Cooper - 10 months

How is Cooper already 10 months old?  His first year is flying by.  Drew and I both realized how fast it has gone by the other night and we felt terrible.  Maybe it's a second child thing.  We have been in such a routine these past 10 months - wake up, get ready, drop off, work, pick up, dinner, bath, bedtime, repeat - that it's hard to just stop and play and savor.  We honestly have tried our best but when your attention is divided between the oldest and youngest (and iphones - gosh, they are addictive!), it's just hard!  Thankfully I'm trying to keep up this blog so these days don't completely pass me by.  This record of everything mundane helps me stop and reflect.  Don't be insulted, but I don't only keep this blog for my loyal audience of 10! :)

So for the December birthday pictures, I experimented with a black backdrop.  The results were less desirable than expected, but they do break up the monotony.  I might have been happier had I been able to use my flash, but there was a mishap due to my camera falling off the tripod during a family picture so my flash now needs some $$$ repairs (but luckily my much pricier camera is fine - so far!).

10 Months:

Unofficial Weight: 20 lbs 4oz (same as last month...I don't quite believe my scale!)
Diaper Size: Size 3
Clothes: 6-12 months.  Due to some recent weigh gain, he is really starting to fill them out!  He have him currently in 12-24 month size ankle socks (random, yes!).
Hair/Eyes: Light brown/Hazelish.  His hair has gotten wild lately.  It's still baby thin but long in the back and sides and very static-y on cold days.
Favorite toy: Anything his brother is playing with, the springy things on the back of doors, Weezie's water dish
Favorite food:  Ritz crackers, Veggie puffs, Mum-mums.  He still loves to nurse as well.  We are trying to phase that out, but I'm afraid if we did he would never sleep again.  It's about my only "trick" to getting him to fall asleep!
Least favorite food: I might be able to add green beans.  He'll eat them for a little while, but look completely disgusted the entire time.
Typical daily schedule: Wake up around 6 for the day.  Nurse. Eat snacks throughout the morning while I get everyone ready.  Drop off at school around 8:30 (ideally it would be 45 minutes earlier, but I've learned I'm no superwoman).  He has typically 3 4oz bottles at school with two meals. I think they also let him have a snack during the day.  Drew picks him up around 5 and is usually the one to bathe, feed him, and put him to bed (Super Dad, he is!).  If I'm working very late, I'll come home for about 30 minutes to nurse Cooper one last time to get him to go to sleep and then go back to work.  Cooper is usually in bed by 7.  Most nights he'll wake up at 11pm on the dot.  He also likes to wake up around 3:30.  He is not the best sleeper in the house!  That award goes to Chase who is the BEST sleeper.  Sorry Cooper!  I'm sure you'll have other talents!

Right now Cooper is an A+ crawler.  He's now pulling up on various things around the house, but not cruising quite yet.  I'm afraid he'll start any day now though!  I'm ready for it, but also I'm not! :)  He now wants to get into things he shouldn't.  Like a small trashcan or the dog's water dish.  As he crawls towards them I say his name or a little "No, no" and he'll stop and sit down and look at me and smile.  Then he'll keep going for it.  This process repeats about 3 or 4 times.  Then he gets mad that I keep saying no and then he'll start crying.  It's sad, really!

He loves his teachers at school.  Where Chase loved Ms. Bettey, I believe Cooper's favorite is Ms. Pam.  There is a little boy in Cooper's class named Jackson who was born 4 days before Cooper.  They are similar in size and in about the same place developmentally so they often sit them together to play.  I had been told how they've been trying to get them to both crawl back in late November because they were so close.  The morning that Cooper began crawling, I walked into Cooper's class and they said that Jackson had beaten Cooper to crawling as he had started that morning.  I then told them how Cooper had started crawling about 45 minutes ago and they just thought that was hilarious.  So Cooper and Jackson are now "best friends"!

Cooper hasn't said many words.  He'll occasionally say "da-da" and maybe "ma-ma", but he's mostly just babbling all the time.  He's also a yeller and a screamer.  Even if he's perfectly happy, he'll still give us a big scream.  The daycare teachers are convinced that Cooper is much louder than Chase ever was.  I don't really remember, but that's probably true.  Cooper's role model is a 3 year old, so he's probably learned the yelling from Chase!  Cooper does like to yell and grunt for food.  If he sees me eating something (particularly Ritz crackers...his favorite), he will get so mad and yell.  It's funny, but also hard because I'm hungry and don't want to share my food!

So I would expect that Cooper is going to fill out a lot over the next month.  Around the middle of December we went from having bottles that were half milk/half formula to all formula.  I remember when we made the switch with Chase, his big cheeks got even bigger!