Photo dump from April 2012

I took about 175 pics in April (way more than normal) but as I'm looking through, over half of them are all your "Cheeseball McCrackin'" grin, as Daddy calls it.  You just are too hilarious when you are making these silly faces for the camera so I end up taking like 10 pictures just to get you to keep posing.  I'll post some of those silly pictures another time.  For now, here are some other pictures from April that I thought were especially fun.

Playtime with Daddy (as a sidenote, this is the same shirt you wore in your Halloween pictures when you were 3 months old.  Tiny child!)

This picture makes me laugh every time I see your little face peering over the cushion at me.  You were standing up against the cushion but too tiny for your head to clear it.  This was right before we went to church one morning.

You were sitting on the kitchen floor by me one day while I was organizing the cupboards.  I thought you might like to have a bowl hat.  You did not.  (Also here's Pocket, very concerned that you're crying)

I submitted this picture to a "messiest baby" contest.  It was when I let you play with your baby food in the bathtub one day as an entertaining activity.

In this picture, I was trying to capture how the top of your hair always sticks up no matter what I do.  Depending on the day it either looks like a little rooster crown, a Kewpie doll, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs, or an Alfalfa tuft from Little Rascals.

Not a great picture since I took it at a stoplight one day, but I wanted to get a picture of how for a while you liked to ride with your arms stretched out holding onto the carseat handle.

Little stud!  Looking so nice in your outfit with your Magnum stare (Zoolander).  Here you are with Lorenzo the Llama, an Easter gift from Daddy.

Okay, well maybe I'll include just one cheesy grin.  It's just too funny to resist!

10 months

What a fun little boy you are!  I have felt for a few months now like you are old enough to really be a little "playmate" of sorts.  For the first 6 months it was really hard to try to run any type of errands during the day because it was a little unpredictable how you'd behave, so for the most part I would try to go out around your naptime and hope you just slept in the carseat the whole short time we were out, then I'd try to rush home before you woke up since you're used to eating right when you wake up and I didn't want you to be hungry.  Now that you're a little older, things are so much easier!  I can plan to take you out of the house to do things between naps and never have to worry about how you'll do in public!  You're such a social little baby, you absolutely love sitting in the shopping cart or stroller or even your carseat while we're out doing things, as long as you can look around at everything and everyone.  We have a good daily schedule so usually we run errands right after you wake up from a nap and eat, so you're in a great mood when we go out.  You don't even mind going in and out of your carseat over and over if we have to go to several different stores.  And everywhere we go, I can hear people talking about how cute you are!  I have so much fun taking you everywhere with me and playing with you all day long.

Some new things about you at 10 months old:

