11 Months: The Countdown is On!

Yes, I realize that I just gave a Teddy update last week.  Sure, I could've combined the two into one post.

But, c'mon, folks: I'm just not that organized or on the ball.

Anyway, Teddy is thisclose to being a big-time one-year-old.  Like I said in the 10 month recap, he's already copping a huge toddler attitude, so this month he's been busy perfecting his technique.

One, going on 21.

I don't like to brag, but I think this nugget is rather precocious.  I mean, Will was at LEAST 13 months old before he launched a reconstituted meat product at me.  But little brother has a mean fast ball (fast nugget?) and a wicked smile to go with it.

Go ahead.  It's okay to feel jealous.

Another toddler behavior that has really come online recently: the Spaghetti Noodle.

I know you know what I'm talking about.  Maybe you call it something different, or you haven't given it a name that can appear in print, but you know the move.

Here's a scenario: It's a beautiful day at the park.  Sweet toddler is gurgling and scampering, birds are chirping, and you're planning to write a book about your awesome parenting practices because you've got this mom/dad thing down cold and your kid is awesome, and you have no idea who these heathen "threenagers" are because your child is the picture of health and happiness and it is so easy!  After awhile, it's time to go home.  A two minute warning is given (and ignored).  You tell your child, "Time to go home!" and your angel says, "NO!" in some way, shape, or form.  He continues to ignore you and the situation escalates to a chase.  Once you catch up, you try to pick Angel up, but he goes limp and slithers out of your arms.

Repeatedly.

Sound familiar?

Yep.  Teddy's working on that move these days, but his I-don't-wanna-leave-and-you-can't-make-me scenario is in the bathtub.  So, there's the super-fun element of danger added to the whole kit and caboodle.

Teddy has not only become more of a rascal this month, but he's also done some big things of the perambulatory variety, namely standing all by himself.  He's walking with assistance and trying to carry stuff while he crawls, so it's only a matter of time, I think.

Unless... he's like Will and discovers that maintaining a lower center of gravity makes you less of a target for your older sibling to stiff-arm you.

All of this means that Sarah and Will feel that little bro makes for the best kind of marionette ever.

Dance, monkey, dance.

Stats:
28 inches long
19 lbs.

He appears to be getting fatter and his pajamas are harder to zip without pinching a roll, but he's slipped down in the percentiles.

Turn-ons:
Unrolling all of the toilet paper from the roll; pants-wrestling (again, I have no idea what this is about); shoe-removal; The Wheels on the Bus; magnets; eating paper; throwing all of the food off his tray; idolizing his older siblings; dancing; Cheez-its; bananas; salad; spaghetti; rolling a ball; and guitars.


Turn-offs:
Getting out of the bath; being in his car seat; people messing with his ears; shoes, hats, clothing in general; bachelorette parties (more on that after Valentine's day); his Sully stuffed animal; hammers in general, Will's Thor hammer in particular.

Most people I know seem to love the tiny baby stage the best (particularly newborns), but this is just not the case for me.  Knowing that Teddy will most likely be our last baby, I've tried to embrace this season and focus on all of the good stuff.  But, to me, toddlerhood and beyond is where things really start to get interesting.  I mean, the kid can actually DO stuff!  Plus, personalities really start to show.

So, as much as I might tease and kvetch about toddlers, THIS is the part I'm looking forward to.

It's a Good Thing He's Cute

So...

This Bear turned 10 months on January 3rd, and decided to celebrate by copping a toddler attitude.

Yep. Though, technically, I guess toddlers are supposed to be walking in order to be deemed as such, I think the 'tude has a lot more to do with it than gross motor milestones.

