The fact that I missed last month’s update speaks volumes. What hasn’t been going on lately?!
These past two months Lincoln’s been busier than ever between teething (finally!) crawling, standing, cruising, eating, dancing, waving, and hi-fiving. Oh, and being obsessed with dogs. More on that in a minute. Here’s what’s on My Mommy Mind this month!
As a child who was interested in reading above anything else, I couldn’t be happier that Lincoln is showing real interest in books these days. Prior to 10 months, sitting down and reading wasn’t high on his list of priorities, with the exception of bedtime when there’s no other distractions. Now he loves turning pages and especially loves pulling flaps on peekaboo books. Don’t even get me started on books that have pictures of real animals, particularly puppies. He thinks they are hilarious.Â
While we’re on the topic, it’s strange to me that even babies at this age shows preference over seemingly-similar books. For instance, he has no patience for The Best Mouse Cookie but is obsessed with anything by Sandra Boynton (Pajama Time, anyone?) which are both small and illustrated. Riddle me that?
Want to know what I’m doing everyday at 9am? Crawling around our coffee table in circles. Over and over and over. That is to say, games like hide and seek and follow the leader are a couple of our favorite ways to play everyday.
We’ve been hard at work learning tricks! High-fives, “so-big”, and waving hi and bye are now in his little repertoire of talents. Lincoln and I love sending Ben off to work in the morning with a wave and greeting him the same way in the evening coupled with a shriek of joy when his car pulls into the driveway. Lincoln gets real excited too. Kidding! Seriously though, he sure loves his Dada!
I’d heard 9-12 months is a clingy stage and boy we’re feelin’ it. Little man attaches himself to my leg like a koala and does NOT want me to leave his sights. I love feeling needed but it’s a stark difference from the independence he had from 6-8 months. It makes sense – he’s more aware of his surroundings than ever before.
One of my favorite parts of the night is when Lincoln gets a little bit silly. It’s not so fun when it happens at meal time, ahem, but just after is hilarious. Ben and I sit and watch him crack himself up. Which cracks us up!
Speaking of mealtime, eating is going great. Despite his tiny size, homeboy must have a hollow leg or something because he really packs it in. We’ve had to cut him off a few times because he’d get a stomachache! Current faves include spaghetti, jam bread (bread misted with extra virgin olive oil and spread with a wee bit of jam,) peas, sweet potatoes, Cheerios (my God does that child love Cheerios,) lentil soup, black bean soup, deli turkey and chicken (I like Applegate Farms brand,) and ALL THE FRUIT.
I can’t wait to get clearance from my doc to feed him peanut butter. I asked a few months ago if I could start and she said she’d like to wait until he’s a year because treating a reaction on a 1 year old is easier than a 9 or 10 month old, which I understand. I know this is a hot button topic, and to each their own!
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around weaning in the next few months. I’m still nursing 4 times a day, and in reality could drop one or maybe even both daytime feedings, but the bigger issue is the sippy cup. We use a bottle at bedtime maybe 3 times a week when it’s Ben’s night to put him to bed so I’m thinking he’s not going to be thrilled to switch from nursing/bottle to full time sippy cup – which he kind of hates anyway.
Furthermore, our bedtime routine is bath/PJs/books/nurse or bottle/bed, so do we just switch the nurse/bottle feeding to a sippy cup or do we switch the order of the routine so he drinks his milk first, perhaps even downstairs? It just seems weird to have him drink out of a sippy cup minutes before going to sleep. Maybe it’s just because I’m not used to him drinking a bottle.
Like I told a friend recently, I’m SURE I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill here but since he’s nursed almost exclusively, this is a huge step for us. Going to grill my doctor at our one year check up and see what she thinks.
Speaking of…T minus 2-1/2 weeks until our sweet little peanut turns ONE! How in the world did this happen? I’ve gotten as far as sending out invitations for his party and still need to figure out the menu, gifts, outfit, and cake. I’m so far behind! Luckily we are keeping it very, very low key. Ben and I were joking the other day that our early year birthday parties were held at McDonalds or Burger King and there’s like, 1 photo to document the whole thing. We’re skipping the fast food location but channeling its simple and sweet nature – old-school party hats and all. I really hope Lincoln will wear one of those cone birthday hats. I think I would die of happiness!
