Hello Moriarty lovers, our little super villain is now 10 months old and he's gotten so much more fun. He's making new faces and interacting with Pip and me a lot more. One fabulous face is the 'I'm trying to pull this apart' face. He strains and squints his eyes and pulls his cheeks back. There's also a squinty grin where his eyes get very wide and he has this broad closed-mouth smile. He's been sticking out his tongue at us more, particularly when we do it first. He also manages these exasperated looks as though he has a 14 year old trapped inside. All-in-all it's more fun to play with him because he's more engaged.
He's also getting more independent with his toys and playtime. If we're trying to do some chore we'll often set him on the floor and he'll go to one of his toy buckets (there are a few scattered around) and pull out something to play with. Or, all the somethings in all of the baskets, but we're keeping the total toy count reasonable. When he gets more stuff at Christmas I plan to put some things away for a few months so they'll be fresh and exciting again, and we'll keep the clean-up at home manageable.
I think my favorite part of hanging out is when I feed him. He eats so many things now (like squash, beef stew, shiitake mushrooms, and salmon) and we're always trying to give him new foods. By 1 year he should be drinking a lot less formula and we'll transition to cow's milk so at many meals now we only give him solids. He also prefers to eat with his hands or to attempt to use the spoon himself. He's not good with the spoon but if I load him up some food and hand it to him he sometimes gets the food in his mouth before upending it and letting it plop on the floor. This is just the first in a long line of things that will take longer to teach him to do himself than for me to just do, but the payoff is huge. I want to give him independence. He's a pro at his sippy cup but we will keep practicing with small, regular, cups so he can transition.
We've been having adventures around town. We made it to the aquarium when he was actually awake and he got to watch the trainers feed and play with the sea otters. We took a trip to the zoo and saw monkeys and leopards and sloths. There is also a great exhibit where you go into a closed-off room full of birds where you can buy a popsicle stick covered with bird seed. If you hold it up the birds land on your hand, or the stick, and eat. It was very exciting and Moriarty got to see the birds very close up while I held the stick. We're also now recognized by most of the merchants at our local Farmer's Market and they all say 'hi' to him.
The staph infection is completely healed and he's in great shape. He had one minor mishap at daycare where he crawled into some egg that other kids had dropped on the floor. He got hives on his arm but he's OK. Just a reminder that the allergies are lurking and we need to be vigilant. We have eaten out with him several times and finding egg- and nut-free foods hasn't been an issue. People have been very considerate of his needs and taken it seriously.
We're spending Christmas at Pip's sister's in-law's with Pip's parents and all the babies. Happy Holidays, or as Moriarty would say 'AH'.