Over the last few days, he’s figured out how to keep his balance a little better and actually walk several steps to me, Shane or a fun item. Yay!

He’s getting braver and more daring as time goes by.

It might be awhile before he’s able to walk full-time without assistance or falling a lot. I’m not going to rush him.

Like Johnny’s great-uncle Mike told me: You spend the first two years trying to teach them how to walk and talk, and the next 16 you’re trying to get them to sit down and be quiet :).

Johnny’s two little bottom teeth are sprouting through. I don’t know how long it takes for the whole tooth to pop in, but they’re coming!

It’s just amazing that it’s only taken him 10.5 months to go from a tiny, 6-lb. blob of baby to a sturdy, blabbering, giggling playful, mobile little dude.

Johnny continues to grow cuter as time passes. We just got back from a big trip to Indiana, and he handled the car ride amazingly well. When he was three months, that was a different story. He screamed and was generally inconsolable.

This time around, he fussed a bit, but managed to sleep a little. I hear all the time how “all” babies love the car and will instantly pass out and sleep for an entire road trip. Whatever!

This is only starting to be true for Johnny. I’m glad!

Now that he’s bigger, I was able to contort my body so that I could sit in the back seat and nurse with both of us strapped in by our seat belts. I probably wasn’t in the safest position myself, but I was still buckled in. And, it kept my baby quiet and helped him get to sleep. I don’t think I would have been able to do that when he was littler.

Words

He says “mama” especially when I’m not close to him and he wants me. He occasionally says “hi” but I don’t think he’s using it as a greeting. But, I said, “Say ‘hi,’ Johnny!” and he did right away. Cute!

He babbles “bub bub bub” a lot. Oh, and he said “Bo” a few times, which is my dad’s nickname. My dad loved that, of course.

Movement

He’ll wave at himself in the mirror if he feels so inclined. He’ll also wave at others if they’re waving and he happens to be in the mood. Still working on this one.

He continues to crawl, and fast.

He loves walking along furniture or walking along holding on to someone’s hands. He has the movement down and generally uses the support for his balance.

He took his first unassisted steps on Friday! Walked to me from his daddy, about four steps. He immediately turned behind him to make sure his Grandpa Steve saw that. Big smiles all around! He took a few more steps back to Dad, and he decided he had enough. No more solo steps since.

He managed to climb all of the steps at his grandparents’ house. Without help (but with someone following close behind). Without stumbling. He just seemed to know how to do it: one step at a time. He crawled up them all. I took a photo, but I kinda felt bad about encouraging that. Definitely don’t want him making a habit of climbing on things!

The real trick would have been him climbing down the steps. He couldn’t do that, of course.

He loves playing with a plastic ball. He’s pretty good about catching and rolling it. He just hits it a few times and it tends to roll toward someone. Not sure how he does it.

Food

My son will eat anything. He even ate (and seemed to enjoy) Brussels sprouts! He eats a variety of soft veggies, fruits, grains, and a hodgepodge of whatever happens to be on my plate.

Today, I was eating a ham sandwich. I had an extra slice of ham on my plate. He grabbed the ham, shook it wildly, and then tried to eat it.

He’s getting better about feeding himself, but most of it seems to end up on his lap or the floor.

He’s nursing maybe 6-8 times in a 24-hour period. No signs of slowing down any time soon.

Still no teeth.

Diapers

We have had a breakthrough! And this is gunna be gross, just to let you know.

It seems that I started him on cloth diapers at the exact most disgusting phase of his life. From ages 6 to nearly 10 months, Johnny’s stools were a sticky sludge. Not too well formed, but definitely solid. Really hard to scrape off the diaper. I gagged. A lot. I thought about giving up with the cloth.

Even with a powerful diaper sprayer, it was a challenge to get all that muck off.

The stools from birth - 5 months weren’t any trouble at all. But that four-month period — absolutely disgusting.

Now, we must finally be giving him enough solid foods to produce real solid stools. The kind that beautifully can shake loose from the diaper and plop into the toilet without leaving a sludge behind. I never thought I’d be happy about something like that, but I am!

