Brotherly love

Each and every Thursday morning at our house has come to be known as “Daddy-Beckett Day.”  Thursday is the day that my lovely wife goes out into the world to bring home the bacon (not to mention regain her sanity).  I know that she enjoys her little escape into the real world and the “B Dog” and I really enjoy our time together too.  It’s a time when men are men and dogs nap on the couch!  Well.... honestly... nothing very manly goes on.  There tends to be very little wood chopping or beard growing of any sort.  Milo takes care of most of the facial hair growing in our neck of the woods.

And that leads us to our memory making experience of last week.  During our regularly scheduled D-B Day the little guy was down for the count, Milo the wonder dog was sacked out in his office (under a blanket on the couch) and I was probably surfing the world wide web or doing dishes.  Beckett had been napping for a while and was starting to stir.  Once he sound appropriately awake, I strolled up to his room to greet him with the usual melodic “Good morning, Good Morning” routine.  Milo of course decided he’d done enough paperwork for the morning (see napping under said blanket) and came along for the walk.    What happened next was not only unexpected but also the cutest darn thing I’d seen all week.

We had recently lowered Beckett’s mattress as he is becoming quite mobile and we figured it was only a matter of time before he pulled himself up on the bars and toppled out.  Now here’s where it gets adorable.  The mattress is now about 2 feet from the floor.  When extended to full length including legs and torso, our mild mannered wiener dog is... you guessed it... about 2 feet in length.  See where I’m going here?  You got it.  I opened the door to Beckett’s room and in strolls the dog.  Beckett has been sleeping sideways in his crib these days, so he merely had to pick up his head to greet us.  And pick up his head he did.  Just in time for Milo to rear up stick his schnoz through the bars and lay a big wet one on the boy.  A sour face greeted our young pup.  Milo, satisfied in his wake up call, exited stage left.

This little scene warmed the cockles of my heart.  And those cockles were pretty cold; super-manly man that I am.  Nothing would make me happier than if those two got along as well as I did with my dog.  We had Rufus when I was11-14ish.  One in a series of pets that were given to my family to retire.  I swear it’s the place where family pets go to die.  But, I digress.  Rufus was great; surly, but great.  Every boy should have a dog.  And it’s my hope that Beckett and Milo can spend countless days together playing fetch in the front yard.

Little Bear

Today Beckett started mimicking growling - if you go "aaaarrrrrrggggh" he will do it right after you - it is hilarious.

He's also started saying mamama or mama - but I'm not sure he relates it to me yet.

And he waves pretty consistently now, too.

Beckett's appetite has also increased drastically in the last few days - for solids anyways. The other day for supper he had 2 cubes of veggies and 4 tbsp of cereal, 1/4 cup blueberries, some watermelons, a container of yogurt and some cheerios!! He is really cutting down on how much milk he drinks just before bed though. On that night in particular he drank pretty much nothing!!

Eating everything but food

Beckett is officially 10 months old now. Here is his 10 month photo:

We were home in Pictou this past weekend. On Saturday (May 22), he made his first attempts at forwards motion. When he was on his belly, he would pull his bum up in the air, then scooch forward, kind of like a worm. He was trying to get a remote control, of course!!!
His tooth is poking through now and it's sooooo cute!!! I'll have to see if I can get a picture of it somehow.
We had family pictures taken today. Here's a preview:



He's not really walking yet, as it may look like he is in the first one, but he loves to stand up and he's starting to take a few little steps when you're holding his hands. His balance is nowhere near good enough to stand up on his own yet, though.
When we sat him down for the second picture, first of all he picked up a rock and put it in his mouth!!! Then, as you can see, it was like he didn't want to touch the dirt.
I'm absolutely thrilled with the pictures and can't wait to see the rest in a couple of weeks.

Beckett had grapes (cut up, of course) for the first time this weekend. Tonight for supper I made him some home made tomato sauce with garlic powder, onion, and italian spices and gave him pasta. He wanted no part of it. He hasn't had much of an appetite for supper over the last couple of nights, though, so I'm wondering if maybe he has another little tooth on the way through.

Beckett still says dadada more than anything else, but he's starting to make more sounds now, too. He says gagaga, and sometimes he'll say nanana or mum (still not really mamama or mama yet, or at least if he mumbles it he doesn't know what it means) I'm still not sure he knows dada, either, but he says it ALL THE TIME!!
Off to get ready for swimming tomorrow.

