Ten Months

Aliyah, 

In honor of your 10-month birthday I created a Top Ten list of things I love about you most:

10.  Your features:  Just like your dad and brother you have long eyelashes.  Other people often seem to notice this along with your big bright eyes that help you take everything in around your world.  You also love to people watch.

9.  Your fascination with books:  You enjoy being read to for limited amounts of time before you decide you want to be on the go again.  Books with faces of babies and especially books with flaps are your favorites.  The "indestructible"-type books created just for babies who love to put everything in their mouths have gotten a lot of attention from you as well.  You also enjoy spending time exploring at the library.  

8.  Your smile/giggle:  Every morning you are ready to greet us from your crib with a great big smile to start the day.  You tend to reserve your smiles for family, but sometimes you will have a shy smile as you sort of tilt your head down and to the side for other people who want to talk to you.  We also love to hear your little giggle, and Eli seems to be able to make you laugh quite easily.  

7.  Your ability to keep yourself entertained:  While I try to keep the amount of time I am working while you are awake to a minimum, you are still able to keep yourself busy if I am on the computer.  You love to explore and will go from one toy to another.  

6.  You are an adventurous eater:  Since starting on the solid baby food you have tried and even seemed to enjoy each new food as it was introduced.  You stay satisfied in between mealtimes, and even as a newborn and throughout the infant stage you rarely cried for your bottle.  Rather, you would stay content until it was time for the next feeding.  

5.  Your sense of schedule:  As someone who likes to stick to a strict schedule, I attempted to get both you and your brother on a regular routine as soon as I could as infants.  You adapted smoothly to an eating and sleeping pattern early on and still continue to follow the same schedule each day.  

4.  Your sleeping habits:  You spent the majority of your newborn days sleeping, started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks like your brother, and continue to be a good little sleeper.  You are ready for bed at 8:00 at night after your last bottle of the day and wake up around 7:00 in the morning.  Your naps have now been extended from 1-1/2 to 2 hours each time in the morning and afternoon.  Early on you were put in your crib still awake when it was time to go to sleep, and you learned how to go to sleep on your own which you still continue to do.  

3.  You like to stay close to family members:  Eli didn't really seem to make strange as much when he was a baby, but you are more wary about strangers and tend to stay close to mom and dad.  You are much more cautious about letting other people hold you.  You seem to be both a mommy's and daddy's girl.

2.  Your little personality:  On quite a few different occasions other people - both family and strangers alike - have commented on how content you can be and even used the exact same word ("chill") to describe your personality.  You appear to have more of an easygoing temperament.  Even when Eli is not quite as careful and gentle as he could be in playing with you, you still take it in stride.  

1.  Your uniqueness:  There is only one you!  We have really enjoyed the first 10 months of your life and are looking forward to celebrating your upcoming first birthday.  

First Day of T-K

After attending the open house at school last night, Eli was ready for his first day today.  This year they changed the name of the section he is in from pre-K to transitional kindergarten or T-K.  He enjoyed getting acquainted again with his teacher after first meeting her at the kindergarten roundup in the spring along with checking out his new classroom.  He has 14 kids in his class this year and we also discovered there are 2 classmates that share the same names as his cousin and sister - Emma and Alliyah.  

Eli woke up this morning ready to start his day and a new chapter in his life.  The bus arrived this morning around 7:30.  After it completed its route there was a bus exchange which required Eli to get from one bus to another which would then take him to school.  He was equipped with a name tag, though to help steer him in the right direction.  Along with the luxury for me of the bus ride which meant no more drop-offs and pick-ups with both kids came another bonus - no more packing lunches!  Eli will be able to eat hot lunch at school every day now which offers a much more nutritious variety of options than he had over the summer for daycare with the standard lunch meat/crackers/fruit/cookie combination.  

Aliyah and I were outside waiting for the bus to arrive at the end of the day around 4:00 with his anticipated drop-off time around 4:10 to 4:15.  There must have been a few hiccups getting all the kids back together since I was keeping an eye on the time as it inched closer to 4:20, 4:25...4:26....around 4:30 he arrived back home.  Most importantly, Eli returned home with a smile on his face and excited to tell me about his day.  It sounds like he had fun and is ready to go back tomorrow!

Nine Months

At Aliyah's 9-month appointment today she weighed in at 20 pounds (78th percentile) and measured 28.74 inches (86th percentile).

She is taking a total of 24 ounces of formula each day.  She has also transitioned to the step 2 baby foods which contain a larger quantity and are thicker.  Lia has been introduced to oatmeal, meats, and grains along with various combinations of the fruits and vegetables she was already eating.  She has been eating the solid baby food 3 times a day now along with learning how to feed herself snacks.  

Lia goes to bed at 8:00 at night and wakes up at 7:00 in the morning ready to start the day.  She takes 2 naps ranging from 1-1/2 to 2 hours long.  

A new interest this month includes entertainment provided by Eli.  Even the simplest and sometimes silliest things will cause Lia to erupt in hysterical laughter.  She also enjoys the other kids coming up to her and talking to her at daycare when we drop Eli off and pick him up again at the end of the day.  It surprises me the kids there still run up to see her every time just as they did the very first time they met her.  The novelty of Eli's baby sister has not worn off yet for them apparently.  

Lia has been babbling more these days.  She crawls everywhere and can pull herself up to a standing position on her own.  Only a few more months until we celebrate the 1-year mark!