Johnny is definitely “high needs” when it comes to sleep. I really hope that eventually, he’ll grow out of whatever the problem is, and he’ll be a good sleeper. I’m a horrible sleeper and it stinks.

I don’t want to talk about cry-it-out. Trust me, it won’t work for this kid.

Oh, silence now. Maybe he finally surrendered to sleep? Hard saying. He’ll be up again in less than an hour anyway.

Ok I don’t want to talk about his sleep anymore.

–

We’re going to the pediatrician on the 21st for his checkup. It’ll be fun to see what he weighs and how tall he is. I’m going to guess he’s around 20.5 pounds and 28 inches long.

People remark that he’s big, or that they think he’s destined to be really tall. I don’t know if it’s based on the fact that his parents are tall, or that he’s just a big lookin’ guy.

–

At 8 months, he was crawling, and now he’s a skilled crawler and is able to put himself in a sitting position any time he wants. Helpful indeed. He pulls himself to a standing position any time he can, and sometimes walks along objects.

Now that he’s really mobile, he’s also suffering more injuries :(. If he loses his balance and topples over, he bonks his head. Painful, since there’s a concrete floor under our carpet. He’s getting better about raising his head if he’s falling and putting his arms out to slow the fall.

I wasn’t watching him closely enough in the kitchen, and he was fiddling with a cabinet door and got his finger pinched. Broke our hearts! He was easily soothed and there was no broken skin or bruising.

The kitchen cabinets are in such a way that those baby-resistant locks won’t work. We’d have to drill holes into the cabinets to do the latch-release thing, and I’m not sure if that’s approved by our rental company. We’ll probably just put the baby gate up when we want him to stay out of the kitchen, and keep a closer eye on when he’s in there with us.

–

He got his first cold last week. He’s still fighting it, but it’s not that bad of a cold thankfully. Just a runny, crusty nose. I suspect he got it in the church nursery last week. He passed it on to me and Shane. Our first colds in a long time.

This week, we brought him into the church service with us and sat out in the narthex when he started to make noise.

We *thought* we liked this church, but that was with one of the associate pastors preaching. The main guy isn’t our favorite. I think we’ll visit another church next Sunday and see what they’re all about. And the search for a church home continues… .

–

Least favorite parenting duty? Trimming baby nails. Johnny’s finger and toenails are the sharpest little things, and he pinches hard! It’s so difficult to trim or file them. He’s a squirmy guy (aren’t they all?) and if I try to do it while he’s nursing or asleep, he just moves/wakes up. Blah.

–

We went to the park the other day and Johnny seemed to enjoy the swings, as usual. He’s still not a fan of the slides. I don’t know if he’s scared, or if he doesn’t like the static or what. I hope he’ll like them eventually!

–

Overall, Johnny is a happy, content baby. He enjoys being held and loves being worn in a sling. He’s always looking around him and taking in the world. Lately, he’s super busy exploring everything he can get his hands on. He’s rarely still if he’s on the floor. He likes when I sing to him (the “ABC song” is great for distracting him during a diaper change!). He’s a cuddlebug and we love him dearly!

- He now crawls to me and tries to climb up my leg. If I’m across the room (or in another room even) and he wants me, he comes and finds me. It’s really sweet!

- Whenever we go to an unfamiliar place, he gets really quiet. I don’t know if he’s afraid or if he’s just doing a lot of quiet observation. He likes to stay close to me, and doesn’t explore much until he’s comfortable. I don’t know if this is a developmental thing or a temperament thing.

- I have no problem nursing wherever, whenever, but apparently Johnny does. As I mentioned in my previous post, he’s extremely distractable and will only really nurse if we’re in a dark, quiet room and both lying down. We were at the mall recently and there was a mom nursing in the mother’s room attached to the bathroom. I thought, hey neat! I’ll nurse too and we’ll chat. Though I was sure Johnny was hungry, he just wouldn’t nurse. Ugh!

