Sleeping, Eating & Talking

Now that Brooke is almost 11-months old (tomorrow, if you are keeping track), I thought I would write up some of the logistical stuff of her daily life. When I ask friends what their kids were doing this age, they often cant remember ... and therefore are not a whole lot of help with the issues and questions I have ;) I figure if I can put some notes down, I can help others, or at least have a place to look later when a friend asks me for help!

Sleeping
Honestly, we are really lucky. Brooke is a great sleeper. In fact, I think she loves sleeping. Sure, I had some issues with the early bird getting up at 5:30, but the (stylish) aluminum windows worked. She rarely gets up before 6:30, and today she actually slept until 7:30. Pretty awesome.

Soon she may be tranistioning to one nap, but for now she is still on two. Here is her typical schedule.

Wake Up - 7:00AM
Nap 1 - 10:00AM - 11:30AM
Nap 2 - 2:30PM - 4:00PM
Bedtime - 7:15PM

Lately she has been making one of her naps 2 hours. Guess all the crawling, climbing, and playing has just been wearing her out :) When she makes a nap 2 hours, her schedule gets adjusted a bit. Generally, if you notice, she is up for about 3 hours at a time so we just bump accordingly!

As for "routines", we have the same one for naps and bedtime. Brooke gets put into a sleepsack, then we read her a book. When we put her into her crib we play her Gloworm as we walk out. She occasionally whimpers, but is often asleep in under a minute. I know this is unusual and most little ones do some fighting around naptimes and bedtimes. I said we are lucky! (There is one small difference between naps and bedtime. For naps I put on the white-noise machine to drown out local neighborhood and dog noise)

Eating
Brooke has 3 meals a day and 3 servings of milk in a sippy cup. (She was getting a bottle before bedtime, but yesterday we turned that one into a sippy cup too ... so no more bottles!). She is currently having 7 oz of milk at a time, with 3 oz of whole milk and 4 oz of formula as we transition from formula to whole milk by age 1. Here is her eating schedule, based on the nap/sleeping schedule listed above.

7:30 - Milk in sippy cup (while I prepare her breakfast)
7:45 - Breakfast
12:15 - Milk in sippy cup (while I make lunch)
12:30 - Lunch
5:30 - Dinner
6:30 - Milk in sippy cup

We dont do snacks yet. She eats a lot at each meal and has a ton of veggies and fruits each day. Eventually toddlers tend to start grazing more, eating only a bit per meal. When she becomes pickier, starts eating less, or generally seems hungry, we will start a snack. I also know it seems like snacks are common when babies are on one nap. That one nap tends to be long, and the kids wake up hungry ... and its usually a while until dinner. If none of the above happens before we go to one nap, I'll just start feeding her a snack regardless!

Talking
I lumped talking in here only because she does so much of it that I havent mentioned, not because its truly logistical. Although, she is starting to signal some things that are part of our schedule with words, so its all fitting together. I have mentioned before some of the words she says, and will go into them all again. Just as a note, she often doesnt say these words on command. They are more at her own leisure. But, she does say them and definitely understands their purpose.

MaMa and DaDa: She says DaDa a lot. Including when we call her Daddy at work and put him on speaker phone. She knows who he is and really likes saying the word. On the other hand, she usually only says MaMa when I leave a room or disappear from her view and she crawls after me, crying, while saying "MaMa". Not quite as fun as the happy, sing-song, "DaDa" I hear every day :)

More: This was her first real word. She says it when she is hungry or waiting for food more than what the word really means. If I put her into her high chair but then take a minute to put food on her tray, she will start hollering "MORE" as she pounds on the tray with both fists. The girl likes to eat, what can I say?

Ball: She was saying this word a lot, but now is just over it. But she isnt over balls in general. She loves them, just doesnt care to talk about it anymore.

Woof: Occasionally when she hears Wrigley barking she will get all excited and say "Woof!". But only for Wrigley's bark, and only when she is in the mood.

Uh-Oh: Sh was saying this a lot at one point too, but it appears to be on the back burner. I think babies often focus on only a few things at at time (because their world is so overwhelming) and I have a feeling that this one has been shelved while she works on some other new words.

Up: This is a new one, and a favorite. She says "UP" every time we say it. She also will occasionally say it without us saying it first if she is in her crib or hanging onto my leg.

Night Night: We think she is saying this, repeating us. At night she often gets very tired and yet still wants to play. We will ask her if she wants to go "night night" and she will crawl around saying "nigh nigh" over and over. Occasionally she has been tired and looked at us and said "nigh nigh", which seems like she is letting us know its time to wrap it up :)

No No No: I am not sure she knows what this means, but every time Jeff tells her "no" about something she repeats him (almost in a mimicking voice). She doesnt do it to me ... just him. But, I'll leave it on her word list for now!

