May 29, 2011

Today was a fun day with the kiddo, although I have to admit I was a little nervous about our plans. After weeks of waking up at 6a and taking his first nap around 8a, today he decided to sleep in until 7:30a and not take his nap until 11:30a. This was totally cool - except we were planning to leave for the baseball game at 12:30p and that pretty much blew those plans out of the water. We still ended up getting to the game right after starting time, so it was all good. We met the Cannon family there and they were sweating profusely when we made our way to the seats. It was HOT. The thing about that ballpark (Dr. Pepper) is that there is NO shade over the seats - so it was pretty warm. I slathered the kiddo in sunscreen before we left and he wore his new hat (as evidenced by the pictures) and both tactics were a success. His face was pretty pink while we were there, but I could tell his face wasn't getting in sun, so it was just from his temperature. Once we got home and he was really cooled down, I confirmed that he didn't burn at all, so I'm glad about that. There were a lot of kids (with equally pink faces) there since it was a family and friends day and I was surprised to see a TON of babies much younger than Gage - several that looked to be brand new. I was so nervous about taking a 10 month old, I don't know if I would have ever been brave enough to venture out there with a newborn. My hat is off to those ladies.

Despite the temperature, Gage did really well out there. He was in awe at first, looking around at all of the people and the new place. He pretty much just hung out in my lap, chewing on my water bottle and watching the game. We had 2 incidents where he got startled and started crying. Frisco scored a great run and I yelled and got excited (as well as everyone else around me) and it scared him and caused the new "quivering lip" cry, which totally breaks my heart. I stood up with him and he immediately calmed down - barely got a real tear out. So I sat back down and less then 2 minutes later, they scored another run and while I stayed quieter, the crowd went a little crazy and this time he got REALLY upset. I walked him up into the shade and it took just a minute, but he calmed back down. He was pretty clingy after that though, he wanted me to hold him and he wanted to be facing me - no more facing out in my lap. It was fine though, we had a lot of fun. After that the cheering and claps didn't bother him much, but he would look for me a lot, even when he was in J's lap. We were all having to keep our eyes open for foul balls - there is not any netting over the seats behind home plate and there were several pop flys that came thisclose to our seats. That was a little nervewracking, but it defintely kept us on our toes.

In those pictures above (from the game), he's eating Mum Mums, which are a complete lifesaver. He can be anywhere and if I hand over some Mum Mums to chew on, he's totally cool. The third picture is from the house after the game. As part of our tickets, we all got hats, so that is Monkey's first real baseball cap. He's wearing it backwards so that you can see his face in the picture - and because he can't get the hat off as easy when it's on backwards.

We've had a great weekend so far. Yesterday at Gymboree, Gage made a new friend that is a big bruiser like him. That little boy crawled up to Gage, grabbed his face and gave him a big kiss. It was so freaking cute. Gage was little nervous as the kid was getting in his face, but he gave him a big smile after the big smooch. I thought it was good for Gage to have a kid come running up on him instead of the other way around. He did go around to each of the kids in the circle and pull their hair at one point in the class. He especially like the girls with bows in their hair. We are moving up to the next level class next week since he's 10 months old now. According to his teacher, there are a couple of walkers in that class, so I'm ready for Gage to see what some bigger kids are doing. I think he'll enjoy it. We all had a grocery store trip yesterday and then he spent some time with GiGi while J and I went out last night. After today's baseball game, he'll be taking it easy tomorrow. I have some plans midday, but he and I will play in the morning before I leave and then we may take a walk when I get home.

May 26, 2011

This picture is actually from Tuesday, J texted it to me in the afternoon when little man wouldn't nap. He is obsessed with the toybox - if I open it, he'll tear off to get in there. He gets pretty pissed if I close it before he can reach it.

There was a pretty tired Monkey waiting for me when I got home today. I got home a little late too, so we pretty much just started his bedtime routine as soon as I as I walked in. He went right to sleep after dinner and a bath with no fuss. He's been sleeping better lately and I think it's because we've started feeding him more at his solid meals - and we moved out of the purees into chunkier, more substantial meals. He goes to bed with a pretty full belly. Now he's doing maybe one little wake up - but getting through the rest of the night pretty well.

So I've been writing this blog for almost half a year now and there's always a lot of shmoopy words about how amazing my little dude is and all the new things he's doing. I won't deny that he's a pretty easy kid with a happy and sweet personality - we are really lucky and we know it. Now, putting that all out there, I would like to say that over the last week or so (maybe 2 weeks) that little dude has tested our patience quite a bit. To be honest, I think we are all testing each other's patience. He's gotten to where once he's run through his toys, he gets so frustrated and will just whine and cry and until we figure out something else he can do. He wants to go more places and do more - and he usually wants to do the off limit things. He's taken to throwing himself backwards and crying - which I was not expecting at 10 months, btw - and this is not the "real" crying that breaks my heart. This is the totally fake, totally pissed off, fit throwing crying that I am not ready for. Now he comes out of it pretty quickly - we can usually find something to settle him back down, but man - it can get a little frustrating. I'm ready for him to learn some words so that he can at least tell me what it is that he needs. To be honest, the mornings are really ok, it's the late afternoons and early evenings - when he's getting tired and bored - that are tough. Sometimes it's a little bit hilarious...I am not ashamed to admit that I have giggled a little bit at my baby when he gets frustrated and gives me the mad face. Poor kiddo. It's tough to have big ambitions and limited mobility. So there it is. My 10 month old baby has an attitude. I have a lot of mommy friends and I don't remember them telling me about attitude at 10 months. Maybe they told me and I blocked it out - but I thought for sure I had another year before the attitude showed up.

