10 Months

At 10 Months Dawson Partrick Miller...
-Is into all drawers, doors, compartments, flaps, pretty much anything that can open and shut. He pulls out everything he can and turns them into toys. He especially likes to do this with pots and pans.

-Climbs and pulls up on everything he can. Tries to pull himself on top of things.

-Shakes his head "No".

-Opens and shuts his hand toward himself. We think it means "I want something," but we are trying to teach him to use it with "Hi" and "Bye". When we do it back, he cracks up.-Loves his walker toys and bolts down the hallway, through the kitchen, and in the living room. This makes his cousins laugh!

-Gives us a cheesy smile sometimes.

-Makes a clicking noise in his mouth that we like to mimic and he laughs.

-Still LOVES peek-a-boo!
-Smiles every time we start to read his favorite books, Snuggle Puppy and Barnyard Dance

-Follows us everywhere

-Crawls at lightning speed

-Fascinated with the bathtub, toilet paper and toilet. Has yet to figure out how to flush...

-Wiggles uncontrollably when having his diaper changed.

-Starting to fight sleep

-Eats pasta, toast, pizza crust, carrots, green beans, yellow squash, oranges, apples, pears, bananas, cheerios, and little bits of all kinds of other things.

-Loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

-Watched his first snowfall on Christmas Eve

-Had his first stomach flu

-Investigates everything - especially electronic devices like the phone, remotes, laptop, and television. He also LOVES anything with wheels. He turns them over to figure out how the wheels work.

-Calls Daddy, Mommy, and Aunt Casey, "Mama"
-Tentatively climbs the stairs.
-Has figured out how to turn himself around on the couch or bed and get down, feet first.

I fought the stairs and - I won

It had to happen eventually. In fact, I was even wondering whether I should hasten the opportunity (not really, that's child abuse). But Dawson eventually had to fall down the stairs. It happened yesterday. I went downstairs to do laundry and didn't close the babygate behind me, then left to pick up our babysitter for the evening. Erin was with Dawson in the bedroom. The quick little crawler bolted through the open bedroom door. A few moments later, Erin wondered "is the babygate closed." No sooner had that thought crossed her mind then she heard the helpless sound of a 10 month old boy tumbling down our carpeted stairs. The final thud was followed by a full-lunged cry.

When I got home, I was shown the red bump that had appeared above his eye. I hope this doesn't sound sadistic, but I was quite proud of my boy. Dawson is getting braver and I'm allowing him more freedom, which is resulting in his falls becoming more regular while also producing less tears. The tumble down the short staircase had to happen eventually. And to know that he tumbled down, cried a bit but then had a big smile as daddy looked at his bump, well, that makes a dad pretty proud of his tough little boy.

Teething and Sinuses

I should have never written this post. The past two weeks, Dawson has been teething and has had a sinus infection, meaning he wakes up crying about every two hours. It's been pretty rough in the Miller house, with the lack of sleep. We got some medicine from the Dr. today so hopefully that will help.

That's parenting, right? Just when you think you've got something figured out you find yourself starting all over again.

I'll never write a "mission accomplished" post again.

Dear Santa...

First Christmas Special

Dawson's first tv Christmas special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Vacuum

Dawson is fascinated with how things work and the vacuum is his largest object of fascination. He was scared of it at first but mom helped calm his fears. Now he can't get enough of the vacuum; he climbs on it, pulls it over, spins the wheels and pulls at the cord. He does however, still get scared when it makes the loud noise when the belt slips, sending him crawling to mommy.

First Words

Donnie and I have been able to pick up a few words that Dawson has started to understand. He smiles when he hears his name and when we start to read his favorite book, Snuggle Puppy. He understands Mommy and Daddy when he hears them and has started to say them in his own way - "Mama" and "Dah". My favorite time of the day is when I get home from work and he sees me. He gets a HUGE smile on his face and starts crawling over to grab onto my pant legs all the while saying, "Mama, Mama!"
Another important item to Dawson is his bottle. He has used his version of the word, "baba" several times in context, asking us for it. He is now able to hold it by himself without help. And you should see him go to town with it. When he sees it he often squeals and if it is anywhere near his reach, he grabs it!

Videos from October

9 months old

At nine months of age, our little boy...
- Laughs at his own burps, convincing mom this trait is a part of a man's DNA
- Is able to to maneuver back down from a standing position to a seated position with growing ease
- Tests any stationary or somewhat stationary object to see if he can pull himself up with it. When he does pull into a standing position, he gets a big smile on his face and looks around to show off for whoever is watching.
- Loves cheerios
- Can 'cruise' along the furniture
- Has a deep belly laugh
- Loves looking out the living room window
- Clings tightly to our necks when getting him out of the crib in the morning. This is, by far, daddy's favorite part of the day.
- Still loves "Snuggle Puppy"
- Army crawls across the floor with surprising speed. He's just now begun doing the regular crawl.
- Is obsessed with the end-table drawer underneath the TV
- Toes peek out over the edge of his car seat
- Wiggles on the changing table, making changing his diapers an almost impossible task
- Is wearing 12 - 18 month sized clothes
- Eats 3 meals per day
- Is in the 90th percentile of height and 50th of weight
- Has 2 little teeth and takes 2 long naps each day
- Has begun research for his doctoral dissertation... okay, maybe next month.

Night Sleep

Last night, Dawson went to bed at 7:30 and didn't wake up until 5:40. He went down without any struggle and woke up happy. It hasn't been easy to get there, though.