What he CAN do at almost 10 months

Sometimes I think we focus too much on what our babies can't do, so here is a list of things Beckett CAN do:

-clap
-high five
-play independently
-pick up ANYTHING with his pincer grasp
-eat whatever I put in front of him
-inch along on his belly or bum to get to things
-roll over like crazy!!
-empty his toybox all by himself in 5 seconds flat!
-sleep through the night(with a dreamfeed before I go to bed - though we're in the process of cutting this out!)
-is finally starting to nap well, but if we're out at playgroup he can stay awake for longer periods without having a meltdown!
-dance when he hears music
-stand holding on to things for a long time.

I can see a tooth (almost)

I just looked in Beckett's mouth, and I can finally see the beginnings of a tooth!!! It's his 7-1 (his bottom middle tooth on the left hand side). It's not through yet, but the gums there are a little bit red and swollen, and look a little clear where the tooth is getting ready to erupt. He hasn't really been fussy, but at least now I know why if he happens to get a little fussy!!! He's been chewing on his fingers a lot lately - but he always puts his hands in his mouth, so I didn't think much of it.

He also ate breakfast and supper yesterday mostly by himself, and breakfast and lunch today. For breakfast we give him his oat cereal, then break him up a slice of toast and some fruit (bananas for the last couple of days). He usually eats about a half a banana and a half a piece of toast (always multigrain). For supper last night I cooked him a chicken drumstick and cut it up and gave him cut up carrots. And for lunch today he had carrots and then I fed him some yogurt. He really likes feeding himself, and although it takes him a while, I'm surprised by how much he eats!!!

Long Overdue Update

Sorry I'm so behind with updates!!!

We had Beckett for his 9 month check up and he now weighs 16lb 1.5oz and is 26.5 inches long.
He's starting to reach for things more when he's sitting and has even managed to get from sitting to a belly position a few times. Most of the time, however, the leaning over to get to the belly position leads to a fall on his head!!

Just this past weekend he learned how to clap his hands.

Still NO teeth!!!

Beckett went on his first big road trip this past weekend. We went to Maine to go shopping!! He slept lots in the car, and even fell asleep once in his stroller while we were shopping!!! He was a perfect little boy while we were away - no melt downs in the malls! He was a great eater at restaurants (I took homemade baby food with us, so he still got to eat what he was used to). The only problem was that I think he missed his crib for night sleeping. He would fall asleep okay in the crib at the hotel (probably because he was so worn out from an entire day of shopping!), but then once he woke up he didn't want to fall back asleep in there.

9 months old

Well, Beckett is now 9 months old (3/4 of a year!!!). I'm taking him for his 9 month check up next week, so I'll hopefully have a new weight to post then.

He sleeps through the night most nights, now. He's ready for bed by 6:30 most nights, I feed him just before I go to bed, and he sleeps until 6 or 6:30 the next morning. I feed him then, and then sometimes he'll go back to sleep for another hour or so.

His change table used to be his favorite place to be, and now he cries almost every time we put him on it, unless he is sitting up.

He's still not crawling, although if he's on his belly on the floor he moves backwards.

He's got a lot of strength in his legs, he can stand up holding on to something and stay standing for a few minutes.

He's mimicking a lot now. If he coughs and you cough back at him, he will keep copying you. He's also quite the dancer - he shakes his head and bops up and down. He can give high 5's now, too - it's pretty cute.

He's had lots of new foods, including avocado, broccoli, kiwi, yogurt and cheese. He seems to have outgrown his dairy sensitivity. I've been eating cheese and milk and it doesn't seem to be bothering him. And the yogurt and cheese he's been eating haven't seemed to bother him as well, but I'm trying to keep the quantities low and not give him dairy more than once a day to make sure it doesn't hurt his belly.

He's STILL got NO teeth!!!!! But we're still breastfeeding, so that's okay with me for now!!! Breastfeeding is getting much harder though, because he's soooo squirmy and interested in his surroundings. He really only eats in the morning, mid morning, lunch time, mid afternoon and before bed now. And some of those feedings last only a couple of minutes. I think he's probably weaning himself, but I'm worried he's not getting quite enough to drink.

He's almost mastered the sippy cup. He gets a sippy cup with water with his meals and he's managing to get some water out and swallow it, as opposed to letting it run down his chin before.

All in all, he's a pretty perfect little guy in my opinion!!!