Rooney, 10 Months
My heart exploded for this little girl in the past month. There is something about seeing your baby become a little person that will make you want to press the Pause button on life (and I don't say that every month). We have seen so many physical and mental growth leaps in her lately - and it has been so fun to watch. I love this age! (I have said that before, and I'm sure it only gets better!)
Seriously, tell me - does it get any cuter than a chubby baby with big brown eyes in an owl hat and moccasins and a pink race car shopping cart???
ROONEY, 10 MONTHS
- Loves the vacuum, and chases it around the house
- Has fully mastered clapping and "so big" - and we are all so proud!
- Can cruise around furniture
- Has been caught standing on her own - once for about 10 seconds
- Can successfully drink water from her sippy cup
- Shows interest in walking
- Has ideas of her own, and likes to tell us when our ideas are not her ideas
- Has started this new thing that resembles giving hugs (video below)
[tentblogger-vimeo 56347360]
GROWTH
Weight
According to our Wii Fit, Rooney weighs 22 lb. 11 oz. I won't be putting that in her baby book, though, because I think it's wrong. That would mean she lost half a pound in the past month, and even though she was sick and had a decreased appetite, I don't think she lost weight. (We have used the Wii Fit to weigh her monthly unless she has a well-child checkup, so I definitely trust last month's doctor weight above this month.)
UPDATE 1/6/13: We were at my parents' house this weekend so I weighed myself and then me and Roo together. Looks like she weighs 23 lbs. 6 oz. (up 3 oz. from last month).
Clothing
Rooney wears mostly 18-month-size clothing and pajamas, and size 4 diapers. I prefer onesies on her now that the weather is cold. I just finally packed up her 9-month clothing and most of her 12-month stuff. One of our current favorites is a zebra vest!
ROUTINE
Eating
Rooney has recently started to show less interest in the bottle. Our doctor told us this would happen and is completely normal. She has started to play around more when she eats (rather than staying on task) and gets distracted, looks around, does acrobats. Seriously, she is funny to watch. This is new for us because she used to see the bottle, grab it and sit still until it was gone. She also used to eat 8 oz. consistently, but now it is more like 6-7 oz. at each feeding except the morning one (still 8 oz.).
She got sick this month, and during that time she really cut down her intake (from 30 oz. down to 20). Even though she is showing less interest and not finishing her meals, she does still seem to want 4 feedings (instead of cutting to 3), although that is something we will continue to watch for. We also need to start thinking about aligning her feeding times with ours.
She has a pureed fruit in the morning and a pureed veggie in the afternoon. We have bought several jars/packs and are also pulling from our supply of bananas, avocado and sweet potatoes we made for her.
Night Sleeping
We say this every month, but Rooney is a great night sleeper! She usually sleeps for 12 hours at night. This month she even did 14 hours one night. Right now her bedtime is 6:30 pm. We are trying to move this to 7:00 pm and her morning waketime to 7:00 am. We are close and will keep working at it. It depends on how well she takes naps during the day.
We got her another new sleep sack this month (it seems like we have to get a new one each month!) so that we can have two that fit her (well, three if you could the one at day care). We always try a new brand and I think this one might be my favorite. I definitely recommend it.
She still loves her pacifier - it is a sleep prop for sure. We try to keep it to the crib (and car if we are trying to get her to sleep). One reason is because it prohibits her from communicating with us or smiling at us. If she has it in her mouth during play time I will just pull it out, and she doesn't care. I don't want her to get attached to it, and I've read that now is the age where that can happen.
Day Sleeping
I think we are in a transition right now. It has been a few days since she took 3 naps, so maybe she is dropping to 2. Our biggest struggle right now (and has been for a couple months) is that she doesn't always nap well at day care, so sometimes she wants to go to bed early and throws off the consistent bedtime/schedule that we are trying to keep. Her naps can total 5 hours on a good day (when we're at home on Wednesday or the weekend), and 1.5 hours on a bad day (like yesterday at day care).
Bathing
We still do baths twice a week - Sundays and Wednesdays. Rooney loves it! She hears the water running and flails her arms and legs until we put her in. Eric does all the baths and I get her out and dry her off and put lotion on her back, and then Eric comes in and brushes her hair and we get her ready for bed. We love bath night!
