10 months!

Wow – Mitch is another month old already!  He’s getting so big – he weighs about 22lbs (85^th percentile) and is around 28.5 inches long (45^th percentile).  Our little short and stout teapot!  Our boy is right on track developmentally according the pediatrician.  In fact, he’s a little ahead of the game in some ways.  The doctor asked us if Mitch could sit on his own and stand with assistance. Not only is he doing that, he can stand up completely unassisted and walk!  

That’s right… our big boy took his first steps just before he turned 10 months old.  We knew he was close, but it still caught Pat and I a little off-guard.  Evie was 15 months old before she walked and we kind of assumed we had a little more time.  Not that we mind (much)!  We really do take a lot of joy in seeing Mitchell grow and learn new things.  But we’ve learned very quickly that Mitchell is very different from his sister.  Evie took her time learning to walk and was much more timid about it.  She was content to hold onto our hands and have use walk with her.  Mitch doesn’t really like to do this.  He prefers to walk by himself and he will only do it when he feels like it.  He’s still much faster at crawling so he’ll sometime walk a few steps, fall down and then speed-crawl the rest of the way.  He’s still doing that funny little crawl where he gets up on his hands and feet.  He looks like some kind of wild animal and it’s hilarious!  

Anyway, back to Mitch walking.  He’s not very timid about it.  If he feels like doing it, he will and not much will stop him from trying to get what he wants.  He doesn’t usually cry when he falls – he just gets back up and tries again. He already loves to climb – something that fills me with just a little bit of dread.  Many parents of boys have told us stories about scrapes and falls and ER visits, and it seems that Mitchell is fitting right into that stereotypical rough-and-tumble boy persona.  He climbs on everything – people, furniture, stairs, toys.  Evie never climbed out of her crib, but I see that in our future with Mitch (assuming we can ever get him to sleep in his crib).  Climbing = falling and falling = getting hurt.  Not what you want to think about as a parent.  I’m trying to find a balance between hovering over him to make sure that he doesn’t get even the tiniest bruise, and letting him go so he can learn and be confident in his own abilities. 

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Mitchell is eating more and more table foods.  He still only has two bottom teeth (although we’re almost sure he’s working on more), but he manages small bites of food very well.  I’m still a little hesitate to try too many types of food at once, but we are trying to give him as much variety (one at a time) as possible until we know his reactions.  So far so good! 

Verbally, Mitchell is advancing too.  He’s babbles a lot.  He squeals and screeches loudly.  He doesn't say any words with meaning other than Mama and Dada (that we can tell anyway).  He’s started mimicking us a little more and he understands that word ‘no’.  He will actually stop and shake his head when we say no to him (while grinning at us and going right back to doing whatever it is that he’s not supposed to be doing).  Mitchell does not like to be alone AT ALL and he doesn't like to be confined.  He hates his crib and will not sleep in there for more than a few hours.  He’s figured out how to open the door on the baby gate if we don’t lock it down so he can follow us.  I had him in the stroller in the driveway the other day and I walked away from him – just a few steps – to get something for Evie and he started crying and reaching for me.  He’s the sweetest, most easy-going baby most of the time unless he wants you to pick him up.  Then he will not leave you alone until you hold him.  These days I often have a little rugrat holding onto my cast while I get ready for work in the morning. :)

Can you tell this was a difficult photo shoot?  

Overall, Mitch is just a joy for family.  We all adore him and feel incredibly blessed to call him ours.  Can’t wait to see what next month brings!!