This Month Goes to 11 or Tuco at 11 Months

So Tuco is now over eleven months old. I did the math, and it turns out that that means Tuco is going to be one year old very soon. This little guy who could do nothing but sleep, cry, eat, and lay around is now acting more like a little boy than a baby.

You want to know the notable developments he’s recently had? Sure, I’ll tell you. My favorite one is that he now places his head on my shoulder before taking his nap or going to sleep for the night. He’s realized that it’s way more comfortable to do this than anything else, and I love it. It’s almost like a little regression back to baby time–nowadays it’s so rare for him to just let me hold him while he sits still, so I like that he’s not too big to put his head on my shoulder and let me soothe him a little before going to sleep.  It’s pure sweetness.

My next favorite development is that he dances. When he hears music, he starts bopping around from side to side with a big ol’ grin on his face. I don’t know how he learned to dance to music….oh, that’s right, Tuco’s dad and I are constantly dancing while we sing to him when we need to distract him.  He must be trying to imitate mom and dad’s bad dance moves.

It’s also becoming clear that he understands us, at least some of the time. He knows what “no” means, and if you ask him what the brown cow says, he’ll say, “bfffboooo,” which is his version of “moo.” Because this is one question he answers well, I am constantly asking him what the brown cow says because I love communicating with him. I can’t wait for more Q&A with him and eventually having conversations.

Tuco has also become very social, and he loves interacting with other kids.  The smile on his face when another kid looks at him is like no other, and then he’ll shyly turn the other way with his smile still intact. A second glance at the other kid usually involves Tuco reaching out his arm towards him. What else, what else? School buses are the coolest and when he sees a flag waving in the breeze, he will point it out to you and kick his legs around in excitement. He’s also a big fan of swinging at the park, and he’s just starting to explore the fun that is sliding down a slide.

It’s hard to believe that I’m almost through my first year as a mom.  A year ago, before Tuco arrived, the unknown of motherhood was equal parts scary and exciting. It’s still a bit scary now, as I don’t want anything to ever hurt my little Tuco (I’ll still be saying that even when he’s 40 years old), but I am much more excited about each day with him than I am scared.

A few recent Tuco pictures are below.

Tuco’s First Word and Other Things

Tuco has been uttering consonant sounds for a few months. He’s made all kinds of sweet sounds like babababa and der der der der der. We knew all this must be leading up to Tuco gaining the verbal skills to say actual words. He has said things like dadadada and mamamama, but those haven’t counted as words before because it was clear he was just jabbering and not really referring to either of his parents. But on February 15, 2012 he meant what he said. That’s right, Tuco said his first word and it was–

Dada.

Tuco’s dad came into the room, Tuco stopped what he was doing, and looked at his dad straight in the eyes.  Then in a tone that had a “Oh hi, old chum!” ring to it, Tuco said it. It was clear that he knew what he was saying. He did it again the next day too.

Hopefully the next official word will be “Mama.”

In other Tuco news, he is pulling himself up all over the place. If there is something near him that is a foot or more off the ground, he will try to use it to pull himself up. When Tuco wakes up from a nap, I no longer find a little tiny helpless baby laying there crying. I now find a little boy having a great time standing up and talking nonsense. When he was born, it seemed like this scenario was so far away.  I think I will always be nostalgic for his baby phase, but I am truly enjoying these new phases.

If you want to know a secret, my days are spent trying to entertain Tuco enough so that he will be ready for a nap when the time comes. As soon as I put him in his crib and close the door, I feel a sense of relief. Time to relax a little. But then, about 20 minutes later, I miss the little guy.  He’s just so much dang fun right now that it’s easy for me to forget how much hard work it is wrangling him from getting into trouble.  I’m not saying every day is a super happy fun day–I have my days of feeling stressed out and over tired. There are times when I am sick and tired of him crawling over to the heat vent to stick his fingers in it. And sometimes I wish he could just chill out a little and sit quietly while I send an email or write a blog post.  But mostly, I am happy to enjoy this time with him because I know he’ll be graduating high school before I know it.

Tuco at 9.5 Months

I’ve not been very blogariffic lately. It’s hard to come up with stuff to write about that isn’t completely boring. Plus I’ve been over-revising  a post about how swim class with Tuco brings out new feelings of mom inadequacies for me, but I haven’t been able to get my thoughts out clearly. Maybe someday I will post it. Spoiler alert: the inadequacy feelings have nothing to do with wearing a bathing suit, and swim class with Tuco turns out to be fun after all.

I have also been feeling guilty about skipping blog entries on Tuco’s eight- and nine-month birthdays.  To ease my guilty feelings, I am writing this “Tuco at 9.5 months” post. I’ll start with some stats from Tuco’s nine-month doctor visit:

1. Tuco is 30 inches tall.

2. Tuco weighs 21 pounds and 4.7 ounces.

Not impressed? Consider that 9.5 months ago, he was only 21 inches tall and weighed only 9 pounds. Consider it! This is exciting stuff to me. As is the fact that Tuco is now eating regular food, like Cheerios, chicken noodle soup, and lasagna.  He also eats little yogurt bites, which are like the astronaut ice cream you tasted when you went to a planetarium in grade school. Yeah, I know they taste like that because I’ve eaten them.

Hmmm, what else about Tuco at 9.5 months?  Tuco can army crawl his way around any room, and he’s working on getting his belly off the ground for a proper baby crawl. He can climb up the one stair from our family room to our kitchen, though he hasn’t figured out how to get back down yet. He loves taking baths, going for walks, and flipping though his baby animals book. Tuco hates getting his diaper changed, not being allowed to eat my cell phone, and people all up in his mug without him initiating the interaction. He’s also perfected a light shriek that he couples with a facial expression of displeasure to warn me when I am treading on thin ice and he is about to go ape sh*t.

This kid has changed so much since he was born, and it hasn’t even been a year yet.  Can’t wait to see what else is next. If he could find a way to give his mom a proper hug soon, I would be ever so happy.

Here’s the part of the blog post you really want–pictures of Tuco:

Baby in a Bath

I’ve been light on the blog entries because things have been busy, and Tuco has been good.  I just haven’t been able to come up with much that was blog worthy, but instead of letting this blog die like every other writing project I’ve ever started, I’ll keep it alive and post some pictures until the writer’s block clears. I know this is a lazy approach, but pictures of Tuco is more fun than a bunch of written malarkey, right?

Anyway, today’s pictures are from Tuco’s first bath in the bathtub without his baby bath. In other words, Tuco is sitting up in the bathtub by himself. He’s been sitting up in his baby bathtub for a while, but tonight was the first time he took a bath without it. This is a big deal. I mean, where once there was no room for a rubber ducky to float by, now there is a vast expanse (from Tuco’s perspective). He loved it.

Coolest Gift Ever

I have to give props to the greatest friend in the world for giving me the greatest gift for Christmas.  I’m a sucker for all things Tuco, especially cool-looking artsy gifts that I can hang in my home and enjoy every day. She said she got it from someone on Etsy. I give you the Blue Tuco:

And to get a better look at it close up:

I love the look on his face, the look of his striped t-shirt, and the fact that it says “Tuco” on it instead of his real name. It almost feels like it’s poster for a band called Tuco whose show I might have gone to when I was cool and 23 years old.

My friend is not the only one who knew that a gift with Tuco’s face on it would be instantly loved. I had personalized M&Ms made with Tuco’s face on them for his grandparents for Christmas.  They were well received by Tuco’s Grandpa, Grandma, and Oma. I have a feeling these M&Ms won’t be eaten for a while.