11 Months – My little explorer

Now I know what my book means when it says, “Your child will be curious and like to explore the world around him.” Jesper is all over the place, opening and shutting doors, cabinets, and drawers. He is incredibly curious about just about everything, particularly the things we wish he wasn’t so interested in (toilets, Sabi’s food bowl, etc.). :) 

11 Months Old

 He still hasn’t grown out of the 18 mo. clothes. This could become an issue with the WARM temperatures we’ve been having recently. All his outfits are perfect for winter, but not so great for 80 degree weather. One night, Jesper fussed for about 20 minutes at bedtime (very unusual) and we realized when we went to go grab him that he was much too warm in his fleece pajamas. Luckily, we had some summer pajamas in the next size up that have worked well.

Summer Pajamas in March!

We officially had a winter with no snow that ever stayed longer than a few days. This week we had consistent 70 degree weather. It may be time to go to Once Upon a Child to pick up a few summer outfits in his current size.

Bottles, naps, and bedtimes are very similar to last month. However, he does seem to be shifting to a more “food-heavy” diet. I would say that this is the first month that he seems to need meals more than he needs his bottles. I’m not sure what the distinction is, other than he seems to be eating a LOT. Maybe a growth spurt will hit again soon?

Pasta!

I stopped making most of his food in February. He is becoming a much pickier eater and the commercial food seems to go over better. Also, he is getting to the age where he can just about eat what we eat.

Mom and Jesper

Notable News:
- Two new upper teeth: My child may look a little like a vampire in a few weeks. Two new teeth broke through, but not the middle ones. It looks like they may be the upper “fangs” (not sure of the technical term). Good pictures to come, I’m sure. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to bother him much when they broke through.

- Pre-Walking: We have a walking toy that he used very often for about a week. He loved it! However, he took a couple tumbles from the toy and now won’t touch it. However, he still loves to walk holding on to our hands. He immediately starts giggling with excitement as soon as we hold our arms out. He can’t stand on his own yet, but is starting to get braver with the one-handed hold.

  - Stairs: Jesper’s personality hasn’t changed – he is still my cautious little boy and takes a little coaxing to try something new. Except for the stairs, that is. One day when we were playing in the basement, Jesper started up the stairs, laughing the whole time. We spotted him to make sure he didn’t fall and he went up the entire flight! It’s one of his favorite games. He even likes it when he slips and slides down a step – it gets a laugh every time. Now we need to have the gate up all the time when we’re in the basement or he heads straight for the stairs.

10 Months Old

Another month has gone by. Our little boy is getting so close to 1 year old! It's strange to see some of his classmates turn 1 and learn to walk. It doesn't seem like Jesper should be approaching those milestones quite so quickly!

10 Months Old

He doesn't seem like he's grown much over the couple months. He's still wearing basically the same size that he was in early December, although he is officially in 18-mo. clothes now (we retired the last of the 12-mo-old sizes in the last few weeks). It's all relative, though - it just seems like he's not growing as much because he grew so ridiculously fast last fall. I'm sure we will hit another growth spurt sometime this spring.

With the stomach flu at the end of January and still smiling

 

Playing at school. He wouldn't look at the camera, but his classmate Lizzy was all smiles.

 
Bottles, naps, and bedtime are the same as last month, but many other things have changed. Some of the updates from this month:
 - Two new teeth: His second one broke through at the end of January. We think he's working on his upper front teeth as well because he hasn't been sleeping as soundly and his fingers are ALWAYS in his mouth. Here's hoping they are not as sore for Jesper as for some of his little friends.

Two new teeth!

 - All finger foods: We've entered a whole new world of infant eating. Who knew food could end up literally all over his body (on his back, in his diaper, in his ears and nose, on a sock...) after eating? It truly is so much messier than I ever imagined. And there are often times when he leaves the table and I think that most of what I gave him ended up in his high chair than in his body. He's still having wet and dirty diapers, though, so he must be getting enough food, somehow...

Loving his yogurt

 - Skills: Clapping, giving high-fives, letting us know he's "all done" after a meal. It's so fun to watch him learn something new and use it correctly. :) 

Playing in the pillows with Dad

Peekaboo with the pillows

 - Words: He definitely knows who he means when he says "Dada" or "Mama". The "Da" sound is his favorite - when he wakes up in the morning, he starts babbling "Dada dada dada dada". He's also starting to understand much more. I asked him if he wanted a bottle today and he stopped and looked and me and then started to fuss just like he does when he sees the bottle and is hungry.