Erin and I have been following pretty closely the guidance in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, recommended to us by our mutual funds rep, Brian. Dawson has been sticking with the sleep milestones and habits Dr. Weissbluth outlines in his book; two long naps during the nap and waking up once for a nighttime feeding. With Dawson approaching 9 months however, Dr. W says it's time to phase out the night feeding. So Sunday night, I sent Erin to sleep downstairs so I could do the "work" of helping Dawson break his habit of a midnight bottle.

2:30, Dawson woke up crying for his bottle, right on cue. I put a binky back in his mouth, tried to quite him but it didn't work. It was then time to let Dawson cry it out. 3:00 he was still screaming full strength so I went back in, put the binky back in his mouth and laid him back down. That didn't work, so there was another 20 minutes of crying but the cries were lessening in intensity. I went back in to check on him and saw that he was at least laying down by now and I knew he was about to give in to sleep. 10 minutes later, he was asleep, not waking up again until 6:45.

Now, believe me, that hour of crying was not easy. I laid in bed for awhile, did some reading but mostly kept reassuring myself I was doing the right thing. "If he doesn't learn to sleep now, he'll never learn and I want him to sleep at college," "crying is a form of amnesia, it will help him unlearn his waking up habit," and "babies have to learn to self soothe and if you do it for them, they'll never learn." Those principles from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child kept me strong.

The next night, he woke up again and cried for another hour. This time, I didn't do anything to sooth him and he eventually fell asleep on his own.

The third night, I woke up at exact same time but NO CRYING BABY! At 4:00 that morning, he cried out and I thought he was going to wake up but he went right back to sleep.

This round of self-will has been won by mommy and daddy. Not only do we gain the benefit of a full night's sleep but Dawson gains the benefit of learning how to sleep through the night and how to put himself back to sleep if he wakes up. It's a great, great feeling and I'm VERY glad it's over.

This morning in church, I was recommending that book to sleep-deprived parents of a one month old. I was told by another family that when they decided to break their son of the night waking habit, he cried for 6 straight hours! Dawson is such an easy baby.

Sleeping next to daddy

Erin and I have both had some precious moments with Dawson the past couple of weeks. When he wakes up at an hour we deem too early, we quickly feed and change him, then force him to lie next to us on the couch. We position our bodies in such a way that he's basically crammed between the couch and our side, restricting most of his wiggling (though not all). We drape our arms over him, hold his little finger in our hand, put the binky back in his mouth and then lie there hoping to go back to sleep. After 10-15 minutes, the wiggling stops, his breaths get longer and deeper and we get anywhere from a 20 minute to an hour long nap. Often, I'm still awake while Dawson sleeps. Feeling his sleeping little body curled up next to mine is one of the most moving experiences I've had as parent.

I did another post on "sleeping next to daddy" here.

"Look, mom!"

No, Dawson is not taking steroids. His strength is all natural.

By George, I think we've got one?!?! A tooth that is...

Yesterday evening, I caught a glimpse of a little white something poking through the little pink gums inside Dawson's mouth. Yep! After several months of thinking that Dawson has been teething, I think the first tooth is pushing through his little gums. You see, I think most new parents think that their child is teething for a long time before the teeth actually show up in their child's mouth. Most of the time if I can't figure out why Dawson is fussy, I blame it on his yet-to-be-seen teeth that MUST be causing him serious pain. If it is not hunger, sleepiness, or a need for a fresh diaper, it must be tooth related! I have been joking with Donnie that we need to take him to the dentist to see if they will x-ray his mouth to see if there actually are teeth inside there! The difficulty with a baby is, he doesn't like me to stick my finger in his mouth for my purposes to see if there are any teeth... If it is his idea, by all means, he can chew, suck, or drool all over my fingers. :) But I think in the midst of his protest last night, I discovered a little tooth edge poking through his bottom gums. A little one-toothed wonder!

Sleeping with Daddy

Dawson's Daddy wrote a post about what it is like to cuddle up in Daddy's arms. You can read it here.

8 Months Old!

At 8 months, our little Horton:

- Listens attentively to his favorite books. He often looks back and smiles during Snuggle Puppy. It is a singing book. :)

- Can pull himself up to a standing position

- Has a determined way of getting to whatever object grabs his attention. Lots of army crawling around our house!

- Has a happy sound that sounds an awful lot like a growl

- Can scoot all across the living room and kitchen floors

- Loves being tickled under the ribs

- Enjoys hanging with daddy and friends while they life weights in the garage

- Can't actually crawl, but gets up on hands and knees to rock back and forth

- Hugs around the neck and gives open-mouthed kisses

-Loves to see his Aunt Casey and cousins Tricia, Sydney and Andy when he stays with them while Mommy and Daddy work two days of the week.

Crawling Videos

Here are some fun crawling videos.
The last two are about a month later than the first one, which shows how much quicker he moves now.
I love the "lion" video. You can hear Dawson's lion-like "growl" and watch how he doesn't stop until he reaches the object of his desire. Dawson is relentless. Relentless, like a lion hunting his prey.

Upwardly Mobile

We had another "first" over the weekend, from a sitting position, the little guy pulled himself up into a standing position. So that night, we promptly lowered his crib to prevent him from climbing over the railing.
He's also able to get up onto his knees and crawl a few 'steps' in the traditional crawl. He quickly gets tired or loses his balance and falls back down with a slight whine.

Dawson is so energetic. When he wants something, he'll give a total effort in his pursuit. I can't imagine what we're in for once he starts walking...

I'm here to "Pump - You Up!"

Dawson had been bugging me to let him work out with me, so I finally gave in. Since we were doing pull-ups today, he wanted to join in. Of course, my son is such a stud that he has to show off and do one-armed pull ups. It's just so effortless for him...