Waketime
Roo's ideal waketime seems to be 2 hours. On the weekends, if we are home, she will be up for two hours, then sleep for two. Up for two, sleep for two. Up for two, down for 45 minutes. She has gone much longer stretches of being awake (up to 5 hours) on a couple occasions. We have stopped stressing about it because she has proven to us that her night sleep is not affected when her days are crazy.
HEALTH
Eric and I agree that having a sick kid is the worst thing. The week before Christmas, she came down with a cold (or something - symptoms were a cough, sneezing, lots of mucus, and even a slightly pink ear that she would tug at occasionally). And then Eric and I both got sick, and I somehow ended up with a (self-diagnosed) ear infection. Uff! Roo had three cough attacks that really freaked us out. They all happened right before she went down for bed/nap, which is normal. It is scary when you think your kid is having trouble breathing. Once it got so bad that we took her outside in the cold air, and the next night we called and made an emergency chiropractic appointment. Luckily, she seems to be over that bout and will be going to the chiropractor weekly this year instead of monthly.
DEVELOPMENT
Rooney has gotten much faster at crawling and definitely shows interest in walking. She will take steps when we hold her hands, and she also loves her walker that she got for Christmas. She can get around on her feet while holding on to our coffee table and other furniture. I think she will be walking by the time she is 1!
This month we have definitely noticed that Rooney has ideas of her own - and she will let you know if your idea is not the same as her idea! When we hold her she will point to where she wants us to go.
FUNNY THINGS
We are learning so much with our video monitor. There are times we put her down for a nap and she will be quiet - not making any noise at all - but she is standing in her crib, playing, sitting up or rolling around. Before we had the video monitor, we assumed she was sleeping if she was not making any sound. Sneaky baby! We also have caught her sleeping while sitting straight up, twice! It is hilarious. Even though we have the monitor now, we still go in to her room every night and watch her sleep before we go to bed.
PARENTING
I no longer think Rooney has separation anxiety. I think I was confusing it with the fact that when she is tired or hungry, she will crawl to me and want to be held. Just her way of telling me that she needs something. And when I am getting ready in the morning she prefers to be on my lap or held. If I walk away she will come find me. She does not cry when she goes to other people - that has happened twice but both were quite some time ago. We were at the mall a few weeks ago and she cruised right over to this old man and I swear she would have been happy to go home with him. So, maybe it isn't separation anxiety after all? Who knows?
We just love our little family. We get down on the floor and play with Roo every single night. It is one of our favorite times of day that we spend together. Rooney loves it, too, and she likes it best when we are all in the same room together. It's crazy that she has preferences like this already but if one of us leaves the room, she will fuss and crawl after us, and then sit in the hallway or somewhere where she can see both of us at the same time.
She and I have been listening to Mockingjay on our commute each day (we just finished!). This helped me reach my goal of reading six books last year, and it's also great for her developing brain. I think it will be a new part of our routine now.
Rooney is very distractable when it comes to telling her no and redirecting her to something else. I love that about this age, and I'm sure it will change as she gets older and won't be quite as uneventful. She doesn't seem to understand us when we say "that's a no" or "no, thank you" (usually touching the fireplace - when it's off). She usually smiles and claps, not understanding, so we just move her on to something else.
ROONEY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS
There is something magical about having a baby around for Christmas! It seemed so much more meaningful and exciting this year, and it was so fun to see Roo interact with our families (immediate and extended). We also dreamed up traditions we want to incorporate in years to come.
She got a lot of new toys for Christmas, and it is fun to see her explore them and learn how they work. She loves them all and it makes me glad that Christmas came for her at this age.
For a couple Christmas parties, Rooney was around dogs and cats, and she loves them both! She will chase them around the house and try to pet them and grab on to them. They usually don't sit still long enough for her to hurt them, but she is persistent!
LOOKING FORWARD
I've started to think about her first birthday party! Hard to believe it is less than two months away. It will be a small family gathering at our home. I'm envisioning a pink theme, and Roo will wear a crown!
See more 9-month photos here.
Past Milestone Posts: