Tristan has officially been out longer than he was in. I’ve officially lost all of the baby weight and 17 lbs on top (umm, below) that. Yay baby! 😀

As a summary and/or some new details –

* Tristan has spent the past week or so insisting that we walk around almost constantly. He’s pretty good at it and can even run if he wants to, but he does get lazy holding my hands. He’s a little insecure – I think he is afraid of falling.. when he was starting the pulling up he fell flat down a couple of times. He’s tried standing on his own reluctantly a couple of times and experimentally a couple of times – he can stay up for a fairly reliable 3 seconds but he panics and there goes baby on his butt. He also can walk holding onto one adult hand, but he is uneasy doing this unless there’s something to hold on to. He’s able to push his walker shopping cart around without out help, but doesn’t understand the mechanics of going anywhere but straight yet. He has taken about three unassisted steps, but again, panicked and fell. When he gets over the panicking, he will be walking. He’s a Virgo, so I expect him to want to be more proficient. But the fact that he refuses to be satisfied with getting around on his hands and knees shows that he’s interested in getting better at walking. That being said, he’s only 10 months old so it’s all good! Also, that shopping cart thing was way cheaper at Babies R Us.

* Tristan has said “mama” to me in an appropriate context once, has said “ki” a few times (when we exit his room, there’s usually someone feline there), and has said “stat” once – referring to the thermostat we wave hi to whenever we go upstairs. He’s started saying “dada” but not discriminately yet.

* We’ve semi-successfully cut Tristan’s formula consumption a bit and increased his food consumption so that he’ll reliably eat about a jar of stage 2 food in a sitting. We feed 2 and 3, but a lot of the fruit combos and freaky dishes only come in 2. Look out, because “actual food” is coming next. I think we’ve gotten real chicken and real strawberry into him, but only in microquantities.

And some milestone stuff ganked from the internets:

At 10 months, 90% of babies can…
stand holding on to someone or something [yes]
pull up to a standing position from sitting [yes]
object if you try to take a toy away [he can, but only does sometimes]
say “mama” or “dada” indiscriminately [yes, and we think he’s holding out on discriminately]
play peekaboo [yes but better with other people :D]
exchange back and forth gestures [I have only seen this sort of thing once or twice]

75% of babies can…
get into sitting position from stomach [yes]
play patty-cake or wave bye-bye [no, and we think he’s holding out on us there too]
pick up tiny object with thumb and finger [yes, and put it into his mouth unless it’s food]
walk holding on to furniture [yep]
understand “no” [I have only seen evidence of this once]

50% of babies can…
stand alone momentarily [very momentarily but yes]
point to something to get needs met [no]
say “mama” or “dada” discriminately [just once, the little punk :D]

25% of babies can…
indicate wants in ways other than crying [yes, but very few of them and most of them involve being picked up, put down, bounced, or walked in a particular direction]
play ball (roll ball to you) [he can roll it but not to us, that I have seen]
drink from a cup [yes, but he’s sort of stubborn on learning technique. He’s also VERY interested in drinking from a soda-type bottle (with plain carbonated water in it :P).]
pick up a tiny object neatly [not sure, actually.. what constitutes neatly?]
stand alone well [no]
use immature jargoning [once or twice he’s busted out with it – for those who have never heard of this term, it means when baby starts speaking in what sounds like a foreign language, using all kinds of made-up words]
say one word other than “mama” or “dada” [yes – technically TWO, but he’s only repeated the one]
respond to a one-step command with gestures [yes, but only one – “baby up” or “up” and he holds his arms out to be picked up]
walk well [hahaha not unless you count ‘while mommy and daddy are getting some sore asses and backs holding your hands’ :D]

So tonight’s “Holy $*)@” moment was brought to us by Tristan, who, upon deciding holding onto the couch was no fun, decided to turn around and take a few steps into the middle of the living room.   Not bad for a kid who stood by himself for the first time a couple days ago.

About 10 minutes ago, I brought Tristan downstairs after he woke from his evening nap. When we exit Tristan’s room, the cats are usually waiting because it drives them nuts to be excluded from a room. I often call attention to the two kitties (or however many are or aren’t there). When we closed the door tonight, Tristan very distinctly said “ki” or something resembling kitty. I’ve heard him say it once before but I wasn’t entirely sure. Upon speaking of this with James, he reminds me that we’ve had this discussion before about how he probably knew the word “kitty.” Anyway, I’m convinced that he does know it, since he has used that only when cats have been involved. The weird thing to me is that Tristan seems far more interested in the dog!

At 4:57 PM today, James was holding Tristan in a standing position.. when he let go, Tristan stayed standing for a good five seconds or so. Then he freaked out, made a face of abject terror, and started crying because he realized he was standing and nobody was holding on. He’d have likely stayed up longer if he weren’t too scared of falling! Oh, and as of yesterday he has been insisting that we walk him around constantly while holding onto his hands.

Tristan has been a reliable through-the-night and through-the-nap sleeper since around 5 months old. I don’t remember when specifically, but I’m sure it’s discussed in here. Anyway, I think he’s edging toward some sort of change since it’s been rather difficult to predict naptimes and he’s been waking up pissed off a lot at times he shouldn’t be awake. Thankfully, he’s happy to be climbing around in his crib but I really expected him to sleep a bit longer. In any event, we have some swimming planned for this afternoon!