• You are starting to eat some "finger" foods (although you're still pretty clumsy about pinching things between your fingers, so usually you just grab things with your fist and put them in your mouth that way).  Your fine motor skills have developed quickly since starting this.  The first non-mush thing I gave you was some Gerber's Little Munchies (baby cheetos, basically).  You had a hard time at first but quickly learned how to pick one up at a time and put it in your mouth.  At the beginning you would grab it with your whole fist and gum the part sticking out, but then you couldn't figure out how to get the nub inside your fist into your mouth so you'd end up dropping all the little nubs on the floor.  Then a few days later you decided the best tactic was to push with an open palm and just shove the whole thing inside your mouth at once, which led to some very funny full-cheek moments.  Now you do pretty good at "biting" (with no teeth) the Munchies although you still shove the small ones in whole.  Other little finger foods we've given you:  shredded cheese, meat flakes, some baby cheerio type things.
• Now that you've started trying to feed yourself a little bit, your fists and face get a lot messier (even though I never let you touch your purees, that would just be madness!)  so I've taken to holding you over the sink to wash your mouth and then I'll hold your hands under the tap to wash them.  You LOVE this excuse to touch water so you never fuss about it.
• You do a "dinosaur growl" all the time.  VERY adorable and your Aunt Roshini just about dies of the cuteness every time you do it.  She has been hoping for months that someday she could teach you a "t-rex" growl.
• You've finally started to say some "m" sounds, so even though 80% of the time you still say "da da da da" occasionally we'll be treated to "mumumum."  Melts my heart!
• You throw a lot of mini tantrums these days.  They only last about 10 seconds and I usually just stand there and wait til you're done then we go on with life, so hopefully that is helping to not encourage you to be more dramatic.  You just seem to have problems with sudden transitions, like if I'm holding you then put you down, or if I have to take away something you're playing with.
• You like to play with big toys.  We had noticed that for the last few weeks you've taken to playing with your carseat, or with the basket your toys come in (instead of the little toys themselves) so Daddy bought you a little tonka dump truck.  It is a big hit!  As soon as Daddy showed you how to push it back and forth your eyes lit up and you've been pushing it all around and dumping the blocks out of it.
• You taught yourself how to do peekaboo to us.  Ayisha discovered this first.  You'll lift a blanket over your eyes so you can't see us, then push it away and beam at us and wait for us to say "there you are!"  You'll do this over and over and think it is so funny.
• You move around in your crib a lot more these days.  You never moved at all when you were swaddled obviously, and then after we stopped swaddling you didn't move much at first.  Now that you're starting to move more in general you change positions a lot during the night too.  I never know when I check the babycam if you'll be on your side or your back.  You also have just started to roll onto your right side for the first time ever, which is weird to see.  During the course of the night with all your rolling from side to side you end up eventually scooting down a little too, so usually I put you to sleep with your head touching one side of the crib because I know in the morning your feet will be touching the other side instead. 
• You have full blown separation anxiety!  Some days it is worse than others, but you definitely prefer having me close by at all times.  Even in our own home if I put you on the floor to play, then turn my back to do something else you will start to wail.  Or if someone else tries to hold you sometimes you decide you only want Mommy and will cry and lean out toward me, and then as soon as I take you back you will giggle and snuggle in.  It's flattering but tiring :)
• You kind of wave to people now.  It's a full arm wave and you will do it whenever, not just in greeting, but it's still cute.  You're more likely to do it if someone does it to you first.
• You also shake your head.  Like the wave, you don't understand that it can also mean something, you just think it's a fun new trick.  It also usually ends up being more of a bobble then a focused shake.  Again, you are more likely to do it when prompted.
• You are very interested in our food and have very much enjoyed that we will usually feed you tiny bites of whatever we're having, as long as it's not spiced.
• You are slowly becoming MOBILE!!  Up until now you never showed much interest in moving around.  If a toy rolled out of reach you would stretch and try to get it, but if you couldn't stretch far enough you would just decide you didn't need it after all, or you would grunt until we pushed it closer to you.  All of a sudden though, you have decided it's okay to try to go after things.  It started with pulling yourself up a little bit in your bassinet.  I usually put you in there for a few minutes while I get dressed and one day I noticed you were holding onto the side rail with both hands and using your arm muscles to pull up a little bit.  So I hid just under the railing and you were laughing so hard trying to pull up just far enough to peek over at me - no legs involved.  Then all of a sudden this past week you have been experimenting with trying to pull yourself over your legs.  You never go over your toes into a crawling position yet, but I'm sure that will come soon.  Right now when you are sitting down you will kind of turn to one side and stretch and put your hands down on the ground, then rock back and forth gently until you slowwwly roll over your leg and onto your stomach.  It's a very slow, gentle process.  Then once you're on your stomach you start to fuss because you're stuck so we sit you back up, and then the whole process starts over again.  A lot of times you won't go as far as rolling onto your stomach, you'll just start to twist over and then sit up again, then you'll go to the other side.  This does eventually let you scoot around just a tiny bit over time, since when you sit back up you're usually just a little bit turned from where you started.  It has been fun to watch you cautiously experiment with this newfound ability, although it makes me sad that my little baby is soon to be a toddler!

First pool party

We bought you a little baby pool since you're such a fan of the water, and with it being so hot the past few days we decided to have a pool party!

Sitting with Jaxon, getting sunscreen on.

You had so much fun!  You stayed in the pool the whole time we were outside without ever wanting a break.

I had a hard time getting pictures of you because you were moving and splashing the whole time.

Just chillin' and getting rehydrated after that hot hour outside.

Silly faces for mommy because you realized the camera was out!



Kav and Ish

I absolutely love this candid picture. I took it in our hotel room at St George. It is a good snapshot of the familiarity you have with Aunt Ayisha and Kavita. You have a very special relationship with these two that is unlike the relationships you have with anyone else. They were the first two people to know you were born, and the first two to see and hold you. Your face lights up the second you see either of them. They are like stand-in mommies when I'm away (and sometimes when I'm not. Awkward.) Pants (yours) come off whenever they watch you, for some weird reason.

Kavita was the first person I ever left you with. You were three weeks old and I had to go into work for a couple hours. I was super nervous but you guys did great together. Kavita is usually super loud when greeting you, no matter where we are. She is the one to play rough & tumble games with you and is not above laughing at your little baby mishaps. 

Ayisha was the first person to get the call from the hospital the day you were born (it was our birthday gift to her). She will literally go out of her way to make sure she sees you if you are anywhere near her. She calls you "chugga" and is the most helpful when it comes to the logistics like keeping you on a schedule or changing your diaper. She probably "mothers" you closest to my style than anyone else.

They both brag about you like crazy to everyone, and I know they would do anything for you.  It's very adorable to see how much you cling to Ish and Kav and I look forward to seeing your relationship with them develop even more as you grow.

9 months

Today (April 22) you are 278 days old.  This is significant because I was pregnant for 277 days.  So as of today, you have officially been outside of my tummy for longer than you were inside. 

Your 9 month appointment went very smoothly, especially since you don't have to get any more vaccines until your 12 month appointment.  The doctor did spend a lot more time this visit discussing your growth, since you have completely fallen off the growth charts.  Your growth has just kind of plateaued.  After remeasuring you, checking your height to weight ratios, and consulting the "special" growth charts in a hidden drawer, it appears that at the moment we're just taking a "wait and see" kind of approach, at least until you're 2 or 3 and we have a better idea of what your body's master plan is.