- I am so irritated at people who have problems with women breastfeeding in public — covered or not. Grow up, people! This isn’t about you and your insecurity. The mom isn’t trying to be indecent. She hopes she won’t flash you. But if you are STARING AT HER CHEST (shame on you for doing that, no matter if she’s nursing or not!) then you might see a little bit of flesh. Are you really trying to tell me that a small amount of skin exposed TO FEED AND COMFORT A CHILD is a horrible thing that should be done in private?

Is it really worse than some people you see at a beach or swimming pool? Or someone whose clothes are way too small and their belly or butt crack is hanging out? Do you tell Pumber Butt to cover it up? Maybe not, because you wouldn’t want to humiliate them. Instead, you just look away. Right? RIGHT?

Oh, and don’t tell her to just pump and feed her kid with a bottle, or give formula. For one, some babies (like mine) don’t take bottles! And for two, that’s way harder on the mom.

And to men who have problems with moms nursing — I’m getting the vibe that these are the same kinda guys who go to strip clubs and look at porn. So, boobies for your own enjoyment are ok, but for babies it’s bad?

So look somewhere else if you think you might be offended. Let the mom nurse in peace. Don’t be a jerkhead. It’s just a boob!

- I saw a woman walking around the grocery store with a blanket over her chest and a small little baby head peeking out. She was nursin’ and walkin’! The baby was quite young. I caught the mama’s eye and gave her a big ol’ smile, and she smiled back. I didn’t have Johnny with me, but hopefully she got the message that I was happy for her. I remember the days when I could walk and nurse. Heck, I remember the time when I was at my 6-week postpartum checkup and nursed while taking off my shoes and pants, then put them back on without breaking his latch!

Johnny is pretty durn big now. Don’t think I could nurse and walk for long, even if he would let me.

- Michelle Duggar is expecting her 19th child. Her 18th was born just two days before Johnny. That’s pretty impressive! People on teh internet seem to be giving her family a hard time. Leave them alone! They’re great parents and based on their TV show, the kids are polite, intelligent members of society. They’re doing a better job with their 18+ than a lot of families do with just one or two.

Some criticise their views that children are gifts from God, and that using birth control is sinful. You might disagree. But what does the Bible say? What if the Duggars are right?

Johnny is 8 months +1 week + a day.

He’s growing and changing lots! The kid is crawling now. Oh, man.

Two weeks ago in the church nursery, he observed Michael crawl his way around the room. Michael was also born in December 2008, though I think a few weeks before J.

Johnny watched with interest.

At home, I encouraged him to be propped up on his hands and knees. He didn’t quite like it, and toppled forward a lot.

He got to the point where he was just on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth, but he didn’t know how to move.

I tried to help him move a leg, then a hand, then a leg, etc. I tried to entice him with remotes, cell phones, crinkly bags, and other things babies don’t need.

The following week at church, he must have seen more of Michael’s movements. Cuz then he really started to get the idea of crawling down.

He now can crawl all the way down the hall (and beyond) if he wants! Wow!

He hasn’t figured out how to put himself in a seated position. He sits well if you put him like that, but if he goes from crawling to rolling or whatever, he doesn’t know how to get his feet in front of him.

He’s still toothless. What’s up with that? I’ve been convinced that he’s teething for several months now. I don’t know what to blame certain fussy episodes on now.

He’s eating more and more types of food, and can now do soft foods that aren’t pureed. I’d better hurry up and finish the purees we do have so they won’t go to waste! Tonight, he had some cooked carrots (first time) that I had smooshed but not pureed. He yelled every time I gave him some. Maybe he’s not a fan. He still ate them.

He also had steamed rice and didn’t yell after those bites.

Yesterday at Renee’s house, he had some black olives and refried beans.

He doesn’t eat huge quantities of solids yet though. I don’t force him to eat more, since when he’s done eating it’s obvious.

He only seems to nurse maybe four times per day now, with several nursing sessions during the night. He’ll only really nurse if we’re both lying down, preferably in a darkish room. If I try to nurse while sitting in a chair or something, he’ll just nurse for a minute or two but is too distracted to complete the feeding. I know he’s hungry, but he’s just too busy. Kind of challenging. It isn’t always convenient to just go lie down somewhere!

