

Clothes:

No change – he’s still a peanut! although we did have a funny incident. I was shopping for his First Birthday outfit and checking out the adorable H&M collection. I was measuring their pants to be sure I got the right size as H&M runs very, very large. My son is 11 months old and wears a size 4-6 months at H&M! In most other brands he is still wearing 6-9, 6-12 or 9 months. I don’t foresee him growing into size 12 months until summer.

Adventures: 

It has been bitterly cold here in Minnesota. We have had our fair share of subzero temperatures this month so our adventures are limited to staying indoors pretty much all week. We’ve gone to the gym a few times, the grocery store and also joined our local MOPS charter, but other than that we stay home and play, watch Elizabeth Mitchell music videos and sleep. A lot.

We are really busy planning his first birthday party- it’s so exciting that it’s so soon! We are putting a lot of love and time into the details and I’m excited to see it all unfold. I hope Cobi loves it and enjoys himself – especially given his new bout of social anxiety! Here’s hoping! And looking forward to celebrating his first year of life!