Until next month – the big O-N-E!
I can’t believe he’s almost one!!! Time is sure flying. My little guy is almost 8 months and, like you, I’ll have to do my 7 & 8 month recap in one since there’s no point trying to remember what happened in month 7.
As for books, my guy LOVES them. He’ll sit and listen all the time. However, the husband tried to switch it up last night since we read the same bedtime books each night. He grabs a different book off the shelf and the little guy was having NONE of it. It wasn’t until hubs picked up our regular bedtime books that he was happy again. They do have their preferences!
We have three dogs and all he wants to do is go see them! The dogs aren’t really sure … they’re all, ‘WHAT IS IT DOING?!?!’ Just wait, dogs, just wait …
As for the feeding, at this point I can’t see myself stopping cold turkey at a year. Heck, I never thought I’d make it this far breastfeeding, but I love it. We’ve also already given peanut butter, just a scraping on some toast for breakfast. No reaction! Though we don’t have any allergies, so we were given the go-ahead for pretty much everything except honey.
Can’t wait to see his one year update!
Barnyard Dance all the way. He will love it!
http://www.amazon.com/Barnyard-Dance-Boynton-Board-Sandra/dp/1563054426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405710019&sr=8-1&keywords=barnyard+dance
My kids love that one too! Have you read, But Not The Hippopotamus?
Yes! So sweet. :) But not the armadillo. ;)
He is adorable! We also love Sandra Boynton books in our house!
I just finished weaning my 12.5 month old last week. I was worried and didn’t think it would happen but then he started eating more and wanting to nurse less. I moved his before bedtime nursing up to 5:30 or 6 and then one night he didn’t want that either (he told me with his first and only bite..ouch). After that it was easy. He prefers the straw cups and I started with vanilla almond milk and slowly mixed it with whole milk until he liked the whole milk. Good luck. Transitions are always hard!
I’ve exclusively breastfed 3 babes and my youngest just turned one. My advice is to drop the daytime feedings and offer him a sippy. I still nurse at night and will do so until she is totally not interested. My oldest was about 15 months and then we stopped and just rocked and she was totally okay with it. He’ll let you know what he needs. It’ll be way easier than the anticipation. He’s just sooo darn cute!!!
Of all the “new mom” blogs I read, yours gives me the worst baby fever! Lincoln is just so precious and you and Ben seem like awesome parents. I have zero advice to offer you but I love the mommy mind updates!
I agree 1000% with what several others have said: do what feels best FOR YOU. That being said, consider changing just one thing at a time with Lincoln. For example, I weaned my first daughter at 11 months. I kept the time she ate the same, the bedtime routines the same, etc, I just simply switched nursing with a bottle (which she had had already) when it was time for her formally-nursing feedings. She was used to the bottle and barely seemed to notice that she was now drinking a bottle instead of nursing. Months later (around 16-17 I think), when she was waaay weaned and just drinking all bottles, I started transitioning to sippy cups. One thing at a time!
I love your updates and Lincoln is just so darn cute! My advice for taking away the bottle/nursing is stop the day after his first birthday. That’s what I did. I didn’t want to be mean on my son’s birthday so I did it the day after and it was very easy. I don’t remember the specifics and the routine since my son is now 12! I know! But I remember it being very easy and knowing the sooner after they turn one you do it, the easier and less attached they are. Good luck! The pacifier was a whole different story…
my god… your kid is so adorable! and i love the black and white ones of you both!
OMG! Lincoln is just the cutest! First off, kudos to you for nursing as long as you have. My son is still nursing once or twice a day, sometimes up to 3 times a day and he is 20 months. Do you want to wean? Full term breastfeeding has benefits galore for both mom and baby! I decided to let Grant self wean and I’m following his cues. I would start dropping the day time feeds first and usually the before bed time feed is the hardest to drop saving it for last, just do what’s easiest for Lincoln. With that being said you know your son best and you will get all kinds of opinions and advice on what’s best, but do what your mama heart tells you! I love your mommy update posts! And your whole blog actually!!! I use at least one of your recipes each week, sometimes 2. I am SO going to try this jam bread you mentioned above for my son!
