Evan 10 months, Caroline 10 months, Lincoln 10 months

This is almost 2 full weeks late, but at least I’m getting it done before he officially starts walking, which I am pretty sure is going to happen in the next week. Maybe once that happens he’ll thin out a little bit, because right now he’s one big solid chunk and carrying him with my arms is terrible. I HAVE to wear him in the Tula even if we’re just running into Target because he can climb out of carts and I’m too weak to haul him around. It’s a real problem. Being an enormous squish is adorable though, so it’s hard to complain.

The fact that he eats ANYTHING is definitely contributing to his size. Meat, vegetables, snacks, seafood, cheese, dessert, anything he can put in his mouth he will eat. He’s got a whole mouthful of teeth too, so he can handle even crunchy stuff (he loves Cheetos) or chewy stuff (today he ate clam strips). I’m not super worried about keeping him away from junk food or sugar because, well, fourth baby. I’m more worried about keeping him from eating the soot in the fireplace or bird seed (both things he tried to eat today).

He’s in 12-18 month clothes at the smallest and 24 months/2T for coming months. I have no idea what size his feet are because he never wears shoes. He still does this funny half-crawl half-scoot thing to get around super fast, but he’s getting quicker with cruising. I’m hoping by the time it’s cold enough for shoes he can walk for real and I can just buy him some tiny Bogs, since those have been perfect for Lincoln.

After we got home from vacation, we moved Finnegan down to his own room. Well, Linc’s room, which Linc doesn’t use and it has the crib so now it’s Finn’s room. After just a couple nights he got the hang of it and now he’s sleeping through the night. He also lets E put him down for the night or for naps. It’s delightful. I love my baby 10x more now that I am getting sleep in blocks greater than 3 hours at a time. He likes napping too, although that’s less reliable with our summer schedules. Luckily he also likes being worn still, so I’ve been practicing my baby-as-a-backpack skills and hopefully he starts napping that way.

Likes include water, sand, grass, his siblings, eating food, eating things that aren’t food, the dog, the cat, animals, nursing, sleeping, cruising, biting things, making a mess, trying to fall on his head, mommy, daddy, strangers, smiling, and hitting me.

Dislikes include being buckled into his car seat, being too hot, being too tired, being told no, and being hungry.

10 Month Milestones 

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Waves goodbye – He can clap. I’ve never seen any intentional waving.
Picks things up with pincer grasp – Yes.
Crawls well, with belly off the ground – Nope. He crawls like my other babies have, scooting on one leg.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – Meh. He says both things, but never really to anyone.
Indicates wants with gestures – Mostly just by screeching.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Stands alone for a couple of seconds – Yes.
Puts objects into a container – Sometimes. If he wants to. Mostly he likes making a mess.

Linc is currently chewing on an orange peel, banging a wooden spatula on the ground and trying to break into the TV cabinet – I assume because he objects to watching Tinker Bell and the Neverbeast for the 7th time this week. He is also wearing pants that are too big and a shirt that is too small. Poor, poor third child. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all though. He really likes wooden spoons and goldfish crackers eaten off the rug. He sometimes intentionally drops his food on the floor before eating it, just to make sure it has that nice dirty flavor.

We have become a super good babywearing team and it makes both of our lives a lot easier. He’s used to being on my back so he waits patiently while I get him up there and I’m getting way better at wrapping so it’s very comfortable and secure. It’s truly a lifesaver at home so I can clean or at the store when I don’t want him lunging out of the cart. He still gets to smiling and flirt with everyone but he is 100% less likely to fall on his head. Plus all these pretty wraps I have are getting used! Although now that it’s 90 degrees on the regular I would rather not wear him ALL the time

Lincoln is going to spend most of the summer giving me a heart attack while he tries to injure himself. I had to move the kid-sized chair upstairs because he wouldn’t stop falling over the back of it, and when I put it next to the couch so it wouldn’t tip he used it to climb onto the couch and try to throw himself off of that. He won’t stay out of the water at the lake, even though it’s freezing cold. He can walk but mostly chooses to scoot, which means his poor leg and foot is always scraped and he gets splinters. His favorite hobby is climbing on top of people and pulling their hair, which means one of these days someone is going to accidentally fling him across the room. But I doubt even that will slow him down.

He wears 12 month clothes but still only size 5 shoes. He will keep a hat on his head for a full hour but then pulls it off. He hates socks.

Likes include mommy, daddy, brother, sister, the dog, the cat, water, sand, dirt, cookies, messes, being carried, being worn, nursies, climbing, his blankie, naps, crawling, swinging, eating inappropriate objects, biting stuff, and smiling.

Dislikes include teething, diaper rash, and anytime he is not physically touching me.

And this one was to get my (terrible) white balance and it shows just how red his hair really is in the light:

10 Month Milestones (From Caroline’s 10 month post)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Waves goodbye – Sort of. He can wave but he doesn’t care to much. He likes pointing a lot more.
Picks things up with pincer grasp – Yes, especially if it’s teeny tiny things he definitely should not be eating.
Crawls well, with belly off the ground – No. He crawls on one leg and his hands like a monkey or a crab or some other weird animal. I will try to take a video if I can get him further than 6 inches away from me.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – He’s starting to get the hang of it, but he mostly says “Dat!” meaning “What is dat?” or “I want dat!”
Indicates wants with gestures – Pointing, handwaving and screeching are his day job.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Stands alone for a couple of seconds – Stands alone all the time.
Puts objects into a container – Sure, as long as it’s little stuff into a big container. He’s not doing shape sorters or anything.

