Hellobee

Charlie turned 10 months old on 10/10/10! Now that he knows how to wave, he’s become the biggest flirt. He often waves at random people on the street. Whenever women make googly eyes at him, he giggles up a storm.

I love to dress him in hats! His 50th percentile head fits most hats well.

Charlie takes 2 naps most days, but once or twice a week he wakes up early and we have to give him a short stroller nap so he can make it to bedtime. He sleeps about 14 hours a day. This is a typical schedule:

5:30am – Wake up
7:45am – 9:45am – Nap #1 (2 hours)
1:30pm – 3:30pm – Nap #2 (2 hours)
7:30pm – Bedtime

I recently met a mom at the playground who said that her baby grew out of waking up early around 1 year of age, so hopefully Charlie does too!

From 5 – 9 months, Charlie’s sleep was pretty much perfect. When he dropped his 3rd nap around 9 months, his sleep changed. It could have been the famous 9 month sleep regression I’ve heard happens to many babies. It could have been that he’d been sleeping in different places for a month. But after he dropped his third nap, he also dropped all his sleepy signs. He never yawns anymore and we only know to put him down when he starts to fuss — that’s usually between 3 1/2 – 4 hours. He also started wanting to be full before each nap so we give him a bottle. He’d still be awake when we put him in his crib, so even though I didn’t like feeding him before his naps, his sleep continued to be great from 9-10 months.

But now Charlie’s cold has completely thrown off his sleep.  I hope once he’s feeling better, his sleep goes back to normal. I’m so scurrrred we’re going to have to sleep train again. I think it would probably only take a day or two if we had to, but I’m so used to Charlie never crying… I don’t ever want to hear him cry again!

Charlie loves to sit on our laps and ride the big boy swings. He really is such a happy baby!

Ever since Charlie got sick, he has become a BIG TIME mama’s boy. If I’m around, he only wants me to hold him and hug him all the time. I do spend the most time with Charlie, but Mr. Bee spends a lot of time with Charlie too. How do I get him to become more of a daddy’s boy? It’s tiring when you have a mama’s boy on your hands.

Charlie has been eating better lately. He consumes about 25 oz of formula and 6 oz of solids a day. Our nanny can get him to eat 6 oz of solids in one sitting, and even as much as 10 oz a day, but he never eats as well for me. He knows I’m the weak one and that he can manipulate me!

Charlie is so tiny compared to Mr. Bee!

Charlie attends a Little Maestros music class at Kidville every Tuesday. Their classes are pricey, but Charlie absolutely goes bananas for them. The boy loves music and he loves to dance! He also attends sing-a-longs at least once a week at a local cafe. There are story times at the local library, Barnes and Noble and cafes. And there are 5 local indoor play spaces as close as a block away and as far as a mile away. Along with play dates once or twice a week, Charlie has a pretty packed social calendar.

It’s been a month and a half since I weaned Charlie, and still no period. I’ve been period free for 20 months! Don’t get me wrong — I don’t miss it at all, but I am wondering when it’ll return because it makes me paranoid that I might be pregnant.  My hair is still falling out in clumps. I can build a nest with all the hair that falls out during each shower. The suckiest part about my post baby body is that I think my boobs really shrunk two cup sizes permanently. So, so, sad.

Teeth make him look like a big boy. This is his rocker face.

Mr. Bee called this the Elmer Fudd hat.

Charlie learned how to clap and wave bye on his own about a month ago, and I decided that I would teach him the actual words so that he would clap and wave on cue, rather than at random times or when he was imitating us. Every time I waved, I said, “Say bye bye.” Soon he was able to associate just the words with the action of waving a la Pavlov without imitating me waving. It took about two days for Charlie to fully associate the phrase, “Say bye bye” with waving. Now he waves every time I ask him to. He even waves bye to me when he’s leaving with his nanny, and I don’t say or do anything at all. He understands the words “bye bye” and what the action of waving bye means!

Since teaching him bye bye went so well, I also taught him “let’s clap.” He understood right away probably because I’d often say “clap, clap, clap” when he clapped, so he was already familiar with the word.  Charlie will now wave bye or clap with solely verbal cues.  I haven’t really cared about milestones except for language comprehension and talking. Charlie has been babbling monosyllabic words for a very long time — bababa, mamama, dadada, vavava, and his favorite lalala — but no real discernable words as of yet. But I’m so excited that he can actually understand words.  I once heard that having a child is like having a dog that eventually learns how to talk. My puppy is learning how to talk. *tear.*

Charlie has a long tongue like me!

Mr. Bee carrying Charlie on his shoulders.

I remember when Charlie couldn’t even put his fingers in his mouth. Now he’s so good at feeding himself! It’s amazing just how much babies change from month to month during their first year of life.

– Charlie had a 9 1/2 month checkup recently. Weighing in at 20 pounds, he didn’t gain a single pound since his 6 month visit. He started off in the 90th percentile for weight the first few months of his life, and is now in the 50th percentile because the boy doesn’t like eating. He’s so far behind on solids, eating only 1 solid meal a day, and even that is often a struggle. He shows absolutely no interest when he sees us eating something, whereas most babies love solids. But he is in the 75th percentile for height, so hopefully his noneating ways don’t affect his height.

– I recently gave Charlie a small piece of pear and he choked on it. Luckily I was able to get it out of his mouth with my fingers, but it really freaked me out and now I’m scared to give him any chunky foods.

– Sometimes Charlie will start wailing when I leave the room, even if someone else is holding him. Big fat tears, snot, the whole thing. Is he a little mama’s boy or are most babies his age like this?

– Playing with Charlie in the early morning before his first nap has been so difficult lately. He’s an early riser, waking up anywhere between 5-6am, and I will never be a morning person. He’s so active and because of all his recent head injuries, I watch him like a hawk at all times. I’m so afraid he’s going to fall that I’m always right by, ready to catch him. It’s definitely nerve-wracking!

– I wonder how parents find time to do anything when they’re watching their babies. When I’m watching Charlie, he requires 100% of my attention. He’ll sit in his high chair with some Cheerios for 15 minutes so I can get some dishes done, but if he’s awake, I’m actively playing with him or watching him. He’s not into tv, and he’s not into his jumperoo anymore. He gets bored of his toys easily, and just wants to stand and cruise and cause mischief. It’s not so much that he isn’t independent… it’s that he’ll get hurt if I let him wander around anywhere other than his playroom. How do you get anything done… seriously?

– I think the easiest period of Charlie’s life was between 5-8 months. His sleep was fantastic, he took 3 naps a day, and though he’s been crawling/standing/cruising for awhile, he happily stayed in a small area playing with his toys. Now he’s an active little monster that only touches what he’s not supposed to — like electrical sockets and cords. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when he starts walking!

– Charlie started waving bye about a month ago, and now he does it every day. The grandmas absolutely love it. He is a HUGE flirt and loves smiling and waving at zee ladies when we’re out at restaurants. I may have a future heartbreaker on my hands.