Now, littlest man has always had strong opinions (I have NO idea where he gets that ;) but these days he wields his cuteness as a weapon.  Like the time I told him repeatedly to stop trying to knock a picture off the wall: he just looked at me with those big blue eyes, flashed a lopsided grin, reached a fat hand out, and pulled the picture.  Like any good disciplinarian, I cooed, "No, Teddy," and that booger shook his head at me.  This went on awhile until I held his hand and pulled it away from the picture.  When I let it go, he shook his head and grabbed my hand, doing the same thing to me that I had done to him.

And then I laughed.  

Which is why my children are heathens.

I remember that I once compared dressing 2-year-old Will for church
to trying to put a bobcat into a potato sack.  
That's what it's like trying to get Tedder into anything besides the bathtub.

Future nudist, this one.

One thing I'm looking forward to in the toddler stage: toddler dancing.  There's nothing like a little guy shakin' his diaper-clad groove thang.  

So, what went on in month 10?  

Nothing much, besides his first Christmas and first New Year.

After a disastrous attempt to let T enjoy the soulful stylings of our church's various choirs and handbell teams(?), he yukked it up in the nursery for the remainder of Christmas Eve service.

Favorite Christmas gift: the salad spinner (fun for the whole family!)

Highlights: Teddy touched the Elves, and nobody cried on Santa's lap! (So disappointing).

Everybody hated the overnight French toast casserole I made for Christmas morning. (Shocker).

Only Teddy broke an ornament, but all three kids attempted to knock down the tree.

I still can't, for the life of me, get an entire meal ready to eat all at once.

Few things rattle a third child.  I mean, c'mon, they get passed off to anyone with a pulse, there's no such thing as "babyproofing", and nobody bats an eyelash when big brother gives him a busted lip.  Nonetheless,  the Teddy Bear is decidedly spooked by sneezes, beards, and sparklers.  In that order.

Stats:

Month 10 also showed growth in Teddy's, uh, growth.  My nugget made it into the 8th percentile for weight, the 40th percentile for height, and the 50th percentile in head circumference.
So, our son is, in essence, shaped like a Q-tip.  

One thing I'm wrestling with is the hair cut.  Homeslice is rocking the sheepdog bangs/mullet combo a la Norman Reedus, but every time I get the scissors out to give him a trim, I find some reason why I can't do it. Even though the tiny baby stage isn't necessarily my favorite, haircuts are a rite of passage signalling the end of something fleeting.  Owing to precious baby ringlets on both Sarah and Will, I got to postpone their first haircuts until well into the second year.  This current little sheepdog has nary a kink to break up his stick-straight locks, so mama's gonna have to put on her big-girl pants pretty soon or risk having Teddy mistaken for a girl.

Which could happen, since he wears big sister's clothes sometimes. #thirdchildproblems

Language:

Teddy said his first word this month.  In his own deadpan way, it is completely fitting.  Wanna know what it is?  "Uh-oh!"  (Insert surprise pregnancy joke here.)  He also says, "Da-da" on occasion, and, one time, ONE TIME, he said, "Ma-ma."  Not surprisingly, he babbles all the time and knows EXACTLY what we're saying to him and about him.

Turn-ons: breaking stuff; breaking Sarah and Will's stuff; taking all of the clothes out of drawers and laundry baskets; removing every item from every cabinet within reach; wrestling pants (I don't know); pulling up on stuff; taking baths till he's pruney; tearing up toilet paper; and eating 3 times as much as his siblings.

Turn-offs: being told "No"; getting out of the bath; shoes; clothes; diaper cream; donuts (we're running a DNA test about this one); yogurt; and hats.

We finally, FINALLY have a child who truly eats what we're eating.  The best part? He LOVES bbq.  I KNEW all those pulled pork sandwiches I craved when I was pregnant would pay off!

Health-wise, Teddy has reached the 4-ear-infection threshold, so we are going to the ENT and demanding tubes.  Well, not demanding.  But making a good case for them and being really politely persistent.  

He's a sweetheart now, but I can already tell we're in for it later.  

The way he just sits back and watches big sis and bro... 

I just know he's analyzing their attacks and probing us for weaknesses.