James at Ten Months

This has been such a happy month.  For the most part, James has been really happy and independent and we’ve fallen into a really good rhythm lately.

Eating

James continues to love to eat!  The big change this month has been family meals.  We’re finally eating dinners as a family, and loving it.  I always wanted to do this, but when James was napping so poorly, he needed a super early bedtime and he was eating dinner by like 4:45 a lot of days.  My husband wasn’t even home from work yet, so family dinners weren’t possible.

James still goes to bed early, but has dinner at 5:30 or 6:00, depending on his naps that day, so while it’s earlier than we’d ideally want to eat, we can swing it.  It’s interesting to see how much better James eats when we eat as a family.  He’s always been a good eater, but he seems to really enjoy dinner time more when we all sit down together.  I suppose I wouldn’t want to eat with people just staring at me either 🙂

His favorite food was avocado for a long time, but lately his favorites seem to be bread, yogurt, peas, carrots, bananas, and fruit in general.

Sleeping

I left sleeping out of his updates for a while because it was stressing me out and I didn’t want to dwell on it or continually complain about it.  Sleep is finally going pretty well!

I’ve come to terms with the fact that James will likely never be an epic napper (spell check suggests I say rapper instead of napper, but I don’t want to count him out just yet ;), and that’s fine.  He is on a pretty good two nap schedule now though, generally napping around 9:00 and between 1:00 and 2:00.  He usually takes one short nap and one long nap (for him – an hour to an hour and a half).  He needed a third nap a couple of times this month, but he had a cold, so wasn’t sleeping as well in general.

He is also sleeping through the night!  James had been down to eating once at night, between 3-4 AM for a long time.  I knew he probably didn’t really need to eat at this time anymore, but it was honestly just easier to go in there and feed him so I could go back to sleep.  All of a sudden though, he was wide awake after I went in to feed him, and taking up to an hour to fall asleep again.  I knew it was time to stop.  I phased it out a little bit, but feeding him for less time each night so I would be confident he wasn’t starving.

James never cried when he woke up at night, just started talking to himself, so it was relatively easy to not go in there.  Still, I was worried he would just be up for the day at 3 AM or get upset after a while when I didn’t go in.  I was prepared for the worst, but it was totally fine!  The first night he talked to himself for ten minutes or so and then went back to sleep.  For about a week, he still woke up between 3-5 and chatted for a while, but he never started crying.  After a week or so, the habit was broken and I haven’t needed to go in there at night since.  I probably should have done this sooner, it is so nice to sleep all night again!

Physical Development

James is becoming more and more confident and capable with standing and cruising.  He can pull up on walls without anything to grab onto, and he comes down so carefully.  He will sometimes bend down to get a toy from the floor and stand back up again.

He will also lean on his shelf or the couch without holding on so that he can use both hands to play.  He sometimes stands for several seconds without holding on to or leaning on anything.  It is so amazing to see his independence growing.

We don’t have any stairs at home, but he can also go up and down the little steps at Barnes and Noble with ease.

James graduated to the big bathtub, and a big kid car seat, this month.  He is getting so big!

He has started banging two toys together with both hands.  He is also getting better and better at using his fingers to turn the pages of books.  He loves picking up a string with his two little fingers.

He does not yet sign back with any of the baby sign language.  He is super verbal and I’m curious if he’ll ever use the signs.  He also doesn’t wave or clap or point yet though, so he may just not be there yet, which is fine.

James also got his two bottom teeth this month, which is the cutest.  He is a big fan of brushing his teeth, and finds the experience so funny 🙂

Personality

I feel like that picture says it all….

He is super confident and friendly.  He crawls right up to strangers, children and adults alike.  He made friends with a couple of seven year olds at the pool last week.

He is SO HAPPY.  James got his first cold this month and he was such a trooper.  He did not get the memo that babies are supposed to hate the nose frida thing (basically you stick it in their nose and it sucks out the snot since they don’t know how to blow their noses yet).  He thought the thing was hilarious.  I have this baby chest rub I put on his chest at night too and he found that equally hilarious.  His default is definitely joy.

He is super independent.  He is on a mission to explore and is absolutely happiest when he has the freedom so crawl around and touch and taste everything in sight.

He loves books, as long as we’re at home.  If I ever try to read him a book at the library or Barnes and Noble, forget it.  There is much too much to see there.  At home though, reading books is one of his favorite things to do.

If I could freeze time at one age, this would absolutely be it (so far).  He is super interactive, but also independent and able to entertain himself.  He is so sweet and happy and flexible.  He is exuberant and talkative and curious and brings us so much joy.