Caroline is a really independent baby. She would rather figure something out on her own than come to me for help. She’s amazingly smart. She doesn’t need me to carry her much (because of ALL THE WALKING), she doesn’t need me to feed her snacks, she doesn’t need me to climb the stairs (which is good because I died dead of a heart attack last night when I found she had climbed a full flight to my bedroom even though she’s never even LOOKED at them before), and she doesn’t need me to rock her to sleep. She likes me well enough, but if you have an empty lap and arms, she will happily come sit in it and hug you.

Just ask the very surprised woman at the play place yesterday who was wrestled into cuddling by one very insistent baby. LOVING BABY GIVES YOU LOVES WHETHER OR NOT YOU WANT THEM. I’m not entirely sure the woman was OK with the situation (although that’s ridiculous because who wouldn’t want the most adorable baby ever to cuddle with them?) so I rescued her by letting Caroline chew on my phone (sidebar: Has anyone seen my volume button?)

I love that Caroline is so brave. I love that she’s fearless. I love that she’s a red-headed spitfire and nothing can stop her. But it is equal parts terrifying. If she’s this headstrong at 10 months old, what’s she going to be like at 3? Or 8? Or (God help me) 16? It also hurts my heart a little bit because OMG MAH BAYBEEE. It’s happening too fast. I need time to slow down, to give me more moments with my little munchkin before she becomes a kid.

How many more cheese-face, belly roll, butt crack days do I have left? Today I am thankful for ever single moment.

BONUS PEEK-A-BOO VIDEO!!

Doesn’t get much more Octobery than an orange-headed baby wearing orange playing with a pumpkin.

I accidentally ruined Caroline’s 10 month photoshoot today. Instead of taking pictures during the middle of the afternoon when the light in the family room is best, I let her fall asleep in my lap while she was nursing and spent two hours petting her hair, sniffing the top of her head, listening to her tiny baby noises and watching her twitch as she dreamed.

So maybe “ruined” is the wrong word. Maybe “soaked up two magical hours worth of baby moments that hardly ever seem to happen anymore because she is growing up so fast” is more accurate. I love her bunches and bunches. It’s sort of disgusting.

I had to look back at the 9 month update to see if I was remembering things wrong or if she really has changed SO MUCH in just four weeks. In those pictures, you can just barely see one top tooth peeking through. Now she’s got two great big giant chompers on top plus two on the bottom and a handful more threatening to pop through any minute. Isn’t it crazy how much older babies look with teeth? SO MUCH OLDER!

She’s also walking, without encouragement, on almost any surface. She ran away from me during Stroller Strides this week and I had a “oh no, I lost the baby” moment. She was only 5 feet away behind a mom doing sit ups, but she’s so little she’s easy to lose. I’m going to have to work on the constant vigilance.

I’ve given up on super cute outfits, because between the crawling/walking, the drooling/teething and the constant shoving of food into her mouth she’s a mess. I change her shirt at least 3 times a day. And before you call me an idiot and suggest I use one of the five bazillion bibs I keep in the kitchen drawer I’ll tell you she feels about bibs the way Dora feels about using her inside voice. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. It’s easier to just buy stain remover in bulk.

There is not one thing about her I would change. I TOLD you it was disgusting.

Likes include her blankies (any of them), iPhones, popcorn, apples, boobs, her brother’s sippy cup, dancing, walking, smiling, blowing raspberries, peek-a-boo, books, baths, her mama and putting gross things in her mouth.

Dislikes include teething, hoods, falling on her face, being cold, missing naps, strange dogs and having her nails trimmed.

Milestones plus video proof of the walking/weird crawling below the epic number of underexposed pictures.

I see you

raspberries

This is a crap ton of orange, Mom

tippy toes

Happy 10 Months Baby Girl

P.S. Yes I am wearing leggings as pants in the video. In my defense…ah screw it. I have no defense. They’re SO COMFORTABLE.
10 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Waves goodbye – Yes. And hello. And loves to clap. And plays peek-a-boo and “how big is the baby?” and understands what I think is a surprising number of words. But I’m her mom so I have to think she’s a genius.
Picks things up with pincer grasp – As long as it’s food. Or trash.
Crawls well, with belly off the ground – She’s actually terrible at that. She crawls sideways on one leg. But since she’s, you know, WALKING I don’t think she’s actually missing this milestone.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – She has said “mama” to me exactly twice, but not regularly, and I’ve never heard her say “dada”.
Indicates wants with gestures – Gestures, screeching, grabbing things. She has a lot of wants.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Stands alone for a couple of seconds – For a couple minutes.
Puts objects into a container – Does “food into her mouth” count? Because she’s good at that. Mostly she’s good at taking objects OUT of containers to make the biggest mess possible.