10.5 months

It's been almost two weeks so I think we've truly established a new pattern now: the boys are down to one nap a day. The afternoon nap was becoming more and more of a struggle and yet they seemed to need more sleep, so last week we tried out loading them up with food and milk and a diaper change and then laying them down at 11:30am or so. The first day, last Monday, Theo slept for 3 hours! They seem much happier all day and they're still sleeping 12+ hours at night, so I think we've found a good routine for the time being. It also gives me a good 1.5 hours at the very least to get laundry done, to make dinner, or to check my email, not to mention to make and enjoy lunch in peace.


The boys still enjoy lots of time on the floor for rolling, pivoting (the most amazing physical accomplishment they've achieved yet--in a second they can do a full 180 degree turn), exploring the carpet pad, and grabbing and eating small pieces of leaves, food, and general detritus that hasn't yet been picked up by the vacuum. They have less and less interest in the plastic jungle climb-on thing as they want to be more mobile. They get up on all fours a lot and Beck especially gets up in downward dog pose a lot, with his butt up in the air, up on his hands and feet. While there have been single crawl motions here and there, there is no forward movement yet recorded. Both continue to move well backwards. Case in point: last Tuesday morning I was prepping veggies to go in the slow cooker for chili while the boys were playing in the cabinet in the kitchen where I keep plasticware, etc. I cut my finger and went upstairs to have Jeff deal with it (I am still a wimp when it comes to blood). I was upstairs for no more than 4 minutes while Jeff cleaned it out and bandaged it up. When I came back down I was stunned to find Beckett in the family room, about 20 feet (and down one step) from where I left him. He was grinning up at me, having obviously gone down the one stair backward. Lesson learned: we can't leave the boys alone in the kitchen any more!



The boys are eating three meals a day now: breakfast at 9:30am, lunch when they wake up from their nap, and dinner at 5:30 or 6. They nurse five times a day, or four times if I work and don't come home to nurse them at lunch. We haven't tried putting them down for the one midday nap without nursing first. They also usually have one or two snacks a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Their eating is pretty variable; sometimes they eat what seems to be a huge quantity, and other times they are not interested at all. Usually they alternate, though, so when one is not hungry, the other will eat anything in sight. They are eating more and more "table food"--meaning whatever it is we're eating for that meal, or leftovers from an earlier meal. Their favorite foods seem to be macaroni and cheese, beans, banana bread, and yogurt. Jeff's parents found the yogurt they like at their Price Chopper in Johnstown, so we're back in the chips! We bought a flat of it Saturday when we were visiting and the boys ate a ton of it all weekend.


Mostly the boys want to walk, either holding our hands or with the walker (thanks Ana and Robert!). Theo does more of a shuffle walk, all business, and Beckett does more wandering, checking things out along the way and pausing to look out the window, grab a cabinet handle, touch his toes, pick up a toy, or wave. Beckett has also started walking with only one hand on the walker, or in the hand of the accompanying parent. I think they'll be walking on their own very soon!