AJ is now 10 months old and is changing daily. He scoots around anywhere he wants to go, and tries to get up on all fours to crawl. He loves, loves, loves standing. He does really well standing next to our coffee table, or in front of Dominic or me when we’re sitting on the floor holding his hands. He gets SO excited and makes funny little screeching noises, laughs and smiles. He has stood on his own for about 10 seconds. He’s also getting the hang of putting one foot in front of the other to walk. Any concern I have about his lack of crawling (which really isn’t a concern at all) is wiped out by his motivation to stand and walk.
He is the most ticklish person I’ve ever met! His giggles are priceless.
He’s getting smarter, too. He waves bye-bye, makes a kissing noise on command, and says Mama really well. He seems to be investigating and absorbing everything that crosses his path. When I talk to him face to face, his eyes are glued to my face and he’s taking it all in, trying so hard to understand. He loves Rudy and always looks for her when I say “Where’s the kitty?” He loves books with flaps that he can lift up.
He went through a few weeks of bad sleeping. He screamed when we put him down, and would only fall asleep being held. We did a few adjustments to his bedtime routine and he’s back to being a great sleeper. Put him in the crib and he’ll fall asleep without any fuss, and usually sleep straight through until 7:30 a.m.
He’s eating table food really well. There hasn’t been one thing he hasn’t eaten… veggies, meat, fruit, everything (in case there was any doubt he’s a Langel). Being full doesn’t seem to be a factor. If there’s food to eat, he’s up to the challenge. Such the opposite from Cohen!
He is a complete joy to be around. I challenge anyone to spend 5 minutes with him and not be in a good mood. I know this sounds like a broken record, but he’s just so happy and jolly! Just recently he sprouted four stubby little teeth which makes him even cuter and sweeter. Our cuddly, chunky, babbling blondie.
We love him more every day, but the realization he’s not a baby anymore is a little bittersweet. Sometimes when I’m feeding him a bottle, I get reflective and enjoy the moment as long as I can, knowing these days will be over soon. Before I know it, we’ll have a walking, talking toddler.
Cohen is POTTY TRAINED! One day he was showing all the signs of having to go potty. I asked him if he wanted to sit on the toilet (just like I have 500 times) and he said No (just like the 500 other times). Somehow I talked him into it and he reluctantly agreed, and went! He was SO proud and happy! After that there was no turning back, he’s gone potty on the toilet every single time. So basically he went from 0% to 100% potty trained in one moment. We’re still working on poop, and he still wears a diaper to bed. But we’re so pleased with his progress!
He loves all things with wheels. Last night I saw him sneaking a truck under his bed so he could play with it after everyone was asleep. Any uneven surface becomes a ramp for his cars and trucks. He loves construction equipment too. There’s a new restuarant going up not far from his daycare, and it’s been an adventure watching the excavators dig the initial holes in the ground several months ago, to watching the sidewalks being poured recently. He looks forward to seeing the progress every day and asks a million questions about the trucks, equipment, workers and tools. He loves concrete mixers and talks about how they work (inside the tank there’s water and sand and rocks and it spins around and comes out the hole and fixes roads).
He’s learning about letters at school and can write them well. He frequently stops mid sentence, thinks about a word, and tells you what letter it starts with. He can recognize simple words like up and go. He loves being read to and always begs to read more than our standard 3 books at bedtime. His favorites include Dr. Seuss books (esp. Wacky Wednesday), Going on a Bear Hunt, and books about potty training. Sometimes he ‘reads’ books himself, and I get such a kick out what he considers the most important things on the page.
He sometimes gets jealous of AJ. Since AJ still requires being held, etc., I notice Cohen wanting to climb on me or cling to me. But he’s loving AJ more and more all the time, and usually complies quickly when I tell him to back down. I see him doing sweet things to protect AJ from danger, removing small toys from his reach, instructing him how to pet the cats nicely. AJ thinks Cohen is the most amazing, funny, cool person on the planet. And Cohen eats it all up!
Since Cohen’s been 3, we’ve (and his teachers at school) noticed an amazing difference in how he manages his emotions. We see a lot fewer tantrums and irrational crying fits. For example, one day Teddy was accidentally left at school. I calmly told him that Teddy was going to sleep at school that night, and he’d be happy to see Cohen in the morning. Cohen was sad but no tears, and commented he didn’t want Teddy to be scared. I assured him Teddy was warm and comfy and happy, and that was the end of the conversation. 6 months ago it would have gone MUCH differently… lots of crying and inability to sleep without Teddy.
Cohen is funny without trying. He uses nouns as verbs "I'm going to cord up the vacuum cleaner." and makes up his own adjectives "these jammies are too gurbly." He recently declared his middle name is Jote (it's actually Joseph). Teddy's middle name is Jote too. In fact, everyone in our family's middle name is Jote, even Buzz and Rudy.
I could go on and on. I want to capture every detail of what’s going on with the boys. They’re growing too quickly and I don’t want to forget anything. Someday I’ll probably look back at this blog entry and appreciate some of these somewhat mundane details of their lives. It’s keeps getting better and better, which kind of amazes me. I’m not sure it’s possible to love my boys any more… but I said that 6 months ago too! We are so blessed.
