10 Months Old

Everyone,

It's hard to imagine that the boys are 10 months old! (I have to admit, my Mom was the one who reminded me they were 10 months old yesterday. I hadn't even thought about it.) They are changing so much every day. They are looking like little boys more and more, and not little babies. They are trying hard to give up their morning nap which I am not liking. It's too early for them to go to one nap! They really love to be together and playing with whatever the other one is playing with. Most of the time, Professor has a toy and is singing to it. He only sings when he's really interested in something. That catches Pirate's attention and he drags himself over to Professor. He tries to take the toy from Professor. After passing it back and forth for a few times, Pirate ends up with the toy and rolls away really fast for one in a cast. Professor is heart broken. He cries so loud and looks up at me all dejected. "He took my toy!" Pirate is happy playing with it. If I take it from Pirate and give it back to Professor, Pirate will just do the same thing within minutes. So mostly I either pick up Professor and take him to do some of my stuff with me, or I'll take the toy away completely. Doesn't really matter, they just do it again in a few minutes.

I love seeing their interaction though. It is so fun to have 2 babies at the same time! They really stick together and love playing together. Pirate doesn't let his cast slow him down and he chases Professor around the house to be his partner in crime. Yesterday they discovered my pots and pans. I opened the cupboard to get one out, and Pirate saw me do it. He clumped over to the cupboard, opened it and started softly talking. Professor barreled in from the other room, climbed over Pirate (who never minds) and began pulling the pans from the cupboard. I gave them wooden spoons and they started making a racket. Butterfly joined in and made them mac and cheese and fed them. I love seeing them explore their world and find new things to play with.

Pirate is my sweet little boy. He is so easy going. Few things make him cry. Mostly only if he's hungry, hurt, or I put him down. He has started to babble constantly, although it is very soft sometimes. He and I have long conversations of "ah ba!" "ah ba?" "ba ba!" "oh bo" "huh?" It's very cute and we often end up in giggles. Which brings Butterfly over to see what we are laughing about. Boy does he love Butterfly. Those two have a bond that I don't see with Professor and Butterfly. It's like Pirate is our corner stone and we are all drawn to him. Because we all are. He has the best smile and great big front teeth that make it even better. He is ticklish. Having the cast on has made his belly even more ticklish. If you stick your fingers in there to rub (as I often do...don't ask me why) he laughs.

This morning, I tried to weigh and measure him. Tried being the important word here. He did not like being weighed and Professor kept trying to pull himself up on the scale. I finally got a final weight though: 21 lbs 9 oz. Now the question is how much of that is cast and how much of that is Pirate? I suppose we'll know next month. As for measuring, forget it. He kept rolling over to try and get the measuring tape so I didn't get anything solid. Somewhere between 28 and 29 inches. His upper body strength is amazing. He can crawl almost as fast as Professor in his cast. His spine is supple. It bends as I've never seen a spine bend before. He can almost reach to the top of our couch while on his belly. He tries so hard to pull himself up on things and I see him getting frustrated with the cast. He still has his happy kick with one leg so I'm hopeful that will come back when the other leg is free. He is a champion nurser and will nurse all day long if I let him. He likes to eat solid foods, but is not really into it. Still. He does love bread. And he loves the spoon. But the food...eh. I have noticed that he does not really pick up the finger food we give him. He prefers to either pound it with his open hand, or try and eat it off the tray with his mouth. Something to keep an eye on. He is breaking his cast (again) and this time, I'm not caring. It comes off in 10 days.

Professor is Mr. Mischief. He is into EVERYTHING. If he sees it, he wants it. He crawls as fast as he can. Sometimes he puts his head down and just barrels his way over to me. He is my buddy. I can't cook without his little hands slapping on the floor to get to me. He loves to watch things bubble and simmer. Luckily I perfected the one armed cooking with Butterfly. If I can't pick him up, he will hang on my legs and cry, "Mamamama!" It's cute but makes him really underfoot. There were about 3 days this month where he went on a nursing strike. It was SO frustrating to have him latch on only to unlatch a second later and cry. He loves his binkie so much that I ended up taking it away from him completely (even at bedtime) and the strike stopped. He's back to nursing (although half hearted) and I've given his binkie back to him at naps and bedtime and in the car. As uninterested as he is in nursing, he is very interested in food. He loves to feed himself. When I give him Cheerios, he grabs whole handfuls of them and starts shoving them in as fast as he can making "mmmmm" sounds the whole time. He doesn't like runny baby food anymore. He wants to chew! So I have to thicken up their dinner. I still get really frustrated with them and eating, but more so with Professor since he has discovered he can get the spoon close to his mouth and then hit it at the last second to send the food flying. Great fun, let me tell you.

He sat very happily in my scale this morning (sat up! No laying down for this big boy!) and he weighs 17 lbs, 7 oz. That's about a pound up from last month at the doctor's office. Their scale and mine are a bit different, though. Still, I'm happy to see that he is gaining some weight. I got an approximate measurement of 28 inches. Pirate tried to pull the measuring tape out from under Professor just as I was getting his heel stretched out to the number. He has the cutest shy little smile and dimples on the sides of his mouth. His eyes are startling blue and that's what everyone comments on all the time. He has the sunniest personality and is extra cute while getting into trouble. He is cruising big time on everything, and wants to walk around while holding your hands. He has been sitting up on his knees really well so I imagine he will be standing alone soon. Anything Butterfly has he should have. He really runs her around. He chirps if he's interested in something "huh" and has a very deep throaty giggle. He still sings to his toys and is very loud. Butterfly gets him going and the two of them together hurt my ears. He loves to clap (so adorable) and bang things together. He also likes to use Pirate's cast as an obstacle course and climbs over him several times a day. He climbs through my kitchen chairs, over my legs, through my legs, and on top of any box he can find. Yesterday I found him on my coffee table. He had pulled Butterfly's kitchen over, climbed on top of it, and then up onto the coffee table. He's going to be one exciting toddler, isn't he?

Only a few short months away from being 1! Any ideas about a birthday party for them?

Safire