I am finally finding a few minutes to try and update the blog since I just realized I haven't written anything in months! Let me try to get a quick recap of where Chase is now.....10 1/2 months old, crawling (if that is what you can call it--I'll explain that in a minute), has 2 teeth breaking through, can show you his nose and his belly, says "uh-oh" when he drops something, is still infatuated with the dogs, eats solid foods with a vengance, sleeps through the night and is still the light of my life (sorry Jason!)
Now for the explanations -- Chase is 10 1/2 months old now and I can't believe that his first birthday is this close! Let me try remember all that has happened. He has been sleeping through the night pretty consistently for about 3-4 months now. He doesn't have a 'set' time to go to sleep but usually it is between 8-9 and he will sleep until at least 7 am but on the weekends he is known to sleep until 8:30-9:00 which I love! He has traveled to Savannah, Georgia twice. Once for a wedding and then again for over a week when we buried my Dad. Let me just say that I am blessed with a child who travels well and doesn't mind being in a different environment. He loves meeting all the new people and is a complete ham.
He started his own version of crawling about 2 weeks ago....and I say his own version because it isn't the traditional form. From the very beginning, Chase has hated to be on his stomach so traditional crawling wasn't going to work for him. He would much rather be sitting up. So, to get form point to point, he puts his hands on the floor, one foot on the floor and then drags his other leg across the ground. He doesn't have a leg preference, either one will do, as the callouses on both shins will prove. Basically, he can still get where he wants too but when he gets there, it is a simply leg swing and he is now in a seated position where he can lean or spin in a circle to get what he wants.
He cut his first tooth about the same time he started to crawl. We got very lucky again because he didn't fuss, cry or stop sleeping during this process and we have heard some horror stories related to teething. While there are 2 teeth showing, neither one of them is completely in so we still are limited in the types of solid foods that we can eat.
Speaking of food...the boy LOVES to eat. He will eat all day long if we let him. He eats everything from pasta ravioli to yogurt to bread to limes (yes I said limes!) to the traditional baby foods. He is drinking juice from a sippy cup but not from a bottle. We think he is so used to having only milk in his bottle that he won't accept anything else in it....might make getting rid of the bottle a little easier (at least we hope).
He is pulling himself up on anything that he can find although he isn't quite comfortable trying to move from place to place like that just yet. He will walk with someone holding his hands or arms but doesn't have the balance to do any of this on his own. We have had to install the baby gates at the stairs and the dogs are constantly under 'attack'. You would think that after all this time, the novelty of the dogs would wear off and he would leave them alone but much to their dismay, he still thinks that they are the greatest thing. We are currently baby-proofing the house but it is an on-going process. Every time we have one stage completed, Chase reminds us that there is one more.
He is verbal, to an extent. He can say 'Da' which means dad, mom, dog, food, toy, light, fan...basically anything that he can see or point to. He has expanded to saying Uh-oh (which he got from me when he drops something), he has started to say 'Ba' and just recently started to say 'Mmm" which I am hoping means that I can get Mama to be said very soon. His laugh is contagious and absolutely cracks me up when I hear it and he starts to dance anytime he hears the theme songs to "Handy Manny" or "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (especially the 'hot dog dance' - which any parent can sing I'm sure!)
All in all, things have been great. I am ready for the end of the school year so that I can spend some time with him other than just weekends and nights. We have a busy June planned already. A trip to California to see Nana Lee (my grandmother, Chase's great-grandmother) and all the West Coast relatives on my Dad's side of the family. My mom and I are taking Chase and Bise (my nephew) for a visit. Should be quite interesting. Will try to update again after that one. We are also trying to figure out how to upload video from our camcorder so everyone can witness Chase in action. Hopefully it will happen soon. Until then, I will try to remember to update more often. That's it from the Liner house.