Oh, and today was the first time he actually ate an entire jar of stage 3 food. It was the sweet potato bisque that was pretty darn smooth and of course containing the main thing that’s easy to get into him in its name. We’re still not having a lot of luck with getting him to put food into his own mouth or us having him eat anything that resembles ‘real’ food, but all we can do is keep trying! And go swimming, of course.

I tried making “real” oatmeal for Tristan and mixing it with fruit puree. James said it tasted good but that Tristan failed at eating it. Damn Virgo child all resistant to change and whatnot. We bought bread, bagels, and whatnot for Tristan to practice munching on (and for us to hopefully NOT munch on). I also put milk in his sippy cup and juice in the bottle to see if that makes a difference in his milk coveting, but I don’t think he took the sippy cup without struggle. At least James and Tristan both sound a bit less frustrated than they did a few moments ago.

We’ve had a lot of company since Tristan turned 9 months old. My mom spent a few days in town right around the time Tristan hit 9 months, and James’s sister Cindy spent the better part of last week with us. Thankfully, baby had a wonderful time with everyone and we got some much needed rest, too. It was great to introduce the baby to the family, for even those who had met him before had no inclination of the creature they were to meet.

It’s so much easier now. It’s not nearly as scary living with a baby, and therefore it’s not nearly as hard for me to leave him under a family member’s care. His routines are a lot less complicated than they were as a newborn, and he seems far less fragile. Plus, he’s sort of entertaining now and he doesn’t sleep the entire day away. The downside is that he requires an astronomical amount of energy to keep entertained and safe, even though he’s pleasant natured and entertains himself. He is that baby that you will find climbing on top of something remarkably unsafe if you turn your back to pee.

During Aunt Cindy’s visit, those of us who lived here came down with a cold, making it officially Tristan’s first. He was quite the little crankypaw while he wasn’t feeling well. He didn’t generally have objections to being passed to her unless he was just miserable. In fact, Tristan may have actually said “mama” discriminately, as I was trying to pass Tristan to Aunt Cindy but he wasn’t having any of it. When she passed him back to me, he very deliberately pronounced the syllables. He’d been babbling it for a while; on again and off again he’s had a tendency to just repeat ma-ma-ma or the like. But that was the first time (and so far, the last) he said it appropriately. As far as the cold, we’re all mostly over it now and Tristan was in a much better mood once he felt better.

Tristan is getting good at climbing stairs, falling on his ass when failing to stand (instead of his head or anywhere else ungraceful), and pushing his walker cart (little grocery cart toy meant to help baby learn to walk) forward while playing with it. He can pull up to stand with ease on just about anything, including dogs and one-year-olds. He can stand for about two seconds without holding anything but isn’t very interested in trying. He likes to walk while holding onto our hands, but would rather just crawl around now that he knows how to when he actually wants to get somewhere. We got some fancy dragon shoes but he’s not very enthused about shoes so far – we do our practicing barefoot and have thusfar reserved shoes for outdoor use. He’ll get more used to them when he actually gets walking, I’m sure. He’s been crawling toward and then climbing up the stairs when it’s been near naptime or bedtime, and then crawling through the cat door in the dog gate upstairs to show the cats he’s badass before going to bed.

It’s also getting more obvious that he understands some words we say and he’s been able to signal his needs at times. We’re interested in teaching him sign language but we’ve been slackers; that being said, I think he knows and uses the sign for milk. He understands “baby up” and raises his arms in anticipation of being picked up or grabbed from another person. So far, he doesn’t really heed the actions in the reading videos but he does try to say “hi” and “hat.” We’re working on waving hi but he hasn’t tried it yet – he makes the “I’m too shy” face and turns away instead. He’s been really easy to amuse, though – he breaks out in the giggles when James says the word “scuttle” to him or wiggles his clawed hand up to Tristan’s head, as well as giggling in anticipation at a few other things.

We’re a little behind on food, I think. He will eat anything that comes in a jar but isn’t too keen on “real” food yet. He also loves his bottle of milk and it’s been difficult to get him to drink less. We’ve tried a few little things such as filling the bottle an ounce less, presenting the solids before/during/after the bottle, presenting milk in a sippy cup (he will use these for anyone but me, apparently), handing him food to eat, handing him a spoon.. it’s been a very gradual process. He drank 8 ounces less of formula today than his normal intake, and he’s been eating and drinking regularly today. Part of the fun of this one is that we don’t really eat as a family; we’re still dieting so most of our meals are not even seen, and those meals we do eat are eaten on the couch. Baby still gets most of his feedings on the couch, which is remarkably clean for as much shit as we have gotten on it. I figure what with us having to concentrate on decreasing the milk intake and increasing the food intake, getting him to like the high chair is probably secondary. He WILL need to be in it when he really starts feeding himself, but we’re also anticipating it being easier to do that once we move in 2 months (assuming everything goes without a hitch!).

Pictures and videos brought current.