11 Months

Our baby entered the last month of his first year today. It's kind of bittersweet. The final countdown to one has started!

This past month I've found myself having to say "no" a lot due to Colton's endless curiosity with all of our household items. He can really move around fast now. He finally learned how to crawl forwards, so I've had to repeatedly stop what I'm doing and remove him from something. And on Sunday morning, I found him sitting up in his crib for the first time! He can easily get into a sitting position now from being on all fours. Colton is practicing standing too, holding onto me or a piece of furniture. He doesn't have the confidence yet to take a few steps and can't get back down on his own, but his balance has gotten so much better.

Our little boy has discovered the fascination of opening and closing whatever he can get his hands on- doors, cabinets, drawers- and promptly pulling out their contents. Time to get safety latches! He loves finding the pots & pans and playing with them on the kitchen floor. He also enjoys reaching into his push toy and taking out all the blocks one by one.

Colton is on all table food now. He flat out refuses to eat baby food, although he'll let me feed him oatmeal as long as there are a few pieces of fruit on his highchair tray to pick up and feed himself. The other night I actually decided to make a soup from some of the leftover jars, figuring if he won't eat it at least me and Gregg will! I added some noodles and ended up giving the pasta and peas that were already in the jar to Colton, and he ate it right up. This past month he's tried a wide variety of foods including banana chunks, avocado, zucchini, pancakes, french toast, macaroni & cheese, cantaloupe, and pork. So far there's been nothing that he absolutely refuses to eat. Hopefully he won't turn into a picky eater later on.

A few weeks ago, I started the process of weaning him from the bottle. He's down to two bottles a day from four. He drinks formula in his sippy at lunchtime and dinnertime now. I'm working on cutting out the bottle when he wakes up from his afternoon nap next. I think the hardest one to replace will be the morning bottle, but we'll see. Since he eats three meals a day plus two snacks, I've also been slightly reducing the amount of formula he gets. I'd like to have him at least try whole milk before his first birthday, but we won't be switching exclusively to milk until he's one.

It seems like Colton continues to get a little heavier almost every day. People still tell me all the time how big he is for his age. It gets annoying after a while. It's not like I'm feeding him cheeseburgers and fries!! His hair is growing like a weed, well past his ears and curling up at the ends. He's starting to look like Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused.

Coltie is still generally so sweet and event tempered, but he definitely has a mischievous side. And he has moments of pure stubbornness, usually during diaper changes. He all of a sudden decided that he hates getting changed and kicks his legs when I'm trying to put a new diaper on him. I've gotten kicked in the chest, stomach and arm which let me tell you hurts. I try to be very firm with him and tell him no in my best parenting voice, and sometimes he listens and other times he doesn't. I know that he is starting to understand what "no" means, but sometimes when I say it he just laughs like he thinks it's a game. Then I want to laugh too, but I try to maintain a straight face, the one that conveys I'm not happy with his behavior.

Colton will also pitch a fit if he's in his hook-on chair too long. I used to be able to leave him in there with a few toys while I cooked dinner or checked email or something, but those days are over. He's associated his chair with eating, so when he's finished he wants OUT. He wants to be crawling around exploring, not confined! When he decides he no longer wants to be at the table, he'll get red faced, ball up his fists and whine until there's no tomorrow. Real cute, huh?

His laughter is infectious though, and can make up for all the times when I'm at my wits end with his screaming. Tickling, funny faces & sounds, and peekaboo always get the giggling started. I love his laugh and gummy smile (still no teeth yet!)

Well, here are some pictures. The next milestones post will be the biggie!

 
Playing with Mommy's pots and pans

 
Grinning after lunch

 
Having a blast in Katelyn's swing

10 Months

Colton's reached the double digits! In about eight more weeks, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. Crazy.

For some reason, 10 months just seems so much older than 9 months. Colton's gross motor skills have really taken off recently. He doesn't exactly crawl, but he does move around quickly on all fours. It's more like creeping, I think. He never seems to go forward in a straight line, but he always gets to where he wants to go. Colton continually gets up on his hands and knees with his tummy up off the floor and rocks back & forth like he's going to crawl, but then his legs slide backwards and he's flat on his stomach again! He can also stand pretty well with assistance now, holding onto my hands or a piece of furniture.