 - Gettin' Physical: He easily pulls himself up on anything, including the door. He is still very tentative about cruising, but I think that will be coming soon. The bathtub is one of his favorite things to pull up on, and it's everything I can do to keep him from jumping in when we are getting it ready for him. He gets up on his tiptoes and leans over the edge as far as he can. What a little goof!

I see you! He loves looking outdoors. Still no snow this year!

Looks like trouble



27th Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! I turned 27 on February 4. Just one more year closer to 30...

On Friday night, I went out for a couple drinks with my cousin Megan and her roommate, Allison. So fun to catch up with her, as always. She and Allison are graduating in the spring and they are excited to join the working world. Ahh...so idealistic. :)

Daddy Daycare

 Then, on Saturday, Josh gave me my birthday present - a day of shopping by myself while he did Daddy daycare. It was amazing! I had a lot of gift cards that I hadn't used in the last few years and some Christmas money, so I went shopping at the Mall of America and purchased something in nearly every store I visited - guilt free! I got a couple dresses, leggings, boots, Kensie flats, t-shirts, and a pair of jeans. The best part was that I got to try on clothes for however long I wanted. I think Josh was glad he didn't come with me because I spent nearly an hour and a half in H&M - his worst nightmare. :)

27th Birthday - Heading out to dinner

New dress!

 Later that night, Josh took me out to dinner at Jensen's Supper Club and then we went bowling afterwards. Our friends, Brandon and Sarah, watched Jesper.

Such a fun birthday! Looking forward to what this new year will bring.

More Firsts!

This has been an eventful week.

1. Jesper's first tooth broke through! He had a cold and was a little fussy from that, but otherwise I didn't notice much change in his behavior.

2. He started demanding finger foods.  I tried to feed him pureed food on Monday night and he would just cry until I put it on his tray. Then he happily picked it up and fed himself. What a mess! I guess it will be bath night every day after dinner now. :)

Mmm..Mexican food.

Why do they keep trying to feed me cottage cheese?

Mom making Jesper laugh

Finger foods!

3. He also learned to clap. Small victory, but just one of those super cute baby things that is so fun to watch.

9 Months Old

Jesper weighed 22 lbs 15oz at his 9 month appointment and is 29.25 inches tall (75-90th percentile for
both). The doctor confirmed that he’s still perfect. :)
 

9 Months Old

His eating habits haven’t changed much in the last month, but he is really starting to get the concept
of “pick food up, put it in my mouth”. We’ve been trying to give him as many opportunities as possible to
practice with finger foods. At this point, that means some puffs and yogurt melts before the meal.
He’s still sleeping super well at night (bedtime: 7-7:30pm and wakes up around 6:30-7am), but his naps
have gotten shorter at school. At first we thought it was because he graduated to the next classroom, but
we asked the doctor about it and he said that some kids just start taking shorter naps around 9 months.
So, now his schedule is a morning nap at approximately 9:30/10:00 for an hour and another one about 3
hours after he wakes up for another hour.

Jesper has started to imitate us much more. If we play “pat-a-cake”, he tries to do some of the
movements with his own hands. So cute! We’re starting to learn more of his personality as well. He’s a
little cautious and doesn’t seem to try things (pulling up, eating finger foods, etc) until he has observed
for a while and thinks he can do it. That means we spend a lot of time demonstrating something and
he usually gets the hang of it shortly after he attempts it. His motto seems to be more “watch, try, do”
than “try, try again”. And he LOVES praise and smiles. If he does something and gets a cheer from mom
and dad, he gives us a little shy smile and then repeats his performance.

Drawers are endlessly fascinating to Jesper. However, he found out that they "bite" every once in a while, so he's started to use the handles more.

Playing at school

He still adjusts well to new situations and is a pretty relaxed kid. I asked his teachers recently how
his transition from the little infant classroom had gone and if he seemed to cling to something in the
classroom (several of the kids who graduated around the same time as Jesper immediately became
attached to a “transitional” item in the room, like a stuffed animal or pillow or even one of the toys). They
thought for a moment and said that he didn’t seem fazed by it. He likes to play with some of the musical
toys (baby piano, xylophone), but wasn’t attached to any one thing.

Baby Butt!

Bathtime with Turtle

Some of my new favorites:
- Watching him stand by the tub while he’s waiting to take his bath. He gets SO EXCITED to get in the
bath and it’s one of the first things that he pulled himself up on. Plus, he has such a cute little dimpled
baby butt. :)
- He follows simple directions. When we ask for something with our hand out, he will hand us whatever
is in his hand.
- He turns the pages in books (correctly!). I’ve read a couple books to him every night before he goes
to bed basically since he was born, and now he gets quiet and relaxed and helps me turn the pages.
It’s one of the best parts of my day.



Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with some oysters and appetizers at home. Jesper hasn't been sleeping well anywhere but home (recently, daycare included), so we decided to keep it low key this year. We were glad we did, as there was freezing rain and snow later that night. The snowflakes were about as big as I've ever seen them, so we had to take a picture. What a beautiful night! And it's finally starting to look like winter in Minnesota.

Josh shucking oysters

New Year's Eve Snow

Partying hard 'til 2012

 Earlier in the weekend, Megan Ohly (my cousin) came over for lunch. So fun to see her! She's graduating from college this year and it's so exciting to hear all the details about her new job and plans for after graduation.

Megan and Jesper

Smiles

Jesper is about to get even more mobile - he pulled up on the coffee table for the first time earlier this week! I didn't quite catch it on video (he pulled up after I put the camera away), but you can see him attempting it in this video. He fell down as soon as he got to his feet, but it won't be long before we're babyproofing another level higher.

On New Year's Day, we brought Jesper to the pool at Grandma Millie's apartment. He LOVED it!! Smiles the whole time. We'll definitely be trying that again.

Plumbers crack...

Swimming

Trying out the Christmas clothes. So cute!

2011 brought the happiest and most seismic event in our lives with Jesper's arrival. Here's hoping 2012 is slightly calmer and just as happy. :)

We wish the best to you and your families this year!

Christmas

Josh and I hosted the Carlson family Christmas this year per usual. Josh's grandma fell and broke her hip a few weeks ago, so Paul and Gail extended their trip to spend some extra time with her. Grandma Millie is doing well and was discharged from the temporary care facility on Friday. Paul and Gail wanted to make sure that she was able to get around her apartment easily. Nissa, Brian and the kids, and Brett and Kai and his girlfriend, Ashley, came up over the weekend.

All in all, it was a good holiday. And by far the best part was watching Jesper play with his Papa and Grandma, aunt and uncles, and cousins. :)

Jesper playing by the Christmas tree. Notice his eye? I accidentally dropped a lotion bottle on him earlier in the week and gave him a bruise! Worst mother moment to date.

Josh and Jesper relaxing

Grandma and Jesper

After several years of hosting, Josh and I have learned something new every year. The first year, we planned nothing. We had just moved in and didn't even have a butter dish. The second year, we planned a few appetizers but still left most of the meals to chance. We added a few blankets and an air mattress to the equation. Last year, we planned EVERYTHING and tried to make the bedrooms as comfortable as possible. The towels and bedding were a success, but the meals were incredibly time-intensive. And wow, did we have leftovers!

This time around, we planned a couple meals (soups on Christmas Eve, ham and potatoes on Christmas Day, appetizers for snacking), cleaned the house, and stocked the bedrooms and bathrooms. And amazingly, everyone still got fed and seemed to have a good time. :)

Playing in front of the tree. So many presents!

Jesper had a great time opening gifts. One of his favorites seemed to be the Curious George. As soon as it was out of the package, he was giving it hugs and kisses just like his mom and dad give to him. He also received a V-Tech alphabet train (we realized right away that it's a little too old for him right now), Gopher hockey clothes, a shape sorter, emergency vehicle stacking blocks, a see and say, pop-up plane, nativity set, Dino popper, and a ferris wheel toy. So much new stuff to play with! He's still figuring out a lot of the toys, but it's nice to have some variety for him. I think he was starting to get sick of the Playskool gears he's been playing with for the last 3 months. :)

Jesper also opened his gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Ratzlaff over skype. I miss my family over the holidays, but technology certainly helps me feel like I got to spend a little bit of the holiday with them.

Grandma Gail, Aunt Nissa, and Cousin Grace

Paul and Gail

Nissa and Grace

Brett, Brian, and Granmda Millie

Walker read Jesper his bedtime story. So sweet!

Grace and Walker

Josh and Jesper. It's WAAAY past his bedtime.

Turns out they don't make 18 mo. baby clothes that say "Baby's First Christmas", so I settled for a bib.

Christmas Eve

Playing with Grace and his new toys

Curious George - already a favorite!

More presents!

Ashley, Kai, and Brett

Nissa and Grandma Millie

Paul reading the paper

One of the highlights of the weekend was that Josh, Paul, Brian and I went to Gander Mountain's shooting range. I shot Josh's pistol for the first time. The target below was at 20 ft., and I was aiming for the upper circle. Not bad, huh?

 Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were bright!