Junior at 10 months

At 10 months Junior continues to be a (mostly) very happy, very engaging, and very determined baby. If he doesn't want to be put down, he holds his body rigid so that you can't let him go. If, despite that, you manage to put him on the floor (usually by simply lying him down) he screams the house down until he's picked up again. And then, once held, he squirms madly, this way and that, wanting to go somewhere or look at something, but not yet able to direct your attention to precisely what he wants.

He loves his sister. He has been trying to follow her for a few months now, but until recently wasn't fully mobile. About two months ago he started to be able to move some distances by some combination of rotating on his stomach and sliding backwards. Then he added in an ability to push himself up to sitting, and collapse back down onto his stomach in the other direction. Then about 10 days ago he learnt to commando crawl. And then on Sunday night he just took off across the floor of Pob's bedroom, crawling perfectly, in order to go and investigate the electrical wires by the door. Now, he's lethal. He's decided that the shower is really really interesting, and since we have an open shower with no door, this means we can no longer safely just put him on the floor of the bathroom while we get ready in the morning as he simply climbs straight in with us, which results in a damp baby and less clean Mummy or Daddy.

He's also pulling himself up at every available opportunity, including in the bath and in his cot. But he hasn't figured out how to sit down again, so his howls of outrage are usually a signal for one of us to rush over/up/down to rescue him. Or for Pob to arrive with a toy which she'll use to distract him until one of us can complete the rescue. 

The day he turned 10 months old he started consistently waving and clapping. He'd been trying to do both for a while, with mixed results. But that morning he waved at H as soon as H arrived with the coffee, and then immediately clapped (presumably delighted at his own cleverness). Now he claps a lot, and has started to raise his arms above his head in a 'hooray!' gesture immediately afterwards, as if to make very sure we will be suitably congratulatory at his cleverness. I held him as he fell asleep a few nights ago, and as he dropped off, he did a double handed baby wave (the kind where they open and close their hands at you) as a partial gesture, then clapped very gently, once, before his hands and arms finally relaxed above his head. I guess this stuff takes practice.

He is much more interested in television than Pob was at this stage, and gets quite transfixed by tubbies or iggle piggle, or whoever Pob is watching in the morning - we have a routine of bringing the children into bed with us for their milk before the daily rush begins, and Pob usually demands entertainment at this point. Which is handy to keep her distracted as usually one of us is rushing to the shower and the other is trying to keep Junior from bugging her too much.

Because he loves her, as I said above, and just wants to be with her. So he'll crawl towards her and attempt to touch some part of her, pull her towards him, pull her hair, or give her a toothy/bitey kiss. Which she is sometimes patient and kind about, and sometimes frustrated and complaining. He also loves tiny babies, and will do the same with them, if allowed. At a picnic recently we left Junior and a very newborn together on the rug, although a few feet apart, for a minute while attending to the older children. When we looked round, there was a distinct wet patch on the baby's leg, and Junior was just leaning in again for another 'kiss'. I've tried to use this with H as a reason why we should use our frozen embryos in an attempt to have another baby, but he's not having any of it.

We did our last breast feed on Monday night. I've been gradually reducing, and I finally felt ready to quit. We had a good innings. I am so very glad I persevered, and now I'm ok with stopping. I am not devastated, it felt like it was time.

I love the whole process of his development, even as he moves away from being my snuggly, cuddly baby. He's an individual now, with a mind of his own and a strong personality. It makes life more complicated, but it stays just as rewarding. My lovely boy.

Comments

[Kath]

Oh, this is wonderful, dear Thalia! Many thanks for this update and this insight into major Cuteness. He sounds amazing. Hope to see him in action one day!

[Lut]

How sweet that Junior loves his big sister so much. I can imagine Pob not liking the brotherly love all the time though.

Glad to hear breastfeeding was a more satisfying experience this time.

Letting go of the possibility offered by those frozen embryo's, can't be easy for you.

[Summer]

Thanks for the update. I had been wondering how Junior was doing. Time passes too fast, doesn't it? Amazing that Junior is almost a year old.

I'm so happy to hear you were able to end on a high note with the breastfeeding. I know it was a struggle at times and I'm glad you were able to end it on your terms.

[Hairy Farmer Family]

Boob triumph! Happy baby! Happy sister!
All good here.

[T]

Aw, I love this post - I smiled or laughed through the whole thing. Our big boys are indeed similar (except there's no way my boy is falling asleep in my arms unless I have about 3 hours to wait!).

I'm SO glad that your breastfeeding ended well - good for you, I'm so happy for you.

They are amazing aren't they?

[Calliope]

so so glad to hear that all is so well in house of Thalia!
I can not believe he is already 10 months and crawling and waving and clapping!!! (W only just figured out how to clap and he is quite amused by his brilliance)

[My Reality]

I am glad to read this update. It is good that you got end breastfeeding when you were comfortable with it, especially with how hard you had to work at it.

Maybe H will change his tune about the embryos?

[DinoD]

I would certainly feel compelled to congratulate him on his cleverness. Waving, clapping and the "Rocky" stance - what's next?
DinoD

[Krista]

Funny we are on the other end here, with Rick being ready to try again and me having reservations (but mostly medical ones).

We are almost done with breast feeding here too. I could happily stop now but although she doesn't like to stop long enough during the day to have a good feed, Kara will still not drink a bottle and she simply doesn't drink enough from a sippy cup to get enough milk in for the day.

Enjoy your lovely little ones!

[Heidi Marsden]

Every child's progress is heart warming especially to moms. Enjoy! I sure love being a mom to my girl. =]

[jane]

Read this and though of time 'flying' it barely seems any time since I read your blog and it was Pobs expected arrival ! and now Junior changing from baby to a little boy - they sound such a delightful pair...

[Ms. C]

What a lovely update.
You certainly make the case for having another baby with your description of Junior's wave/clap as he fell asleep. Just perfectly precious.