Category: Kids

Dear Laurel,

Today you turned 11 months old and the countdown has begun to your first birthday.  You are growing so fast and it seems like new things are happening each day.  You are pulling up on everything and moving around pretty well.  You are standing on your own for several seconds before losing your balance and have even taken a few steps!!  There have only been 3 or 4 occasions where you have taken some steps, usually 3or 4 before you fall, but of course you refuse to walk once we grab the camera or video camera.  It definitely seems like you will start walking by your first birthday.  It’s very exciting to see you take your first steps, but it means you will be walking everywhere and getting into EVERYTHING!  You already crawl your way into trouble now.  You still love water bottles and have learned the location of the recycling bin, which has become a toy chest for you full or bottles and cardboard to play with.  Your eyes light up like you have discovered gold when you start pulling out the contents.  It’s quite hilarious.

You are beginning to discover table foods and you seem to like most foods.  Your favorite by far are Mum Mums, which are specifically made for babies your age.  They are rice rusks and taste like rice cakes or rice krispy treats (minus the sugar).  It’s a healthy snack, so I am glad you enjoy them so much.  You start going crazy for them at the sight of the package.  You start smacking your lips and raise your hands with excitement.  Even the people at daycare are surprised how much you enjoy them.  Just this past week we introduced Cheerios and you seem to really enjoy those also.  You are still learning to appreciate textures, but little by little have started tasting more foods.

Your personality is starting to come out a little bit more now.  You seem to be quite the comedian.  You are often laughing and smiling and you love people watching just like mommy.  You do not seem as quiet  as your daddy, but I guess that’s ok.  You enjoy music and often clap and bounce when you hear it.  You are a bit mischievous and pretend not to understand the word “no” when you are doing something you are not supposed to do like pulling on the blinds or messing with the tv components. When daddy or I say “no” in our stern voices and stern faces, you just smile and keep going.  I hope you understand no soon!

You have one more week until you get your Doc band off and we are very excited about that.  The only thing I am not excited about is you hitting your head on everything no that you don’t have anything to “protect” you from getting hurt, but I am sure you will quickly learn.  I just hope there are not too many bumps and bruises along the way.

You have not really starting saying any new words yet, but you are starting to vocalize more.  You definitely understand your name also, which is very cool.

So as I mentioned, the countdown begins to your first birthday.  We plan to have a small gathering at home with family and a few friends, but it will definitely be a memorable event.   Can’t wait to celebrate with you!!

Love you dearly!

Mommy

Dear Laurel,

It is mind boggling to think that you are already 10 months old. You have grown so much over the past month. It was just a short while ago that you first started crawling. Now, you move across the floor like a pro.  You love to pull up on everything, including mommy’s legs when she comes through the door in the evenings. You have even started sliding around objects while pulling up. You will slide back and forth across the entire edge of the table trying to find the best angle to reach our phones, the remote and anything else we are trying to keep away from you by placing it in the center. Food has finally joined the long list of things that you like to stick in your mouth. You still like playing with your food, but now it does eventually makes its way to you lips. The doctor tells us your teeth will come when they come, but not to expect them anytime soon. You show very little interest in waving to anyone, but love trying to snap your fingers while clicking your tongue, which seems so much more complicated. Your “dancing” has become more animated as your interest in music continues to grow. Also, around mother’s day, mommy and I noticed that you have taken to scrunching your nose up when you laugh and smile. It is adorable.

Your favorite things at 10 months are:

• Pulling up on the coffee table
• Crawling really fast
• Splashing your hands in water
• Doc McStuffins & Choo Choo Shoul
• Smiling at everyone and everything

I love you and I can’t wait to see what the next month brings

Always,

Dad

 

Dear Laurel,

Another month has quickly gone by and this week you turned 9 months old!  Only 3 more months until your turn 1 and I can hardly believe it.  Over the weekend, you met a new milestone… crawling!!!  You have been doing what daddy refers to as the “military crawl” for several weeks now, but just this weekend, we noticed that you pushed up and can now support your weight and crawl.  Now that you have learned to crawl, you are moving all over the place.  Another milestone for you was that you graduated to the Infant 2 room at daycare!  You went from being the oldest in the room to being the youngest, but you seem to be fitting in great.  I was a little bit nervous because we had become very comfortable with the teachers in Room 1, but Room 2 has some great advantages.  First, all of the babies in your new class are crawling, so it encourages you to move and “explore the world”.  I’ve also noticed that the teachers seem to spend more time interacting with you and your classmates on the floor, which is great.  You are adjusting to your new classroom very well, so that definitely makes me feel a lot better.