Golf: Ok, this is odd. If she didnt do it several times yesterday I wouldnt have put it on the list. I swear while Jeff was watching golf yesterday she said "golf". Multiple times. He turned it off, and she pointed at the television and said it again. Now her Daddy's dreams of a future LPGA champion are likely to become all consuming.

This Poor Baby

Woke up from her nap with these scratches in her face. No, we don't
have a cat.

They're on her left cheek (to balance the right cheek bruise I
suppose), the same side as the thumb she sucks. She must need a bit
of a nail trim if this is the result of a little naptime soothing :(

Our Little Bruiser

Shortly after helping with the recycling this morning, Brooke decided to wave at me while on her knees and holding onto a chair. Either the chair moved, or she did ... and she wacked her face on the leg. Lots of crying and kisses followed.

Later, Brooke decided to climb (or fall) over a basket of toys and smack her face on the hardwood floor. After her Daddy got the bleeding to stop, we now have a baby with a bruise on her cheek and a fat lip. Now we have to stay inside for a few days so that people dont start asking us why our daughter is so battered and bruised ;)

Not sure how much a picture will show, but you can see the fat lip and the red mark on her right cheek here. (She is sucking on a teether, the only cold thing I could get her to put into her mouth to try to get the swelling to go down!)

And here is a close-up of her lip. Sorry for the dazed look in her eyes ... she was watching cartoons ;) That blank stare is one of the reasons they recommend kids under 2 do not watch television, but I swear we only let her watch it for 1 minute at a time while we do diaper changes! Its the only thing that keeps her a bit still and gives us a fighting chance at getting her diaper off and a new one on before she flips over and crawls away.

Helping Recycle

This morning Brooke decided to help Mommy with the recycling. By
taking it all out and spreading it across the kitchen floor. Thanks
Brooke!

Organic Buying Guide

There is an interesting article that answers some questions I have every time I go to the grocery store,Organic Buying Guide: Which foods to buy organic; which foods to stop worrying about. Essentially, it lists 12 foods you should buy organic, and another 12 you dont need to waste your money on.

12 Foods to Buy Organic
Bell Peppers
Celery
Cherries
Grapes (that means raisins and juice too)
Lettuce
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Potatoes
Spinach
Strawberries

Plus: eggs, meat, poultry, dairy, baby food, rice.

According to research by the Environmental Working Group, you can reduce pesticide exposure by 90% by eating organic varieties of these 12 fruits and veggies.

12 Foods You Don't Need to Worry About

Asparagus
Avocado
Bananas
Broccoli
Cabbage
Eggplant
Frozen Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Mango
Onions
Pineapples
Watermelon

Plus: highly processed foods like pasta, cereal, oil, canned fruits and vegetables, bread, as well as fish, which is never certifiably organic.

There is a bit of discrepency between this list and the one on kidsorganics.com. According to them, there are "14 Most Important Foods To Eat Organic": baby food, strawberries, rice, green and bell peppers, milk, corn, bananas, green beans, peaches and apples. One of the most interesting differences between the two is the position on bananas. While one says not to even consider buying them organic, the other says they are one of the most important products to buy organic. Hmmm....

I read a long time ago due to the thick skin (and fact that you do not eat it) that organic bananas are not necessary. Brooke eats a lot of bananas and I rarely buy them organic, but the KidsOrganics list has got me worried. Did a bit more searching...

Pro Organic Bananas
Yes We Have No (Conventional) Bananas: The Case For Buying Organic, by Mark Mulcahy

Why I buy organic bananas

Con Organic Bananas
How to eat organic on a budget

When should you buy organic?

DoSomething.org noticed the banana issue too ... and determined that it might be better to "err on the side of caution" and buy organic.

Well put.

Guess I'll be changing up the shopping a little bit ;) In the event you dont want to waste your money on organic bananas, you can just buy an organic banana costume instead. Your kid may not eat organic bananas ... but they sure will look like one.

Stairs!

Brooke made it up 10 of these stairs today! She could/would have made
it up the whole flight but she stopped about 2/3 of the way through.
Why? Because Wrigley growled at someone outside & Brooke's #1
priority is always that dog. When she heard the growl she stood up
and had fully intended on throwing herself face-first down those same
10 stairs in order to find out what Wrigley was up to. Luckily I was
onto her plan and swooped her up before she could take any action.

Deep Thoughts...