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Oh my gosh he is getting so big! You both are adorable! I love the black & whites! Use your instincts about food and stuff, he’s your son and you obviously are a naturally great mom!!! Xoxo
We used bottles for milk/formula and sippies for “big kid”/real milk/juice/water at meals when they got older. It helped make a distinction between what was for big kids and what was babies and made it easier for the bottles to just gradually disappear. Every kid is different, but by 14 mos, all three of ours never saw a bottle again.
I didn’t breastfeed, but my doctor says that a bottle until at least 18 months at bedtime is perfectly fine! Everyone will tell you something different. Go with what feels good to YOU and Lincoln! Good luck to you and thanks for the updates!
I remember feeling the same way about weaning! (But we didn’t until 16 months and then it was the little guy’s doing–insert tears hear!) If you want/need more things to try shoot me an email! Good luck! The first year milestone is filled with emotions!
The cutest boy ever!!!
Do you want to wean?? You know you don’t have to yet!! WHO recommends breastfeeding until age two at least! And AAP is starting to emphasize the benefits as well. Just a thought ;) I nursed my daughter til 27 months and my 12 month old son is going strong still! Good luck with whatever you decide!!
All the “experts” will tell you what you need to do but honestly, I think you really need to follow Lincoln’s cues and your gut. For whatever it’s worth, I’m a mom of 4 kiddos – 11 year old, 9 year old, 4 year old, and an almost 2 year old. With my first I was always on edge and trying to get it all “right”. Having four has certainly mellowed me and I have learned to rely more on my “mama instinct” and to realize they each are little individuals and have different needs and wants.
I nursed my first for 13 months, my second for 14 months, my third for 22 months and my last until 15 months. When I was getting ready to wean each one, I started introducing goat’s milk a couple months beforehand (either in bottle or sippy cup), as I had read it is the most similar to mother’s milk and easier for baby to digest than cows milk. I offered the goat milk in between nursings. As I started the process of weaning, I would offer the goat milk INSTEAD of breastmilk at nursing time or just drop that feeding altogether and offer the goat milk at the next feeding. ALL of my kids loved the goat milk so much that they never seemed to notice or care when I had completely stopped nursing, as it was done very subtly. No tears for them and no tears for me :)
As for the bottle/sippy cup issue, I would follow Lincoln’s lead. I let my kids have their pacifiers and/or bottles until they were 2 1/2 – 3 years…GASP!!! By 3 years of age, said binky or bottle would have “an accident” and become “not unusable anymore”, but by then the child seemed to understand it was time to move on and, strangely, their need for the oral fixation had been met and they were ready to let go. Very peaceful and no tears on either end. All are healthy, happy, well-adjusted and have great teeth :-)
Cutest little boy EVER!
If the bedtime bottle/sippy cup is anything other than water you need to get that done before brushing teeth…now that those teeth are coming in!
I was going to echo Rhonda’s comment. Once teeth were out, we were didn’t offer anything but water after teeth were brushed at night. The bedtime feeding fell away quickly. We had to get our son off bottles by age one for medical reasons so we never used sippy cups with the gaskets in. Lincoln may prefer that to fighting the gasket. After a few wet shirts and some experimentation, our son figured it out pretty quickly and we never went back. Good luck!
He’s so cute and they sure grow fast (as everyone tells you)! I worried and worried over that bed time bottle and our little girl just deiced on her own that she didn’t need it any more one night…and we’ve never looked back! I’m sure it will work out great!!
Oh, the stress of the transitions! Both my kiddos are in daycare, so they got bottle during the day and basically went cold turkey to sippy cups as they moved to the toddler room when they turned one.
I pumped for my oldest and kept her bedtime bottle until she was about 18 months old – which used up my frozen milk. She had no trouble/confusion between the cup and the bottle.
My 16 month old is still nursing at bedtime (and if she wakes during the night). I have no idea who we are going to stop that one! It’s SUCH a part of routine and she goes into her crib afterwards without a fight – I really don’t want shake up that routine right now. :/