You are still enjoying food although you still seem much more interested in paper and non edible items.  You haven’t quite figured out what to do with table food yet.  We have put a few things in front of you, but you tend to play with them or just stare, you haven’t been very interested in eating table food.

You are sleeping much better recently and have had a couple nights of sleeping through, but it’s not consistent.  I thought last week perhaps you were teething and a tooth would emerge and I could say that was the culprit of the , but still no teeth.

Your favorite things at 9 months are:

• Music… You love it!  You try to dance and sometimes “sing” along
• Bath time… you splash your hands in the water as hard as you can and get water in your eyes and all over mommy
• Rolling over… especially when you are on the changing pad and we really need you to be still
• Crossing your ankles… you cross your ankles 99.99% of the time (in the carseat, stroller, on the floor). It’s actually pretty cute

People at daycare are constantly telling us how happy you are and you definitely are.  Today when you came home, you were smiling and giggling… it was so much fun to watch!  I hope you always remain this joyous and I certainly look forward to the fun the next few months will bring!

I love you!

~Mommy

It looks like Laurel plans to start crawling any day now

Dear Laurel,

On Saturday you turned 8 months old.  Daddy and I are shocked at how quickly the time is passing.  We have already begun discussions about your first birthday!!

There have been a few new developments since you turned 7 months old.  You started saying “mama”!!  You said it for the first time while daddy was out of town.  I knew he wouldn’t believe me, so I recorded it to have proof!  You still babble quite a bit, but have not said many other words besides dada and mama.

The other new development is that you are beginning to like food more and more.  I can actually get you to open your mouth for food now.  I am trying to get you to a solid 2 meals a day along with your milk.  You usually have oatmeal and fruit/veggies at daycare and then veggies or a “dinner” at home in the evenings.  Your favorite veggie so far seems to be squash and pears or apples are probably your favorite fruit.  We just started the “dinners” last week and you seem to love them!  You could not get enough of the chicken and rice dinner.  We also started green veggies.  Initially it seemed like you were not interested in the peas, but I think it was just a new taste for you.  When you taste something new, I usually smack my lips and say “mmmmm” and you smile and keep eating, but there is always that initial pause 🙂   You are a very messy eater.  You like to stick your fingers in your mouth while you are eating, so your hands and face get so messy.  Then the food on your hands gets all over your high chair try and then on your arms and sometimes your clothes.  But… that’s ok because you are eating and enjoying food!

You are still not crawling yet, but you can scoot to where you want to go very well.  Daddy and I think you have made a couple attempts to crawl, but you’re not quite there yet.  It doesn’t seem like it will be long now.  You still roll quite a bit also.  I thought you would have trouble adjusting to your cranial band, but it does not bother you one bit.  The one advantage of the cranial band is that your head it protected when you start rolling and hitting your head on things.  The helmet protects your head so you can’t feel it, which will be a problem when it comes off!  Speaking of your cranial band, you are getting it decorated in 2 weeks on Good Friday.  It will give it some personality instead of the plain white band.

You are making much more noise these days.  You like to scream and “sing in the car”, and you know how to get our attention when you are hungry or uncomfortable.  Much different than newborn Laurel that barely made a sound! 🙂

You are still not sleeping through the night. In fact, you tend to sleep a 4-5 hour stretch when you first go to sleep, but then you decide to wake up every 1 1/2 to 3 hours after that.  I am hoping it’s a teething phase or something and you go back to only waking up once during the night or making it all the way through!

Your favorite things at 8 months are:

• Jump and bounce in your jumper
• Chew on everything: pacifier, burp cloths, spoons, toys…
• Play with your stuffed elephant and chewing on his ears that make a crinkly noise
• Feel different textures (you like to touch faces, carpets, materials on couches and pillows, your crib)
• Take your socks off (and often sticking your feet in your mouth).

I love you and look forward to what month 8 has in store for us!

~Mommy

p.s.  I will work on getting some videos and pictures posted this week.