Berkeley has officially turned a year old, so let’s go back and review his 11th month. Firstly, I’m stunned I made it this far without having a nervous breakdown (ok, maybe I had a few). 

Berkeley is a healthy, happy, and (if i might say) ADORABLE little boy. He’s always smiling and never cries (knock on wood). He’s gotten a little cranky when he’s teething, but it’s more like whining and usually when he’s also tired. Speaking of which, he got one more tooth this month, although it did a weird disappearing act for a bit before it finally came back- giving him 4 on top and 3 on bottom. He looks so cute when he smiles!

The BIG development this month was learning to walk!!! It started with standing on his own for long periods of time, then regularly taking a step or two. He worked his way up to 5-6 steps and then one day just walked across the room…and he hasn’t stopped moving since ;) I’d say the offical walking-across-a-room-without-falling happened about a week before he turned 1 yr old.

Other physical developments include climbing onto the couch and the ottoman in his room. He also, thankfully, has somewhat learned how to get back down without faceplanting. 

He has finally learned to clap his hands when we clap, but it’s more just the motion of bringing his hands together. He hasn’t quite figured out how to make a sound. When we say “how big is Berkeley?” he raises his hands into the “so big!!” motion. Nate’s mom taught him this :)

We got him some musical instruments since he loves music class so much, and after he’s finished clapping them together, he also raises his hands in the air. It’s kind of like you’d do after finishing a drum solo. Anyway, as you can see from the picture below, my mom and I found this new development absolutely hysterical.

We’re teaching him bits of sign language and he can say “more” and “eat.” He won’t use the words on his own but will repeat them if i ask him if he wants “more?” etc. 

He has become very generous and will now sometimes offer me his food while he’s eating. How very sweet of him, even if it is being held by a slimy little hand. Sometimes when he’s eating, he will now make this super cheesy squinty-eyed grin face. I think he’s immitating Nate’s funny faces…or is doing a fake smile? Whatever it is, it’s pretty darn cute.

Speaking of eating, we finally introduced dairy. He has been on a dairy/soy-free formula called Elecare ever since his fussiness and reflux when he was 3-4 months old. His GI doc said to try out dairy and see how he does. He seems to be ok with it, and loves yogurt and cheese. I started just giving him one serving every few days but worked up to several days in a row and I don’t see any ill effects. We did, however, try to wean him from pepcid before trying the dairy and he was still showing symptoms of reflux, so we’re back on it. 

We ventured on our first longish daytrip with him. We hadn’t done it before because he’s horrible at napping on the go. Anyway, since we moved from the city to the ‘burbs, Nate has really missed Manhattan…particularly Central Park.

He really wanted Berkeley to get to experience Central Park with us, so we took him in and we had a picnic. We decided to go in the morning to avoid traffic and the trip only took about 40 min door to door.

We had a really nice time and couldn’t have gotten a more gorgeous day. Too bad Berkeley finally fell asleep 10 min from home so we drove to Whole Foods where I procedded to lap the parking lot about 50 times while Nate and his mom did some shopping. 

His naps have been mostly better, though they vary if he’s experiencing teething pain. He seems to take a good morning nap and then will occasionally boycot his second nap. He’s also been taking a really long time to fall asleep at his second nap and bedtime so I got back in touch with the sleep consultant right towards the end of his 11th month. She recommended having two set nap times (8am and 12:30pm) and then make bedtime 4 hrs from when he wakes from his second nap. We also have to wake him by 9:30 from his first nap. Before this, nap times were based on wake time and on top of being slightly different every day (hard to plan things!), he also was being put down too early since he’s able to stay awake longer than when I started his sleep training 4 months ago. This has been working much better…and has the added bonus that I now occasionally get to put him to bed!!! :)

He’s definitely more aware of himself and understands more. We used to play peekaboo where he’d laugh when i did it, but now he’ll hide his own face to play. He thinks it’s hysterical. He dances a little when music comes on and I’m hoping he doesn’t inherit my dance moves. He doesn’t like strangers much, particularly men. He’ll stare at them and if they try to talk to him, he’ll start quivering his lip.

*this post is a wee bit late, as Berkeley is almost 10 months old now. His 9 month update will be coming soon, hopefully…

I know I say this every month, but 8 months was a big one for little Berkeley! Pardon all the pictures, but they’re all so cute I couldn’t choose :)

He officially started crawling on his hands and knees instead of crab crawling, and man is he fast! He pulls himself up on anything and everything and even cruises a little bit (whenever we put him down for a nap or he wakes up from one, we see him on the monitor standing in his crib walking around the perimeter…or throwing all of his pacifiers one by one out of the crib).

