Back to Reality...

11 months old and in to everything!

After the holidays, our trip to Asheville, and then the “snowcation,” this week was our attempt at getting back to reality and returning to our regular scheduled programming schedule. Of course that was after Martin Luther King Day on Monday, which prevented us from sending or receiving mail including Dominic's birthday invitations (again) as well as going to the library story time.  We did get to meet with our playgroups on Wednesday and Thursday, which was fun.  This week also marked Dominic turning 11 months old, meaning my baby will only be considered a “baby” for 1 more month and then will become a “toddler” all too soon.  

Dominic is officially healthy as of yesterday!  He went with my mom and me to the doctor again for our follow-up to the follow-up appointment yesterday morning, and the doctor gave him the “all clear” along with his flu booster shot.  Dominic had been on strong antibiotics for 7 days (on top of the 10 days before that with the other antibiotics), and the effect has been MANY dirty diapers, a blow out for the first time in months which happened to be in his crib during a nap, and horrible diaper rash from all of the aforementioned dirty diapers.  The diaper rash got so bad that the other night he was even bleeding a little on his bottom.  He screamed every time I wiped him…poor, little boy!  The pediatrician said that the rash didn’t appear “yeasty,” which is good, and to continue using Butt Paste on him.  As of today it's almost gone!

To go along with his intestinal issues that came along with the antibiotics, I’ve been giving Dominic a lot of yogurt and applesauce per the pediatrician’s advice.  The yogurt is also supposed to help prevent his diaper rash from developing into a yeast infection.  Dominic does not have a problem with eating yogurt or apple sauce as that is about all of the spoon-fed foods he has been eating lately.  Along with those, Dominic is eating pasta, ravioli, cheerios, crackers, goldfish, peas, and now graham crackers as finger foods.  Graham crackers are Dominic’s new favorite food (of the week).  Apparently, he’s a carb-lover just like his mom. 

Dominic LOVES graham crackers

 Dominic continues to have better highchair behavior, but he has shown less interest in the “Magic Spoon” (the extra spoon I had given him to play with to improve his eating behavior) and, therefore, a slight regression in his behavior since last week.  He had been very entertained by biting the spoon and beating it on the highchair, but his favorite activity is dropping the spoon on the ground, hearing me say “uh oh,” and then having me pick it up and start the process all over again…and again and again.  Apparently, this is hysterical to Dominic, but even his interest in playing that game has dwindled the last couple of days.

Standing independently for multiple minutes now!

The biggest news is that Dominic is standing really, really well now (for multiple minutes at a time) and took 4 steps in a row on Wednesday!!!  He’s starting to walk, and I’m really thinking/hoping that he will take off soon.  I’m not actually sure if that’s a good thing or not, but I'm still very excited for it.   After he did his 4-step walk to the Learn and Groove, I tried to get him to repeat such a remarkable feat for the camera.  Unfortunately, Dominic instead face-planted into the Learn and Groove after a couple of steps and now is a little hesitant to walk.  We’re going to keep working on it though!  Whenever he stands up and/or takes steps, he gets the biggest smile on his face.  He's truly proud of himself, and Brian and I are so proud of and excited for him!

Dominic is very proud of himself when he stands for long periods now.  So cute.

 Another milestone - well kind of - is that Dominic graduated to the "big boy" convertible car seat.  After much research on safety, asking my parent friends for their recommendations, and looking at various seats and their user reviews, we purchased a Britax Marathon 70.  As of now, we're keeping it rear-facing as you are required to do until the baby is a year old and 20 pounds.  However, the newest AAP recommendation is to keep them rear-facing until the child is 2 years old.  Dominic is already cramped in there, so we're going to wait until he really starts to complain about it before making the seat forward-facing.  That almost definitely will be long before his 2nd birthday, but we're just going to try to keep him rear-facing as long as we can.  What I like about the seat is that I feel Dominic is much safer in this one.  Plus he appears to have more room in it.  Some of the cons are that the back of the seat is much higher, making it hard to see Dominic in the mirror (this won't be a problem once he is forward-facing and the mirror is no longer necessary).  Also, there are tethering straps which are not required but strongly recommended to use.  They can be strapped to the front seats or behind the middle seat if there are appropriate hooks to tether the straps to.  Unfortunately, my Honda Accord does not have a designated hook on the front seat but does have it for the back seat.  Now the straps go from the back of his car seat over Dominic's head and are hooked behind the middle back seat's hook.  This makes it harder to get Dominic into his seat because I have to put him between the seat and the strap.  On the bright side, the straps do allow us to keep Dominic's beloved frog strapped in front of him to keep him entertained on car rides.  

in his "big boy" car seat

As Dominic's interests are constantly changing, right now he has lots of things enjoys.  He really likes to hear me sing the Wheels on the Bus to him.  Dominic seems to be really beginning to understand “the baby in the mirror” is him now.  He definitely understands that when he and I look in the mirror together that it’s my reflection in the mirror beside this baby.  Also, waving is a work in progress.  Dominic waves but not hello or goodbye, just randomly when he feels like it.  Something else he loves is to happily dance, which basically involves some swaying and bouncing.  When music is on, he really likes to dance but will do it without music too.  With his 4 teeth, Dominic is really interested in biting things and me.  I think it's probably a combination of more teeth coming in soon and the new-found sensation of putting his top and bottom teeth down together.  

Unrolling the toilet paper is endless fun!

Dominic is of course always getting into trouble the more mobile, taller, and smarter he becomes.  One of his favorite things to do at the moment is to get into the bathroom, spin the toilet paper roll, and unroll it everywhere.  Apparently, this makes for several minutes of fun for an almost-1 year old.  Another fun activity that involves him getting into trouble is opening drawers and cabinets in the kitchen.  He's only pinched his fingers once (knock on wood).  He had been getting into the Tupperware drawer, but having to load the dishwasher with all of the pieces of Tupperware, which he had taken out of the drawer and put onto the floor, was getting a little much.  So Brian installed a baby-proof lock on the drawer in order to prevent Dominic from getting into the Tupperware.  So what does Dominic do?  He opens the drawer above the Tupperware drawer, which is the dishtowel drawer and now does the same thing to do that drawer.  I guess baby proofing never ends!

 

"I can't take out the Tupperware anymore, so now I'm on to Mama's dishtowels!"

Although Dominic has had so many wonderful accomplishments in the last couple of weeks, I do have some concerns.  With less than a month left until Dominic is a year old, I’m feeling the pressure to get Dominic drinking from a sippy cup and down to fewer bottles.  I’m breathing a little easier as he’s now officially been on 3 bottles, making me hopeful that dropping him to 2 bottles might not be too hard in a few weeks.  I've decided to continue to pump a little longer because the breastmilk really is so much better for him.  The thing about the sippy cup is that Dominic can sip – I’ve seen him – but he chooses not to.  It’s just like he could physically stand a couple of months ago but for so long chose not to.  I just worry that this is what I have ahead of me during the quickly-approaching toddler years and then his teen years.  I have to keep reminding myself that Dominic will eventually learn how to drink from the sippy cup just like he did with standing.  The fun of having a stubborn strong-willed baby!