It's all good. I'm tough, I can handle attitude. I remind myself that the fighter attitude he has now will end up being the asset I love about him when he's older, kicking ass and taking names in his life. The constant exploring, moving forward, wanting to know more - it will serve him well down the road. Remind me to write that down somewhere so I can re-read it when I'm about to pull my hair out. That sweet, sweet Monkey - I have a feeling we are in for a wild ride.

May 24, 2011

This one will be short - with the storms coming, I'm going to get off of the computer soon. J said today was another whiny day - hard to please the kiddo. He took a little afternoon nap though, so he was in a good mood when I got home. He hung out in my lap for a little while I ate dinner and then we went through his nightly routine. We played in his room for a while, throwing his toys around and singing silly songs. He's been asleep for about an hour, so I'm hoping that I don't have to go in and wake him up to get in the closet. Everyone be safe tonight!

May 23, 2011

I posted a little video of my wild man going to town in the exersaucer while watching his favorite show, Brainy Baby. I didn't blog yesterday because although Monkey was being really sweet and cuddly, it was a tough day around here. He just wanted to sit with me for most of the afternoon, we laughed and sang and hung out on the couch.

J said that today was a good day. G woke up early, but he took a really great afternoon nap, so when I got home he was in a good mood. He helped me make my dinner and I fed him his while that was cooking. I put him in the exersaucer while I ate and he had fun, as you can see. Sidenote: Jennifer, if you are reading this, I assure you that if he destroys that thing before I can return it, I will pay you the value or replace it. :) He had a lot of fun in the bathtub and then we hung out in his room for a while before bed.

He's been a little different the last couple of days. He's been really clingy with me, wanting me to hold him or just to be in my lap all the time. He's also been startling at loud noises, which is really new. Yesterday J yawned really loudly and it startled G and even made him cry a little - quivering lip and all. That's pretty unusual and J said something similar happened again today. Nothing new or that he hasn't heard before, just starting to develop some sensitivity to his environment, I guess. This new closeness to me has also brought on a little bit of whining - if I try to put him down to play with his toys, he will plop down on his butt and whiiiiine. Now this isn't all the time, but if he's tired, hungry or if he hasn't been with me for a while, it's definitely worse. I know it's not supposed to be funny, but when he drops his butt on the floor and gives me the pitiful face, I can't help but giggle just a little. He's just a little dramatic. There have been some fun moments though. Yesterday after his nap he just wanted to sit in my lap, so we hung out on the couch and we were making silly sounds at each other, me imitating him, mostly. He would laugh so hard when I would make the sounds back to him, he was cracking up and it was making me laugh so hard that I could barely make the sounds at one point. He's a funny kid.

This weekend is our baseball game outing and I'm hoping that it goes well. He's been so up and down the last few days. I think he'll have fun being outside with all the people though, and it's early enough in the afternoon that I think he'll be good as far as energy levels. Worst case scenario is that we have to leave a little early - it's all good. We're going to have fun!

Brainy Baby

May 21, 2011

That is one tired Monkey you are looking at. He slept pretty well last night. When I got home yesterday he had not had an afternoon nap, so he was actually in bed by 6:45p, which is early based on recent days. He woke up around 10a for another bottle (he missed one since he was asleep so early) and then slept until 6:15a. That was kind of awesome, I'll admit. He woke up in a great mood and we had a fun little laid back morning. He was in bed for a nap by 8a (not a morning person) and slept until 10a.

We were going to go to Gymboree this afternoon but there were some things working against us: the dog needed to be picked up at the groomers at the same time we needed to leave, Monkey was up for 2 hours at that point and really not very energetic, neither of us were really in the mood for Gymboree today. We ended up just heading over to Las Colinas to drop off my maternity clothes with a friend that is currently pregnant. The ride was nice and we had fun singing and talking in the car. When we got home, there was no afternoon in sight again. He just was not having it, so the last couple of hours before bed were a little touchy. This picture was taking about 15 minutes before dinner and we were just watching a little Brainy Baby and chillin'.

Tomorrow we are heading to the grocery store and then I'm meeting my cousin for a movie in the afternoon.

May 19, 2011

This was another day that I had ample opportunity to get some great pics of the kiddo and didn't get one until right before bathtime. I had a half day today, so when I got home the three of us headed up the street and had tacos for lunch. We got a little side order of sweet potatos for the Monkey and he really liked those. After that we went and ordered some new glasses for me and he was pretty patient with us. When we got back to the house he and I both took a nap. He slept for about 2 hours, and I got about half that in.

We went to meet some friends for dinner (a good friend of mine is in town from DC) at Jason's Deli and we had a good time talking and laughing with everyone. He had his dinner while we were there and even had some of the crust off of my sandwich. He had fun playing and hanging out - we were there for a couple of hours. When we got home it was bathtime and then he and I played in his room for about an hour before bedtime. He's a wild man.