The Long Road Home: Has It Really Almost Been A Year?

Heya everyone!

Sorry I'm not great at staying current with bloggin' but, man, time just...well, there really isn't enough time in the day to be able to actually sit and blog. I sure miss posting as much as I used to though.

As I last reported Mr. P is waaaallking...! He is still figuring out his legs and learning how to use them to get places, so he still falls a lot. But he gets back up and tries again..all day long. He is learned lots of new stuff and has also tried a lot of new food. I now know two things for certain: I have a carbaholic on my hands and a belly button fanatic.

We are working on having him self-feed more "big boy" foods, and he looooves any and all types of bread products! uh oh. Sorry, Preston, you certainly got this from me.

Here are some things he has tried:

Crackers: Loves

Waffles: Loves

Bagel and cream cheese: Loves

Toast: Loves

Wheat Bread: Loves

Dinner Rolls: Loves

Any type of "puffy" rice chip: Loves

Steamed Broccoli: Hates

Steamed Carrots: Hates

Cooked Pasta: Hates

Cooked chicken breast: likes

Mashed potatoes: likes

Apple: Hates if he has to pick it up, but loves it in a puree

Banana: " "

Avocado: Hates

He does not like to touch "wet" or mushy textures right now. His face is priceless as he his navigating through these new food experiences. He looks totally disgusted when he touches things such as steamed broccoli or pasta. Cracks me up!

He's doing great at eating. We just keep offering, praising, and encouraging.

He has also started doing a few new things:

He has found our belly buttons. If you are laying on the floor with him he will pull up your shirt so he can locate your belly button and stick his finger inside of it. Too funny.

He's walking

He def knows the difference between Mama and Dada and who is who

He waves really well...and often

I have stopped nursing him at night and it took two nights of him waking up and fussing some before he started sleeping through the night and no longer waking. However, he is now waking up super early instead, like between 5 and 6. But it's our routine that I don't go get him, unless he's really upset, until 7am every morning. So he lays in his crib and plays with his bear and glow worm until then.

He uses us as human jungle gyms when we lay on the floor with him. He loves to crawl all over us and throw his body across ours and face plant into the floor. He thinks it's the best!

He loves to bang everything!

He loves to put things into other things

He seems to get more social by the day! I am constantly getting complimented on how well- behaved he is, how "smiley" he is and how bright his personality is.

He is now taking small sips of water from his straw sippy cup..whoo hoo

He loooves his fur sister Kelsey

When you offer him a bite of something if he has his binky in his mouth, he understands he has to pull his binky out in order to eat the bite

His attention span seems to be lengthening and he now seems to enjoy our routine of reading a book along side his friend " Bug" ( his glow worm) before every nap and bed time

As I pump in the mornings, he has gotten into the habit of sharing my banana with me

He is pointing at things

He is fascinated by the tongues of others. He wants you to stick it out so he can touch it.

The older he gets the more " aware" he also seems to get of my breasts. LOL Nursing time or not, hungry or not, he will often put his mouth on one of my breasts -- on top of my shirt---just because he knows what's under there. He laughs and moves on. It cracks Kevin up.

He just had a play date with two of my friends' daughters, and Preston LOVED IT! Like, really loved it! He had a blast and didn't mind that one of the girls is an aggressive player and knocked him down a lot. He just kept on getting up and playing. This def needs to happen more often. He was so social and did not care one bit that I was holding another baby a lot of the time.

So there's the most recent update~

Life is good and things are moving along. Kevin and I shared a wonderful Valentine's Day, too! Love my sweet hubby. Oh, and just confirmed that P's helmet will be coming off in 4 weeks! His head is still not exactly where we hoped it would be, but, in the end, not doing another band is the best choice as the bone that we need to fill out is known to be the most stubborn bone in the head and given his older age, it is not likely that it will fill out according to his occupational therapist who manages his care even with another band. So we're just gonna call it a day with the helmet. And to most, you can't even tell there is anything wrong with his head shape anyway. Right before his birthday! Whoo hooo! I'm in full planning mode for his birthday! Yeah!! Can't wait to show off the pics of his party.

But until then, here are some pics of what's been going on around here. 10 Months old!

Looks who's gettin the hang of this walking thing!