He still does not have any teeth, but it hasn't stopped him from eating. We've moved him up to Stage 3 foods, since the portions are slightly larger and the consistency is chunkier. It's still hit or miss with me feeding him from a spoon, so I've started spreading out the contents of the jar on the highchair tray and letting him feed himself. He seems to tolerate me spoon feeding him better in the morning, when he's less cranky, than in the evening. Colton tried a few new foods this past month too like broccoli, steak, mashed potatoes, and spaghetti & meatballs. Lately he really wants to eat whatever we have on our plates. He'll lean forward, eyes wide, with an expression that's like, "Can I have some, Mom, huh? Can I, can I, can I?"

Even though he's eating more solids and continuing to drink the same amount of formula, it seems like his weight gain is tapering off. He only gained one pound between his most recent doctor's visit, on June 1, and the one before that, on April 6. And he dropped from the 90th percentile in weight to the 75th during that time also. I'm not too concerned; actually I'm kinda relieved that the weight gain has slowed down. He's still a very healthy and happy baby!

Just in the past week or so, Colton has started forming the "m" sound with his mouth. I could have sworn that he said "mom" the other day. :) I've been signing the word "more" to him every time I offer him more of something. One day six months from now he might catch on and sign back! I really do think he was trying to imitate the actual word a few days ago just as I was about to place another handful of Puffs in front of him. You can disagree, but I know what I heard. Oh, and apparently my son thinks the word "poop" is hysterical. I was changing his dirty diaper and said, "Somebody made a stinky poop", and he burst into laughter. Typical boy.

Colton discovered his love for banging toys on the table and dropping them on the floor. It drives me crazy sometimes that I am constantly picking them up. His favorite toys include soft blocks, nesting/stacking cups, his beach ball, and this freaky looking rubber shark that he got at the doctor's office. He still enjoys racing around in his walker and likes to grab things off of the tv stand, end tables, and shelf in the living room.

His sleep is still really good. I'm so thankful we have a child that doesn't fight taking his naps or going down for the night. As long as there aren't any other distractions in the room, he will usually go right out. If I stay in his room to put away laundry or something, then he'll want to stay awake because he doesn't want to miss anything. Most of the time Colton doesn't like me to rock him to sleep anymore. I always try to cuddle with him a little bit before putting him to bed, especially at night. He's started trying to push my arm away as I'm holding him in the rocker. I feel kinda sad about it, but I know it's time for him to just fall asleep on his own. So instead of fighting him, I place him in the crib and tell him goodnight or have a good nap and that I love him.

Our little boy is certainly growing up! Here are some pictures (of course):

Boonstra Family Reunion

We had a wonderful time at Boonstra Bash '09! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed catching up with everybody, as well as showing off the newest Boonstra. Here are some pictures:









Daddy with Colton after the toilet paper game. Colton liked ripping the paper!



The men impress us with their drinking skills.









Colton with Aunt Lori.
























We had a lot of fun, but were all tuckered out by the end.

Thanks for a great day of family fun!

9 Months!

Our baby is nine months old today. Already 3/4 of his first year has gone by. I can't believe he only has three more months before turning the big 1!

Colton continues to amaze me with what he can do. He wants to do a lot of things on his own already, which can be frustrating because it feels like a battle of the wills sometimes between us. It is also pretty neat though, watching him grow into this little person who is constantly exploring the world around him.

He is so intrigued by everything these days, and anything (literally anything) can become a plaything. Last night at dinner we let him have the top to the pasta sauce pan (it had cooled down) and he had a blast turning it, banging it, and trying to chew on it while we finished eating. Colton likes to examine his toys while playing with them, too. He'll chew on something for a while, then take it out of his mouth and look at it carefully, then back in the mouth it goes! He really likes toys that play music, such as his Fisher Price telephone. His face lights up when he hears the kiddie voice singing the Alphabet Song or something else.

