Keeping Up With Caroline: 9 and 10 Months

We have a lot of catching up to do! This baby girl is already TEN MONTHS OLD. In less than two months I will have a one year old, and I don’t even know what to do with myself.

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Development

Caroline is still crawling around like crazy. Sometimes I cannot believe just how fast she can move. Around 9 months she started letting go of furniture and would end up on her butt. Now she lets go with both hands, but it still leaning forward against the coffee table (she likes to be able to hold a toy in each hand! haha). She loves to push her walker around. I think walking is in the near future, but her balance is not quite there yet. A lot of moms say to slow her down, but I’m going to let her do her thing.

Her speech has really been expanding lately! Around 9 months Caroline started mimicking sounds and inflection. This makes for some super cute videos (that are taking up all of the storage in my phone). We were opening presents with my family a few days after Christmas and Caroline opened a stuffed Mia the Kitten from my brother and his wife. When I pulled it out of the bag Caroline said “tee tat”. Y’all. I was stunned. She’d said “kitty cat”. My baby girl is already a crazy cat lady…girl after my own heart. A few days later she was saying “daw daw daw” when my parent’s dogs would come to the back porch.

Sleep

Caroline started a new “leap” just after turning 9 months old. Around that time she had a few nights of waking around 4:00 am. One night in particular I unsuccessfully tried to put her back in bed for an hour and a half. I think I ended up holding her and sleeping in her rocking chair in her room for the rest of the night. She soon went back to her regular sleep schedule of 7:00 pm to 6:30 am.

Alright…some of you may not agree with this but I don’t care. Caroline sleeps with a blanket through the night. I started putting a blanket on her during naps and found that she was sleeping a lot longer. We had a few cool nights in Galveston and I just decided she’d be a lot more comfortable with a blanket. I’m totally aware that the risk of SIDS is high in babies under a year old. Caroline is now over 10 months old and is as physically able as a lot of one year olds. I know I slept under a blanket as a baby.

Feeding

The baby led weaning is working. Caroline only takes about 20 ounces of formula a day now. In the morning she takes 5 to 6 ounces, at 11:00 am and 3:00 pm it can be just 3 to 6 ounces, and before bed she still takes 7 to 9 ounces. She eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner (at the same time every day because Moms on Call). Some days she is a fabulous eater and chows down at each meals. Other days she is more interested in the pasta than the veggies, or she’s just not interested at all. I have to remind myself that meal time is for learning because she’s still getting all of her nutrients from the formula.