Bennett: 10 Months Old!

At 10 months, Bennett is a bundle of energy and activity!  The only time he likes to snuggle is when nursing or having a bottle.  My favorite time is the night nursing, when he falls asleep and then I can rock him for a few minutes before putting him in bed.  Otherwise, this boy is on the go...which is a fun stage.  We just finished an 8 week infant swimming class at the Y, which Ben liked and was a fun experience.

He is learning more and more, and getting braver, too!  We seem to have avoided the "stranger danger" stage so far, which is nice.  When new people talk to him, he will bashfully smile and then hide his face on my shoulder, but after a minute or two, he is all smiles and coos.  

Bennett maintains a great, regular schedule, which includes two naps (9-10:30am and 1-2:30pm).  His favorite foods are bananas, pancakes, and grilled cheese, but he's not too picky.  His only requirement is that it doesn't take more than 10 minutes to eat.  He also loves sharing whatever Brad or I are eating.  And he loves to make lots of "mmm" noises while eating, which makes you feel pretty proud of your culinary skills.  :)  He has only one tooth still, which you can kind of see here!

Bennett is a very happy boy who really only fusses if he's tired, hungry, or has to have his nose wiped...which unfortunately has been a lot lately.  I feel like he's had a runny nose since October that we just can't get rid of!  With his new skill of walking, Bennett doesn't really sit still very much anymore.  He walks all over the house and loves to get into everything, his favorite thing to go for is Cooper's water dish.  Reading books is still one of Bennett's favorite and most quiet times.  He giggles when he sees one of his favorites (Amazing Animals, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, or Just Like My Mommy).  Ben plays really well by himself as long as Brad or I are close.

We've moved up to the convertible carseat and he LOVES it!  I'm so happy with switched as soon as we did...he was just getting to be a bear about going into the infant carseat.  He has started to mimic some sounds, like the elephant noise one of his books makes, but still doesn't consistantly attribute specific sounds/words to specific items.  He mostly says "dadadadada."  He is super giggly and is starting to love "peek-a-boo" and "I'm gonna get you!"

The biggest update is that Bennett is now sleeping through the night - FINALLY!  I was getting so exhausted we finally decided to try Cry-It-Out.  We got ready and slept in the guest room last Friday night.  But...he never cried.  We thought it was random, so we tried again Saturday night....no crying.  Huh.  So we decided that maybe being further away from him was helping (our bed was on the same thin wall as his crib and I could hear his every movement and sound, so maybe he could hear us?!).  We moved our bed on the opposite wall of our bedroom the next night, and he hasn't woken up in the middle of the night since!  He has decided that 5:30am is a good wake-up time, which we still need to work on.  We love this silly, fun boy!