He doesn’t quite understand that when he’s standing and he lets go, he’ll fall, which has led to his head smacking against the floor a couple times and him crying :( We watch his every move but i swear it happens in the split second i turn my head! He has also learned how to lower himself from standing by bending his knees and putting one hand back on the ground, but he doesn’t always remember to do it. 

He started his swim class! He’s the youngest one and doesn’t really understand the stuff he’s supposed to be doing, but he loves the water. He splashes and almost does a doggy-paddle thing that is SO CUTE…with me holding him of course. We even dunked him under the water a couple times, which he does not like. But he only cries for like 2 seconds when he comes up and then he’s fine.

The weather’s been nice so we’ve been spending lots of outside time, sitting on porch, playing in backyard.

P.S. He’s not sure what he thinks about grass…

He tried one of those MumMum biscuits but he didn’t understand that after biting off a piece, you have a to chew it. So he just kept biting and shoving it in his mouth and biting again. I don’t think he understood that he was biting piece off since it doesn’t happen when he bites his toys. He’s still not great at chewing, but he’s been eating real finger foods now! I cut everything into very small pieces and make sure that they’re soft enough that if he swallows without chewing, it won’t choke him or hurt going down.  

He freaking LOVES eating. There is nothing he won’t eat and he just keeps shoving things in his mouth…or grabbing the spoon if you’re feeding him. We tried lots of new foods this month- scrambled eggs, blueberry waffles (made by grandpa), blueberries, steamed pears, sweet potato sticks (definitely his favorite). My favorite thing is when he eats scrambled eggs, he doesn’t chew them so they’re a little difficult to get down, so he just takes a drink of water between bits to wash it down, haha.

Speaking of water, he loves it so much, and he figured out how to use a straw cup! He’s so good at it and it’s the most adorable thing. He can drink a ton of water with his meals so sometimes i take it away since he still spits up some. 

He also started reaching for people when he wants them ( i love this!!!). And towards the end of the month he’s been having some separation anxiety. It makes me so sad to see him get upset, but at the same time I love knowing that he loves me so much that he gets sad when I leave. He’s easily distracted tho, so it’s not a big deal to sneak out. We’ve been practicing waving and saying bye-bye, but he doesn’t get the waving thing yet…at least not enough to repeat it back. 

I’ve been trying to do some sign language with him before i give him food, drink, milk, when he sees LC, etc. I’m not too consistent with doing it but I have no idea if he understands what i’m doing yet. 

By the end of the month, he seemed more and more like a real little person, and it’s amazing. He’s much more dexterous with his hands and is practicing his pincer grasp but hasn’t gotten too good yet. He totally gets books now and when I read him a “pat the bunny” type book, he reaches for the textures to feel them. it’s so cute!!! He sometimes tries to turn the pages, but not always. Also, he likes when i read the same book to him 5 times in a row, haha. Oh, and my mom bought him this toy that talks when you open and close it, and he figured it out and kept opening and closing it! I was so impressed.

Berkeley had his first plane ride this month! We went to Florida to visit my parents.

My mom flew there and back with me so I had help on the plane, since Nate couldn’t join. I seriously don’t know how moms travel without help. Between a baby that doesn’t sit still and a TON of bags, there is no way i could have done it alone.

Ready to hit the golf course..

We had a lot of fun in Florida- taking walks, going swimming, showing him off to my mom’s friends. 

Stats: 18ish lbs, Size 3 Pampers Swaddlers diapers (Size 3 Huggies Overnite with a booster pad for nighttime)

Likes:

Crawling on his hands and knees, swim class, lots of outside time, sitting on porch, playing in backyard, EATING, reaching for mom or dad to be held, drinking from his straw cup, standing and cruising, grabbing spoon and trying to feed himself, turning pages in books (sometimes backwards), throwing pacis out of crib when he wakes before i get him. 

Dislikes:

When mom or dad leaves the room, when you don’t feed him fast enough or take his water away before he’s done, napping (sometimes), staying still for more than 2 seconds, being restrained for too long in a car seat, getting dunked under water (in swim class), being startled. 

“My 8th month was exhausting!”

Schedule:

between 5-6 am: wake up

6:15 am: 7 oz bottle of formula followed by baby oatmeal (made with prune juice) and some pureed fruit or fruit pieces

7:30-8 am: 1/2 hr-1.5 hr nap (the latter if we’re lucky)

9:30 am: 6 oz bottle of formula

11-11:30ish: lunch (he eats all sorts of things: sweet potato chunks, fruit, mini meatballs, avocado, eggplant, peppers…)

11:30/12:30ish: 1/2 hr-1.5 hr nap (the time he goes down for his nap depends on when he got up from last one)

1:30-2ish (when he wakes): 6 oz bottle of formula

3 pm- more solids (technically his dinner since he goes to bed so early)

4:30: 7 oz bottle of formula

5pm: bedtime! he’s usually out within 20 min, sometimes even within 5 min.