I taught Johnny to yell into a plastic cup to hear how the sounds are different. He loves plastic cups and usually puts them to his mouth to “drink” out of one. I held one to my mouth and yelled, and then held it to his mouth. Silence. I repeated it a few times, and then he caught on. Now, he likes to yell in cups! Lol!

He’s quite good at drinking from a straw. If I’m out and have water with a straw, I hold the straw high enough so he can’t jab it in his mouth. He sips. Loves it.

I don’t know if Johnny is shy or if he’s just … I dunno. Quiet? Any time we’re in a new place around new people, he just gets so quiet and watches others. When we’re out, he sometimes smiles for strangers but it’s rare. He often just stares or looks away. I don’t know if he’s overwhelmed or if it’s just a developmental thing he has to reach or what.

Sleep…yeah. I don’t want to talk about it.

Next month, we’ll attend a baby sign language class at the library. Should be fun! We’re also going to a big kid’s consignment sale. I hope to pick up some of his next sizes of clothes and some toys.

This upbringing certainly starts at home and should be a regular part of home life — and an active church membership can enhance the entire family’s relationship with God.

Though we had tried to find a church home in Pittsburgh, we just couldn’t seem to find one that clicked. Ya know? Some actually seemed like social clubs instead of churches.

Then Johnny was born. We knew we had to kick our search into high-gear soon enough. It was a challenge getting up and out the door, and we didn’t go to church as a family until Easter this year.

We moved to a different part of the city, and I was hopeful that we’d find something for us here. I think we have!

We are seeking an active church with young families. One that emphasizes teaching the Bible. Sounds simple enough, but plenty of churches we’ve visited only mention a Bible verse here or there in sermons and don’t exactly teach or spend much time in the Word.

Talking with some friends and doing some internet research (and lots of prayer!) we visited a Baptist church. Sometimes the Baptist denomination has a bad rap. I’m not sure why.

Anyway, during the sermon, the first thing the minister said was, “Turn to your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel.” I had never been to a church where members actually used the Bible during the sermon. Isn’t that something? And I loved this.

He read a chapter and then gave a sermon on it. It was fabulous.

The only trouble? About 20 people were in attendance. For their one service. They were nice and all, but we wanted a larger church that had children Johnny’s age.

We went to another and it, too, was Bible-focused and friendly. Liked it, but still just a handful of kids and no other babies.

We went to a third church, and we weren’t sure if we’d like it because the web site was really dynamic and emphasized different activities, but we couldn’t find a statement of faith or anything affirming it was more than a social club. We visited anyway, just to see.

We weren’t disappointed. The church is much larger (about 1,000 in attendance for its three Sunday services) and definitely has a strong children’s program. It seems that young children are encouraged to be in the nursery or other kid activities during the service. Children from grades 1-5 stay for the first part of service during the music time and leave during the sermon.

Younger kids are grouped by age and are led in age-appropriate activities.

Johnny is in the youngest batch of kiddos and when he’s maybe a year or so old, he should be ready to move on to the 1s and 2s. There’s more structure and usually a Bible lesson in those classes. It just continues on up!

In the nursery, the staff emphasize play and exploration.

I stayed there the whole time today so I could observe him and the caregivers. He had missed his morning nap, but he was still a mostly happy boy. It was so great to see him among others his age! There were five babies during this portion of the day.

The staff was attentive and loving and everything I’d hope for in a nursery setting. As long as Johnny doesn’t seem to mind, I think I’ll leave him in the nursery next Sunday. I’m comforted in that they have pagers and can alert parents if necessary.

This is a completely new denomination for us, but we do like it. If you’re curious — as a child and young adult, I had only attended United Methodist churches. Shane had been to a variety of denominations with various family and friends, including Pentecost, Holiness, and a hodgepodge of others. He never really “joined” a church and he wasn’t set on any particular denomination.

We visited some United Methodist churches around here, but just didn’t feel like it was the right place for us.