"Great Minds" Think Alike

Looks like Brooke and Wrigley have more and more in common. Besides their intelligence (and love of transporting things in their mouths), they also are both very food motivated. In addition, they each seem to be obsessed with the same thing ... balls! Both of them cant stay away from them, and when a ball is in the picture both the dog and the baby are glued to it. Sometimes I worry I'm going to need to get in the middle of a battle over one :)
I had typed and saved this before posting, and figures ... before I got to finish the post I had the altercation I imagined. Wrigley growled/snapped at Brooke over a tennis ball. She (Wrigley) is now on a time-out :(

Busy Busy Weekend

Brooke had more "firsts" this weekend. She said "Hi" for the first time ... to some random lady in Starbucks :)

She also went to her first birthday party! Although it was for a 3-year-old that didnt specifically invite her (what kid wants a baby at their party???), Brooke had a lot of fun. The party was at a local place called Fantasy Kingdom, an indoor play center that has enough costumes and play-sets to please even the most imaginitve of minds :)







Brooke isnt quite ready for make-believe yet, and luckily they had a play area for little ones filled with plastic toys she could put into her mouth.

And here is the Birthday Girl, who decided the best thing to wear during her party was a bit-too-small-giraffe-costume.

Sorry about the poor photo quality! Ever since I upgraded to the newest software version for the iPhone my pictures have just been awful :(

Your family dog may be smarter than your toddler

According to this article, the average dog has the intelligence (and reasoning) of a 2-year-old. The smartest dogs (aka "super breeds") are on par with a 2 1/2 year old. And what exactly is a super breed? Border Collies, Poodles, Retrievers (that's what Wrigley is), German Shepherds and Doberman Pinschers are some of the dogs that are ranked higest on the intelligence scale.

How dare they compare dogs and babies????? So you are saying that our dog (a Retriever) is as more than twice as smart as our (soon-to-be) 1-year-old daughter? There is no way! I am insulted! Brooke is obviously extremely intelligent and should never be compared to a dog (let alone pale in comparison to the intelligence of one). These two things obviously do not have anything in common ... and this video clearly proves that point.
Whoops. Maybe not.

Puttin Those Teeth To Work

It's a good thing she doesn't have a mouth full of them yet ...

"Dora The Explorer"

It's been a bit since I've posted! Not that there isnt anything going on in Brooke's life ... just that she has had me so busy lately I dont have much time to myself :)

Brooke is a serious no-fear-adventurer. Jeff likes to call her "Dora The Explorer" (a character in a children's cartoon, in case you are not familiar!). She spends her awake time doing anything and everything she can to get into trouble. When we place her into a room, she sits and scans around for what she can get into ... then charges towards the first object of interest. Her attention span is quite short, and she often doesnt make it to her original goal! She stops at many things along the way, making it difficult to guess where she will end up (and impossible to try to prevent her from getting into something because we are not too sure what her agenda is).

Right now she loves crawling behind things (like the couch and coffee table), playing with electrical cords, climbing over things, throwing stuff, hitting toys onto the floor (or each other) to see how they sound and heating/cooling vents.

She is a very smart girl, too smart for us most of the time. She has learned that she has a "food ranking" in which she always likes one item more than the other. For example, she likes tortellini more than peaches (which I learned last night). If you give her two items at the same time, she will only eat the one she likes more ... even if she likes them both. She will reject the one that is lower on her ranking scale, and then demand (or cry) more of the one that ranks higher. We need to feed her one item at a time, in order of what we think might be her ranking. Least favorite first ... up to most favorite. It can become very tricky and exhausting, trying to guess where her mind and preferences are. If we serve something in the wrong order then the game is over.

I assumed she would like peaches more than the tortellini (since peaches are one of her most favorites), so I saved those for the last item of her dinner. After she finished the tortellini I gave her the peaches ... and she just stared at them. It was a no go. Now I know ... peaches come before tortellini ;)

"I See Your Point"

Pointing is a developmental milestone that Brooke has recently reached. She doesnt seem to point at things she wants, but more likely something she wants us to look at. She points at people (like Daddy) and Wrigley quite a bit. I have had her point at the television a few times, and that I am assuming may be a want ... other than that it seem like more of a show-and-tell game right now.

And speaking of games, she has a new favorite. I believe its called "Tease The Dog With Your Dinner". Brooke had learned that if she takes a piece of food and holds it off her highchair, Wrigley will come up to her and lick her hand. Of course, she would not dare share her food. Instead, she lets the dog lick it, then pulls it away and puts it in her mouth. Its quite a gross game, but a new trick we are trying to ignore for now. If we laugh, she might continue to do it because we think its funny. She doesnt totally understand "no", and she sure doesnt understand logic or reason ... so we cannot explain why this is not the thing to do at the dinner table. In addition, we also worry that making it seem like a no-no might make it extra appealing :) For now we pretend its not happening and hope she will soon move onto some other new discovery.