Your stats:

Weight:  15 lbs 10 oz
Height:  25.5 inches

There are SO many new things you are doing at 9 months!  Your growth may have slowed to a crawl, but your personality, social, and mental skills have gone through a spurt.  So here are the things about you right now:

• We finally bumped you up to 6-9 month clothes, although many of them are huge, and you are still wearing a lot of 3-6 month things because they fit better.
• You have figured out how to take off your socks, sometimes.  Usually you don't give them much thought, but if you want them off you can eventually work them free.
• You've also figured out how to undo your diaper, so we have to make sure you're always clothed otherwise eventually you grab a corner of the velcro straps and pull.
• You've become a very loud yawner.  It's very comical because you have such full-face yawns so one half of your face is always scrunched up as you let out a loud "ahhhhhhhh"
• You are a furious splasher in the tub.  It's serious business when it's splash time.  You sit there straight-faced as you hit your open palms up and down.
• You "pose" for the camera now when you're in a silly mood.  When you see the red light you do your cheesy grin with your eyes scrunched and grinning as big as you can.  It looks more unsettling than actually smily but it makes us laugh anyway.
• You mimic sounds that we do (popping our lips open, blowing strawberries, blowing air)
• You're very cheerful when you wake up (as long as you're not waking before you're really ready).  You will wake up and just start playing with your binky and jabbering to yourself until I go get you from your crib.
• You will "show" your toys to us by holding them out for us to see, although you haven't yet learned to drop them into our hands.
• You often sit with your ankles crossed.  I can't believe how well you can still keep your balance this way since you're playing and bending and twisting the whole time.
• You sign "milk" daily.  We think that you have decided it means "thirsty" because you don't seem to mind if we offer you your sippy with juice or water instead.  We want to start being more consistent with our other signs now that you've shown you can pick it up.
• You often twist onto your left side when you sleep, with your head facing up toward the head of the crib.  It's almost like you spotted something behind your head and stretched and twisted to reach it but then fell asleep in the process.  It's always the left side, never the right, which amuses us that you still have prenatal muscle memory, since you were on your left side in the womb too.
• You are more willing to give hugs and snuggle a little now.  You never snuggle for long since you're so active and curious and don't stay still for long, but when I'm carrying you, you often will give me a hug or bury your face in my shoulder and start making sounds with your mouth pressed into my clothes.
• You're exploring your reach more.  You like to see what exactly you can reach.  For example, in the carseat I will often see you sitting or even sleeping with both arms stretched to the sides and holding onto the carseat handle.
• You have started sleeping through the night again, sporadically.  Hallelujah.  The first time was on Conference Sunday 3 weeks ago and since then you've slept through the night about 10 times.  I'll take it!  Hopefully it will just keep getting better!
• You've discovered you can create noise and love to bang toys together.
• You are better at telling us when you don't want what we're offering because you push our hands away.
• We bought you a sippy cup in an effort to try to get you to drink more liquids and you are very good at holding it by yourself.  I do have to tip you on your back to drink out of it because you either aren't strong enough or haven't figured out how to hold the cup up toward the ceiling to get the water - you just hold it and put your mouth on it and expect the water to come somehow.
• You've invented a game that you think is hilarious.  If you are playing and our feet are next to you, you like to grab our toes and then look at us and wait for us to laugh.  The first time you did this I laughed because you surprised me and it tickled, and you thought it was so funny that you always expect us to laugh now when you grab our toes.
• You are on a great schedule right now - you've moved from 3 naps to 2.  You wake up at 7am, and go to bed for the night at 8pm.  You take naps at 10am and 3pm and usually naps for close to an hour and a half or even two hours sometimes.  You always nurse then eat solids every time you wake up, so 3 times a day with a last nursing right before bed.

Roseola

These are pictures from your recent illness - roseola.  A few days ago you were running a fever.  You had been cranky and clingy all day which is out of the norm for you but we got lots of snuggling and book-reading in during the day. 

You NEVER just snuggle quietly for more than a minute.  That's how I knew you were really sick.

I ended up taking you to the doctor that evening because your fever finally got high enough to really worry me.  Daddy came straight from work to the doctor's and you snuggled right into him.

He felt the same way I did - he knew you were sick because you never just fall asleep on us anymore.

The doctor couldn't find anything else wrong and chalked it up to a mild virus and said to just give you some ibuprofin.  You were much better by the next day so we didn't give it much more thought.  Then yesterday. . .spots!!

It's hard to see in the picture, but if you look close you can see the hundreds of tiny blister dots all over your legs.

The biggest pox blister on your wrist

We were going to the doctor today for your 9 month checkup anyway so it kind of worked out well.  The doctor diagnosed you with roseola and said that the spots following the earlier fever were the classic symptom.  Nothing to do but wait for them to go away!  The spots don't seem to bother you which is great, and they're not contagious which is even better.

I like to call you. . .

. . .the little Raja. It's kind of a play on words, in this case. In Indian Raja means "king." So not only am I calling you a little prince, but literally, a "little King" since you are half King genes!

This picture was taken at Aunt Kavita's Indian wedding shower on February 25, 2012.