Notes from the month of October
October was Orson's last month as a baby. It seems babies over one year
old are automatically designated "toddler" if they can walk or not.
Actually, diaper packaging does that too. Anyway, the month ended with
his big birthday party, so he's now no longer a baby.
Words
This month Orson began to combine increasingly complex vowel and
consonant sounds together. Dipthings and multi-syllabic word-like
entities are all the rage.
However, he's also using non wordlike constructs to express meaning,
such as "aaaahh!" when he looks at babies or his new favorite, the soft
grey bunny, or "nnnnnnNNNNN!" when he's indicating someone could pass
him the sippy cup now.
Some new consonants have crept in too, like "zzzz" and something like a
"ssss".
Mobility
He's increasingly confident about standing up from sitting and cruising,
twisting and climbing. He walks along pushing his little tricycle, but
is not yet walking solo.
Eating
As his milk meals diminish, first to two and finally to one, evening,
drink, his appetite for solids has increased. He eats pretty much
everything except for peanut butter and honey, and was introduced to
chocolate as part of the birthday offerings.
For his birthday he had:
petite chocolate fudge cakes
apple and custard tart
crustless cottage cheese and spinach quiche
baked polenta with blue and parmesan cheeses
fairy bread
Behavior
Apart from days he was badly teething, Orson continues to be a pleasure
to be around. Mid-month he was getting pretty fatigued due to a loss of
naps due to Judy being still working, but he caught that up pretty fast
when the contracting ended. Judy and Liam have decided he needs to
learns that he could take naps without needing Judy's constant company,
as it's a teeny bit limiting to have to have her present constantly.
They have purchased three books on sleep and are formulating a plan
which they plan to begin as soon as Orson has had and recovered from his
12 month shots.
The plan is:
keep Orson well-slept
institute naps on cue and an early bedtime
introduce Mommy substitutes (i.e. soft toy favorite - the grey bunny)
reacquaint Orson with his crib as a nice place to frequent
move crib next to the big bed and move him across
Liam and Judy's new favorite author is Elizabeth Pantley, who writes
general baby care and childcare books as well as sleep books.
Growth
Orson's eighth tooth came in this month, evening up his mouth. And then
a molar came in too, taking about 5 days to do so. On the fifth day (his
birthday) he was his usual happy charming self.
Background
Judy worked the first half of the month on and off, and shortly after
swore she would never leave home again. As this is written, she is
considering another stint of contracting.
The birthday party took place the day after Orson's actual birthday and
was a small, pleasant gathering. Orson heaped great attention on his
gifts, which we thought was a very grown-up thing.
He received:
17 books including his favorite, one about babies
a blue elephant
a grey bunny which he currently adores
a fine suit of summer clothing
a small soft (purple) bath elephant
a drum that sings and counts and repeats the alphabet
limes and a round of cheese (not actually really for him but deeelicious!) |
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