Brooke Has No Class

Swimming ended last weekend and Wiggleworms ended today. Officially, Brooke has no class :) She isnt signed up for either again, simply because she seems to be in-between two ages. For swimming she isnt ready to swim with 1-2 year olds and with Wiggleworms she just doesnt want to sit an listen to music right now. The next age group does a lot of walking and interaction, which she is still a few weeks from being able to do.

I'm trying out a new class on Thursday which will hopefully get us through the summer, but if we dont like it I am not too sure what lies in our future. Perhaps we will even do a language class, which she can start at 12 months!

I did video a few seconds of her last Wiggleworms class. This is at the very end of the very last class ... so its a bit chaotic. Its normally a bit more structured, but the babies were just going willy-nilly here. The behavior is typical for Brooke who hasnt been able to keep her focus in this class for the past 4 weeks or so (since she started crawling) but normally all the other babies sit nicely in a circle and pay attention ... while Brooke crawls around trying to steal other babies toys and such.

Favorite Animal At The Zoo

Brooke has a new favorite animal at the zoo...
Yes, its a seagull.

Who cares about lions, tigers & bears when you can watch birds squacking, harassing and attacking, people, food and each other?

Feeling Better...

And already up to no good :)

Cranky Baby Watches Cartoons

The face and shirt combo are priceless. Maybe if Daddy was home she
could turn that frown upside down :)

A "Summer Virus"

After several days of thumb sucking, refusing to eat and up-and-down temperatures I began to realize it was not teething that was the cause of whatever was going on. Yesterday I took her temp and got this: Three days of temps and still escalating, so I put in a call to the doctor ... who set me up with a 9:30AM appointment. We went in and the doctor told me that she has a "summer virus". It should pass on its own, but until then I need to basically keep her indoors and away from other people. She is contageous until the fever breaks, and can't go around others until her fever has been gone for a day or two. So we are trapped in the house, and missing her 2nd to last Wiggleworms class today (she missed her last swimming class this past Sunday).

Brooke's throat is all red and irritated, and the doctor suggested that I give her cold pudding, ice-cream and pureed bananas. I don't have any of it in the store and so I stopped at the store and picked up some vanilla ice cream. I felt a bit of sorrow over the idea of giving her ice-cream. We don't give her any sort of junk food or sweets, and I thought her first ice-cream would likely be at her 1st birthday. But then I thought about my poor, sad, sick girl ... and how a little girl that loves to eat hasn't eaten anything in days. The poor girl deserves something special, actually, right now she deserves anything she wants!

Since it was going to be her first treat, I thought I would put it on video to save the moment. There was a lot of crying and she was not a happy girl. She didnt like the ice cream, didnt like me :) We decided in the end we wouldnt post it, it was just a bit too sad.

Another Monumental 10 Month Milestone

This week has been particularly rough (for all of us) with (what we think is) Brooke's teething. The two she is working on are much more challenging than her other four ... she has been moodier and restless, has lost her appetite and has been running a fever. (This is why I mentioned we think its teething ... its been so different from our past experiences we arent sure she isnt a bit sick, on top of the teething!)

Brooke must know she turned 10 months today because she is all about showing off. All day she has been insisting on standing up by herself but she also decided to try a little something new on top of it. She took her first step! It wasnt a suprise to me because she is always pushing herself to try new things, but she definitely seemed to suprise herself a bit :)

10 Months

Weight:23 lbs*
Height:
*Brooke was weighed after breakfast, wearing a onesie and diaper. I generally try to weigh her before she eats...and in her birthday suit :) In addition, she has been a bit under the weather lately and not eating well. Her weight could be impacted by that.

According to What to Expect the First Year, at 10 months Brooke...

should be able to

• stand holding on to someone or something X
• pull up to a standing position from sitting X
• object if you try to take a toy away X
• say "mama" or "dada", indiscriminanately X
• play peekaboo X
• exchange back-and-forth gestures with you sometimes

will probably be able to

• get into a sitting position from stomach X
• play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye CLAP & WAVE
• pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger X
• walk holding on to furniture (cruise) X
• understand "no" (but not always obey it)X

may possibly be able to

• stand alone momentarilyX
• say "dada" or "mama" discriminatelyX
• point to something to get needs met

may even be able to

• indicate wants in ways other than cryingX
• "play ball" (roll ball back to you)
• drink from a cup independently X
• pick up a tiny object neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger X
• stand alone well
• use immature jargoning (gibberish that sounds as if baby is talking in a made-up foreign language)X
• say one word other than "mama" or "dada" more & ball
• respond to a one-step command with gestures ("Give that to me," said with hand out)
• walk well

X means Brooke can do this at 10 months