Videos - Tug

Dixie loves to play tug. Mitchell has caught onto that now and wants to play with her. She usually just ends up dragging him around, but he loves it, as you can see here!

10 Months and Massive Catch Up

Ouch. I am so far behind. I'll do my best to do one big, fat (like Mitchell's belly) catch up post here.

MKM was 10 months old last Friday. Daddy had to piggy back a trip to LA on the end of a long stretch of home games, so he wasn't with us, but we celebrated with an apple juice popsicle on the deck.

For the nutrition police, it was about 1/3 apple juice and the rest water, so very little sugar for the boy.  We try not to let him have too much of the sweet stuff just yet.  Needless to say, he loved it, and finally got the hang of holding onto the bottom, rather than the icy part.

He loves the water, and we have been using the baby pool a lot lately to combat the heat. 

It is convenient for those messy nights when I can just open the back door and plop him in after dinner, rather than trek upstairs to the tub.

(I can barely stand the serious look on his face here.  Adorable)

As you can see in these pics, we are sorely in need of a haircut, but lately he hasn't been in one place long enough to do that.  It's on my agenda for the week.

At 10 months, Mitchell is walking everywhere very proficiently.  I had read in several books about how quickly they progress from a few steps to fully walking, but I have to admit I was shocked to actually see that in action.  Mitchell has always had wonderful balance, and we've been pretty blessed to not have had any major falls and the tears that are associated with that.  We have been trying not to make a big deal about it when he does fall, and 90% of the time his falls don't even phase him; he just gets right back and up and keeps trucking along!  

Our downstairs is pretty open, so he can roam around without many obstacles in his way.  We have an island in the kitchen and he likes to just do laps around it while I'm working at the stove or sink.  In some ways it's almost easier now that it was about a month ago, because he doesn't need my help to move, and is pretty content to just do his own thing, but of course he's also much more able to get into things I don't want him in!  For the most part, though, I'll just throw a few kitchen utensils on the floor and he'll play happily by himself for 10-15 minutes while I get his dinner ready, or put away dishes, or whatever. 

He loves to drag anything with a rope, cord or string around.  We have lots of belts, drawstring bags and even a length of rubber tubing laying around.  The dog leash is also a popular item but that's sort of torture for the dog to see her leash flailing around with no actual walk to come of it, so I try to limit that one.

Here's an action shot:

He babbles to himself constantly.  I wish I knew what he was talking about!  He does a lot of talking to these letters on the side of the tub.  The majority of bath time is spent putting them up there and then taking them back down, all the while talking and squealing to them.  At least he's showing an interest in them, right?  We'll work on putting them together intelligibly soon enough....

His words are still pretty limited, but he's showing us signs of how much he comprehends now.  He still says Uh Oh a lot, or just an abbreviated "Uh" with this face that he makes when he says it.  He can say dog but doesn't say it consistently.  He will say Mama a lot, but it usually means he's hungry more than he wants me.  I guess he knows Mama will feed him, one way or another, which is why he uses that.  His newest thing is to say "heeeey" which is so cute.  He has also started holding his hand up to his neck like he's holding a phone and babbling, so I guess he understands talking on the phone now.  I'm sure he'll be texting his pals before I know it! (not) 

Here he is with my old Blackberry, which has for all intents and purposes, stopped working.  This is all due to him flinging it down from his high chair, and drooling on it extensively.  But look how happy it makes him.  How could Mama say no?

(Also, forgive the lack of clothing in most of these pictures.  I usually strip him down when he gets home.)

He and Dixie have come to an uneasy truce (on her part).  We are really working on trying to teach him to be gentle with her, but to limited effectiveness at this point.  He would still prefer to bash her like he bangs on everything else.  She is better about letting him get near her and will even play "tug" with him sometimes.  I have some video of it but my blogger editing never has the video icon so I'm probably going to have to switch to the old format and just post it by itself.

Clearly he's still a good eater.  He rarely turns anything down.  His newest accomplishment in this arena is that he has figured out how to suck and drink from a straw.  It doesn't always work for him, which I can tell still puzzles him, but for the most part if you put a straw in his mouth he will suck and it and grin when he gets some water out.  We're trying new things all the time and for him, the messier the better.  My mom brought some spaghetti she made, and he had a ball with that.  Dixie's back was covered in noodles and Mitchell was covered in sauce.  Fun times for all involved. 

Really, he is just a happy kid.  Other than his ears and the assocaited sickness, he's been wonderful lately and we're just really enjoying this age (as exhausting as it is).  He is getting tubes on Thursday, so we're really excited for that procedure and have been encouraged by how many people have told us that it changed their kids' lives.  I just want him to feel better and stop having to pump him full of antibiotics endlessly.  I'll give an update on that after we're through it.  The tubes part is no sweat, but they may also remove his adenoids, which we've been told can be rough on the kiddies, pain-wise, so we'll see what happens!

Here he is, finally with some clothes on, in an outfit that came from the "sweatshop".  My mother (Spot) and her friend Sallie (or Nonna, her grandmother name) have been sewing up a storm for their grandbabies and Nonna just got a new embroidery machine.  She used this outfit to test out her skills - I think she did a great job.  Mitchell looks so sweet in anyting that brings out those big baby blues!

We'll call this "Mr. August".  Hugs and slobbery kisses from Mitchell to all of his adoring fans!