The Hill Family Saga: The big 10!

Weight: 20lbs 3.2oz

Height: 29 inches

Clothing: He still has a few 6-9 month/9 month pants that fit well enough to wear until the pants weather has completely gone, but for the most part he is wearing 9-12 month or 12 month clothes as well as some 12-18 month shirts. We had fun at a consignment sale so he is all set on summer clothes and I love seeing his chunky thighs in shorts!

Love him in shorts!

Desperate times call for desperate clothing choices ;-)

Diapers: He is still on the medium rise and going through 6-7 diapers a day. This month included a lot of diaper sprayer use. Ever since his stomach bug, and possibly due to teething, he has been a nasty pooping machine and his diapers have needed lots of spraying. He also ended up with an infection on his man parts because of all the irritation from pooping, but thankfully we got some cream to solve that problem.

Gotta love a baby in a diaper and shirt

Eating: He is still eating three meals a day as well as 4 nursing sessions. He has been very sporadic with his eating, but never really seems to chow down a ton yet. New foods this month included peaches, wheat germ (in homemade granola), coconut, dates (in homemade granola bars), asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms and spinach (in smoothies). His favorites include oatmeal with chia seeds and milk, cheese, grapes, blueberries, carrots, zucchini and yellow squash, and sometimes green beans. He doesn’t really seem to eat a lot of grains at this point, but for now I think that is okay. The only puree he gets is still the smoothie I make him and put in our reusable squeeze pouches.

Eating can require a brow swipe or two :-)

Friendships: Alethea is his best buddy. They have begun to play together more and more. It is not uncommon for me to find them playing together in one or the other’s bedroom while I do the dishes. He follows her any time she leaves the room and is getting quite quick at the pursuit! We have joined a play group so he has had opportunities to play alongside several kiddos right around his age, but not much interaction yet.

Sometimes the result of playing with his sister can be interesting

Mobility: He is still not crawling in the traditional way. He prefers the bear crawl/normal crawl combo still. We also think he is just being lazy about the whole walking thing. He has incredible balance and transfers from object to object with ease. He is even climbing up to stand/kneel on low to the ground objects. We used to be able to get him to walk while we hold his hands, but now all he does is giggle and raise his legs in the air when we do that, lol. To his credit, he isn’t as much of a dare devil as his sister so he may just be timid to start walking for a while. He can stand independently (only on his own choosing) for a few seconds at a time. He still pushes anything he can pull up on around the room and is actually getting to the point where he can shift directions much of the time when he runs into something. He is very motivated by the opportunity to play outside so this usually puts his crawling or pushing of objects into hyper speed so he can get out the door before it gets closed.

So proud of himself

Just pushing a chair :-)

Busted!

Sleeping: He is still taking two naps a day and slept through the night for the first half of the month, but then put me through some craziness at the end of the month. He went through an almost 2 week phase of waking up sometime between 3am and 5am and screaming for up to 2 hours. He didn’t want to nurse or be held, but he didn’t want to be put down either. It made for some crazy days, a few of which he was up for the day at 4:45am. Thankfully the last 2 days of the month he was back to sleeping through the night and hopefully he returns to that pattern for a while. Naps have become pretty entertaining because he has been falling asleep in some pretty funny positions due to the fact he plays/rolls around until he is out cold.

Love his sweet sleeping positions

Car naps can be a lifesaver

Playtime: He still loves to play with anything he can pull up on and anything that Alethea is playing with. He has started to really enjoy placing objects in and out of containers as well as put lids on and off of containers. He has also taken a liking to stacking objects. He still loves music and sways back and forth any time he hears it. It seems like he always has something in his mouth and will often carry things around in his mouth like a dog, lol. He also loves to bang on things and growls/squeals as he does it. He loves to throw/dump things too. He loves to flip through the pages of books and he loves to then throw them down to the ground when he is finished with them, lol.

Just a little light reading

Communication: He is still babbling, but he seems to be more intentional about his communication rather than just making noise for noise sake. (Though he still does his fair share of just making noise just for fun too.) He definitely makes sure to vocalize when he needs more food or when he is done and we are working on using sign language rather than simply yelling at me, lol. He also has started to communicate his frustration with not being able to reach or do something and it’s actually quite cute. Alethea has pictures on the wall with stickers on them and they are just out of his reach and he will make noise while reaching before sitting down and pouting while looking at me. J

Teeth: His 2^nd tooth on his bottom front right poked through on March 25^th, 2014. He is drooling a bit more and chews a lot, but doesn’t really seem to be bothered by teeth.

Random: He loves to tip his head back and squeal when being held or when swinging at the park. It has made for a few scary moments if we aren’t quite ready for him to throw himself backwards. He got to go to his first race and watch Mommy and Daddy run a 10k. J He finally really enjoys his baths and really gets into splashing and playing in the water. He loves to climb into Mommy and Daddy’s shower to play, thankfully not while we are showering. He absolutely loves music and starts swaying or bouncing whenever he hears it.