We then attended some non-denominational ones and a Presbyterian church. Still no match.

We then went to a Baptist church, the one I mentioned earlier with about 20 congregants.

Shane filled out the attendance pad and included our address, and when we arrived home today, someone had beat us to our door and there was a gift bag containing info about the church. What a surprise! It contained a summary of the church’s beliefs and more info about the programming. I’ll have to suggest they post it to their web site.

Anyway, we’ll be going back to this church and if things continue to go well, we’ll meet with one of the pastors to learn about membership.

We’ve packed away:

• Bouncy seat — my mom bought this for Johnny when he was around 3 months old. He seemed to get a kick out of it and it was a safe place to set him nearby while I had my hands busy (preparing dinner, etc.). Too big for it now.
• Pack n play — he’s not too big for it, but he seems to hate being in it. He’ll scream, twist, cry and generally throw a fit. It was helpful in the early months when we used the changing table attachment, and we also used it as a safe place to lay him down for quick moments. We’ll still maybe take it with us when we travel.
• Swing — oh, my beloved swing. Lasted from 2 weeks of age through about 6 months. The swing saved my sanity early on, when he would only sleep in my arms, on my chest, or in that swing. I had to sleep too, ya know! I remember one afternoon lying on the floor next to it, pushing it faster than the motor would go since that’s all that would soothe him. I tried to doze. It was kinda pitiful.
• Edited to add: Bumbo seat. My pal Renee lent us her son’s Bumbo chair. Johnny fit in it for a short while, though he seemed confused as to why he was in the contraption most of the time. I thought it was cute.

Movement

He’s rolling in all directions and can roll across a room to get to things. We still have some more baby-proofing to do, and we’d better stop wasting time!

He sits quite well but he still loses his balance sometimes.

He can prop himself up high on his belly, arching his back. He used to really dislike being on his belly, but now he doesn’t usually mind.

Words

He likes to babble and will ‘talk’ to anyone who will listen. His first recognizable babble was “mama!” I don’t count this as his first word, since I’m pretty sure he doesn’t associate me with it. He’s also now babbling “baba” and “dada.”

Potty!

Johnny can go potty in the toilet. On Saturday, he went in the potty five times! This is called “elimination communication” and we’re both still learning.

I pay attention to any possible cue he might have for when he needs to go potty. He usually needs to go right after waking up (don’t we all?) and he’ll also make a nasally whining sound. I take him right to the potty, squat him over it, and say “pssssssssss!” He then tinkles!

If he doesn’t go quickly, I take him off the seat.

I think this is pretty cool and I bet he appreciates not having a wet diaper.

I don’t know if this will help him be out of diapers any sooner, but it’s cutting down on diaper laundry and its pretty cool at the very least.

Diapers

We’ve made the switch to cloth diapers. Mostly, it was to save money over the long haul. Some estimate that one baby can go through 8,000 to 10,000 diapers before they’re no longer in them. At the rate Johnny fills his diapers, I think that range is on target.

Even with finding diapers on sale, we could still expect to spend $1,000 to $2,000 on diapers and wipes. That’s a lot of money for something you just throw away.

The second reason was to cut back on all the diaper garbage we were creating. It was a lot. Seriously, billions of diapers make their ways to landfills each year. That is ridiculous!

Finally, disposable diapers don’t work all that well. Most of the time, they hold up fine, but Johnny often pees through the diaper (especially for overnights, ugh) and there have been many poop explosions while he was in disposables — even the Pampers.

If I’m having to rinse out a poopy outfit anyway, I might as well use cloth.

The leaks that we’ve had with cloth have been mostly my fault. Didn’t have the diaper on quite right, didn’t change it quick enough, or not filled with enough absorbancy.

Car seat club

Johnny initiated me into the ‘car seat club’ a few weeks ago. We were on our way back from our first visit to a swimming pool.

[Sidebar: He didn't seem to love the pool too much. It was probably too cold for him. We'll try again if the weather will warm up!]

The kid pooped more than he ever pooped. It filled his diaper and when it couldn’t hold anymore, it eeked out the sides. It was a dispsoable and I think a cloth diaper would have also yielded a mess, but maybe not so bad.