Colton has become quite good at feeding himself and he'll try just about anything we put in front of him. So far he's tried bits of soft cooked pasta, green beans, cheese (yellow American and Mozzarella), bagel, and watermelon. He holds onto his sippy cup with one hand and feeds himself with the other. And he LOVES Puffs. It doesn't matter what flavor, he gets all excited when he sees the container and promptly spits out his binky when we put a few down in front of him. We will sometimes hide them behind a toy or his cup and encourage him to find them. He's gotten really good at this game and the reward is always the yummy Puff and praise from us! Colton is now eating two meals of solids a day (cereal & jar of Stage 2 fruit in the morning, Stage 2 veggie or meat/veggie combo in the evening) with two snacks in between meals, in addition to the 24 oz. of formula he's been getting since about 5 months.

He's no longer content to just stay in my arms and snuggle in close (except at naptime and bedtime); he is a baby on the move! Whenever I'm holding him, he tries to reach for something interesting within his grasp. He barely sits still on my lap anymore to take his bottle. He's always looking all around, squirming to get free. Colton now takes control of how much he wants at a time. When he has to burp or doesn't want any more, he grabs the bottle and pushes it away.

Around the end of April he finally learned how to roll from his tummy to his back, and now there's no stopping him. He rolls all over the place to get to where he wants to go. Sometimes he'll rock back and forth on his hands and knees like he's going to start crawling, but he's not quite there yet. He does push himself backwards, however. Yesterday he found himself under the end table in the living room for the first time and thought that was pretty cool.

Colton is so expressive now, making all kinds of faces and gesturing. He "chatters" almost non-stop to his toys and us. He's added a few more syllables and sounds to his baby talk. Sometimes it seems like he is acting out a scene from a play with all his banter. He is such a ham, too. He'll do something funny, then watch for our response.

I've had to pack away nearly all of Colton's 6-9 month clothes and move him up to a size 4 diaper. He's the size of most one year olds already. He has a lot more hair and it is coming in beautiful! Not too fine, not too coarse. He's looking so much like a little Dutch boy these days.

Here are some pictures from the last month:

More Cute Pictures!

Can you believe our little Coltie will be turning nine months old next week? I was recently looking through photos of him taken since birth, and he has grown so much (and gotten so much cuter)! Here are a few pictures to show how big he's getting.

 
Let me outta here!

 
Look ma, I'm long enough to touch the bumper with both my head and feet.

 
In mid roll from tummy to back!

 
Getting some help from Daddy with crawling.

Beautiful Boy

I thought I would post a few more pictures of Colton here, since I take about twenty a day! Here are some of my recent favorites:

 
Cereal all gone!

 
Do you think I'm getting a little too big for my bouncy seat?

 
I love how blue his eyes are in this photo.

 
Colton has such a blast in the tub, splashing the sudsy water everywhere and playing with his bath toys.

See you on Saturday, Grandma!

8 Months

Today our baby boy turns eight months old. He is definitely not a helpless little infant anymore.

He started feeding himself Puffs and Cheerios a couple of weeks ago and is now a pro at it. He can pick up his sippy cup in both hands with no problem and slurps the juice vigorously as it dribbles down his chin and onto his bib. Colton continues to grab the spoon away from me at the beginning of every mealtime. He loves waving it around and chewing on it, while I feed him with another. I think it may be time to introduce more finger foods because he doesn't seem too interested in eating what's offered on the spoon.

He can now pass an object from one hand to another effortlessly and understands that when a toy falls on the floor or rolls out of his sight, it hasn't disappeared. Our little guy finds his binky after it's gotten lost somewhere in his crib and pops it back in his mouth. He's a smarty.

He's begun protesting in the mornings and evenings when I get him dressed. He gets all worked up and it can be really stressful to change him in and out of clothes. As soon as I pick him up off the changing table, he's just fine and dandy though! Colton has certainly learned how to voice his opinion and say (in the only way he knows how) "I don't like that, Mommy!"

On the flip side, he has also learned how to show his affection by reaching out to touch mine and his daddy's faces. Sometimes he'll grab my cheek or hair just to see what will happen. He doesn't understand the word no yet. Sigh.

Colton's still getting over his cold from last week. He's got a runny nose, but sleeps through the night okay thanks to the makers of Vicks!

Here are some more cute pictures of him over the last month, including a couple from Colton's first Easter:

 
Practicing his new skill of picking up Cheerios.

 
Who is the fairest baby of all?

 
Colton says, "Happy Easter!"

 
He couldn't resist chewing on the bunny.