Rip VanWinkle, where are you?

Ugh. I'm so tired. Little C insists on waking up sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 now and crying. A lot. I've been trying to go to bed earlier to account for the early wake-up call but I

Another first

Well, it's official. As of yesterday, the boy can now clap! We were sitting at dinner and he decided to bang his hands together with food in them as he likes to kill it before he eats it. He then must have put two and two together because he shoved the food in his mouth and started clapping. It was met with shouts of joy and much clapping by Mommy and Daddy. He was overjoyed, as were we, and decided to clap all night. He even clapped when I put him to bed.

I wasn't sure if he'd remember but sure enough, he clapped for me when I went in to say hi this morning. And he clapped at breakfast. And as Daddy carried him out to the car for "school."

At the rate he's going now, he'll be waving by next Monday and solving Pythagorean theorem on Thanksgiving Day.

 
"Don't turn around Cohen!!" 

 

Introducing

Little C's (current) best friends:
From left to right: Blah Blah, Toni, and Hank.

Little C is oh so fond of these three characters. He lights up when we mention Blah Blah's name and then when he sees her, he goes nuts and buries his face anywhere in her body. Toni and Hank aren't as close to Little C yet but they do have some very suckable legs and ears, according to Little C. And Hank has that pocket on his tummy that we like to put things in for Little C to find.

The three of them would like to wish you a very happy Sunday.

Dear Cohen

Well my love, you are now 10 months and change. Hard to believe that you'll be 1 year old next month. I'm sad and happy all at the same time and of course, I'm crying as I type this. I'm sad because the time is flying by so quickly and before I know it you'll be off to one of the two universities I'll allow you to attend. But then I'm so happy because every single day you make me laugh even more than the day before.

What a great month we've had my boy. Me getting off domperidone really made a big difference in your disposition.

You're still the man when it comes to eating. You'll eat anything, except those peas. I've tried sneaking them into your carrot/hummus concoction but you know they're in there and will have absolutely nothing to do with them, thank you very much. This morning for breakfast you ate a flax waffle, a whole scrambled egg, and applesauce. That was shortly after you downed 6 oz. of formula in less than 5 minutes. Good thing you have that high metabolism of yours. You really do prefer to feed yourself these days, although you let us spoon in the runny stuff. Your little pincers are doing a great job of getting pancakes, toast, avocado, cheese, edamame, lint balls, and a whole host of other food and non-food stuff in your mouth. And you open your mouth so big and wide as you wait for food to arrive. It's very entertaining to watch.

You're still a pretty good sleeper, although this time change has really messed you up. You now like to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and start your day with a little cruise around your crib, followed by some sit-ups and push-ups (you really do want to impress those ladies in your class), and then a full on conversation with yourself before you turn on your music thing attached to the side of your crib and play with its buttons. I'm not sure what I need to do to get you to wake up later. Maybe just ride this wave. Or maybe take you in to get your flu booster shot. That usually wipes you out for 12 hours. Most school days you only nap once for Phyllis, but on the weekends, you easily sleep for about 4 hours total during the day. I can't wait until you're a little older and we can cuddle up in bed together and you won't try and get away from me like you do now.

 You love giving high fives. And you still refuse to humour me and clap. I've even bribed you with hummus and you still won't do it. Oh well, it will come in time. It's not like clapping is a survival skill. Or is it?

If I'd written this post yesterday, I would have reminded you that you still weren't crawling. But today is a big day in your life as you crawled for the very first time. And I was there to witness it. And of course I cried. And of course I took a video of you crawling tonight. And of course I can't figure out how to upload the video from the flip. But you crawled and it was so exciting for both of us. Here's how it went down: I was putting your food in the fridge at "school" and Phyllis put you down on the floor by the exersaucer. You immediately spotted a slice of a peach lying under the highchair where Lucy was enjoying her peaches. You got up on all fours, rocked for a little while, and then sort of dragged yourself over to the peach, grunting with each move. It wasn't an army crawl, nor was it a proper crawl, but something in between. Sort of reminded me of a dog scooting. Phyllis tried to get the peach out of your hand so you wouldn't eat it, but she was too late. Oh well, we'll consider it your reward for a job well done. And tonight you crawled around, getting better and better each time. Daddy and I think you'll be really good by the end of the weekend. Guess we'd better get those baby gates now, right? I thought that since you were so brilliant, I'd like to see what you'd do with stairs. You walked from one side of the stair to the other side for a few minutes and was just so very pleased with yourself. You did try to get your leg up on the step but your big thigh got in the way. Hey, I know how it feels.

In addition to Barbara, Mama, and Dada, you now say nana for banana. And you sure do get excited when you see one on the counter. You scream "nana nana nana" in this squeaky voice. I need to get it on video so I never forget it. My heart melts every single time. Maybe we should dress Nana Sydorko up in a banana costume at Christmas. Then she'd feel good that you called her Nana and you'd feel good because it would be a giant banana, and who doesn't love a giant banana? Daddy's afraid that you might try to eat Nana so maybe we should rethink that plan.

Your current best friends are Teddy and Blah Blah. You get so excited when they peek around the corner at you. But I think you get more excited when I chase you around the house while Daddy carries you close to his chest. You cling so tight and scream with delight the entire time.

Well my love, you are the best thing that ever happened to me and I can't wait to see what month 11 has in store for us. Hopefully no trips to the ER. And hopefully a lot more mobility and independence.

Yay for Cohey Bear!

Love,

Your biggest fan, Mommy xoxo
"I said no more photos!"
Discovering your shadow for the first time.
How you love to swing.
 
I asked you to make a funny face and this is what you delivered. Classic!
 
Don't tell Daddy that I let you play with a stick.
Hanging with Charley Bean, your next door neighbour/girlfriend/big sister/cousin/future best buddy/partner in crime.
Hey Cohen, how many mpgs does your ride get?

 

Sick again

I think this is the sickest I've ever been. Went to bed with the flu on Sunday and still have it today. Will spend all day in bed again with hopes that I'll wake up feeling well enough to blog tomorrow. Until then, a cute photo of the Bear from this past weekend. (1 of over 500 photos I took of him)

When in doubt, check the diaper

Last week little c came home with some new soother bling, as evidenced below.
The very next day he came home and the letters were gone. Just the ribbon remained. Which lead me to check his diaper immediately to see if any of the letters had shown up in there.

Fortunately for all of us, it turns out they fell off the ribbon at "school" and none of the kids ate them. But I did have a small chuckle thinking about a parent changing their baby's diaper the next day and finding the name "Cohen" in there. What the?!? Before you get upset with me for thinking that way, you should know it was a small chuckle as I considered the choking hazard that the beads present.

I think they might want to reconsider attaching small beads to a baby's soother next time.

Back to the petri dish

We decided to keep little c home from "school" yesterday in order to make a full recovery. Big c took the a.m. shift so I could go to work and I took the afternoon shift. Little c was a lot of fun yesterday and enjoyed a walk to the Red Moose with Daddy and a trip to Costco with Mommy.

But back he went to daycare, a.k.a. the petri dish, this morning and had a wonderful day. He even had a girl slip him her phone number when I was picking him up. True story! I should probably tell you that it's one of the daycare workers who, and I quote "has a special place in her heart for Cohen" and would love to babysit him anytime we need someone.

Tonight he wolfed down a baked yam, half a can of mandarin oranges and half a piece of buttered bread. I think the boy's appetite has returned! Fingers crossed that he didn't bring home a different strain of the stomach bug that seems to be floating around the petri dish and that all that food stays down tonight.