This sludge was out of control. Thick. Foul-smelling. Awful.

I went to retrieve him from his car seat, saw the bright yellow everywhere, and had to pause for it to register what in the world had happened, and what I should do about it.

I grabbed a beach towel and wrapped him in it to keep his hands from touching the mess. Straight to the tub we went! It took many, many wipes to clean him, and then the bath took awhile also.

Back to the car, I just unlatched the carseat and brought the whole thing inside. The cover snapped off but it wasn’t machine washable, so I took care of it in the tub.

The cover took a full day to dry, so we were home-bound the following day.

When I was a baby, I guess I did a similar trick for my parents, hence my induction to the car seat club. Yay.

Food

Johnny is still nursing. Yay! I feel so fortunate that I can continue to provide the bulk of his nutrition, loads of antibodies, and unmatchable comfort.

He does seem to really enjoy solids. He’s now had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, applesauce, sweet potato, squash, green beans, pears, and maybe a few others.

I do try to make as much of his food myself, but I also have some packaged organic baby food that I picked up at a good price.

Johnny really is becoming more fun with each passing week. It’s great to see him react to things we do. He’s growing so fast, seriously! We love him lots.

Stats

On the 19th, he had his six-month visit with the pediatrician. He’s 18 lbs. 2oz., 26.5 inches long, and doing well in every way! He has about 15 ounces to go (as of the 19th) to triple his birthweight of 6 lbs. 5 oz. He’s so cute and chubby now, and I can hardly recognize him from his early days.

Skills

At the beginning of June, he started sitting up without help. Well, I’d have to put him in the sitting position first, and then he’d hold his balance. He’s not yet able to pull himself into a sitting position, but soon probably! At first, he could only sit unassisted for a few seconds, but now he’s able to go for a minute or two.

He becomes distracted and topples to the side. I do my best to catch him, because if I don’t his face will hit the floor. Ow!

Just today, he started rolling from his back to his front. He’d been able to go the other way for quite some time. Now that he can do both, I imagine he’ll soon realize that he’s able to roll around the room and beyond now. Good thing I’m starting to baby-proof!

I know with “baby-proofing” I won’t be able to remove every possible danger. I’ll do my best to get rid of the obvious ones, but my main intention is to slow him down and buy myself some time if I need to run across the room to keep him out of harm’s way.

He’s giggly and more social. He’ll smile at strangers and when they smile back, he’ll lower his head as if he’s bashful.

Nom-nom

He loves chomping on anything he can get his hands on — including his hands, toes, me and inanimate objects. We’ll see his first teeth pop in soon I’m sure.

We’ve introduced solids and he just loves it! The applesauce I’ve given him was a bit tart, and he would make a face, shudder and then open his mouth for some more. Heh.

He’s still an avid nurser, but he goes longer between feedings now. Maybe he takes more in per feeding? I don’t know.

Sleep

Now that he’s six months, the risk of SIDS has gone way down. He’s usually waking just once per night or so, sometimes twice. I think we’re ready to start to move him out of our room and into his own. I expect this will be a gradual process. I’ll probably wait until we’re unpacked before we do, since his crib isn’t assembled and I don’t know where the hardware is.

Diapers

We’ll be trying cloth diapers to save money and be a little more friendly to the environment. Also, his disposables leak pretty frequently, and I’d like that to come to an end.

I had him in a Happy Heinys pocket diaper last night with just one insert (silly me) and he filled it up and leaked through it. Whoops.

He leaks through disposables overnight a lot, so it’s no real change. Next time, I’ll know to double up on the inserts.

I had him in a BumGenius pocket one-size diaper for a few hours tonight. He’s already on the largest rise setting but the waist has a lot of room to grow. I wonder how long he’ll fit in them. The velcro seems to dig into his belly when he’s sitting. I don’t know if I just had it on too snug or what.

I ordered a three-pack of Smartipants pocket dipes to test, and on Friday I’m meeting a mom at Panera who might sell me some diapers.