Nearly 10 months and walking

Well technically he started walking about a month ago. February 6th to be exact, one day before his 9 month birthday. It was Super Bowl Sunday, and while he had taken steps before, he had never just taken off. Things changed that day! He spent most of the evening walking around with his daddy's cell phone in his hand or guiding me by one finger (my one finger) around my in law's house.

Henry walking that day

This is a link to a video taken that day. He is growing up so fast. I never in a million years imagined that my son would be walking at 9 months. I remember when he was about 3 months old, we were at the mall with our moms group. We met a little girl there at the play area who had started walking at 10 months. I was astonished. I'd never heard of babies walking so early! Then Henry goes and beats that by a month.

I have been trying to make mental notes of everything I needed to blog about. First off, he started clapping around 7 months. He now does it all the time. He took his first steps at 8.5 months old. I started crying when he did. I knew he was probably close because he was doing a LOT of cruising around the furniture. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, let out a HUGE gasp, and Jason turned around from in the kitchen thinking something was wrong. Henry stopped, looked at me, and took another 4 steps or so. Jason got to see those steps! I am so proud of my little dude!

He was walking the day he turned 9 months old at his doctor's appointment. The doctor said since he was pointing (something else he started a week or so prior to the appt.), clapping, and walking, he was advanced in both his gross and fine motor skills. He weighted 20 lbs 5 oz (50%) and was 30 inches long (90%). So he's tall and skinny. Which we know because none of his shorts fit him properly.

We also got our first sign out of Henry this last week. We've been signing milk, eat, hungry, cat and more for awhile. He's sorta done the sign for milk, but the other day he signed ball! He even started saying what sounded like ball. Such a boy! It has motivated me to continue using the signs in hopes he starts using more back with us soon. We've also started using mom and dad as well as dog.

I feel like such a braggy mom saying all these things, but I think I have a right to be proud of my son just like any other parent. I don't think any of these things make him brighter than other kids, he's just developing at his own pace. A year from now, they'll all be on the same page and it won't matter anyway.

Well better get going, he'll be up from his nap soon!

Week 29, Snow, School, Stress, and some other S words

S words....that reminds me of a Celebrity Jeopardy episode from SNL. I'll take Swords for $200 Alex. That's S Words, oh nevermind.

Well I've reached week 29. Sleep (ah ha, another s word!) has been very hit or miss. As I type this, it is 10:30am. I never went to sleep last night. I tried, believe me I did. It just never came. I cannot lay in bed awake too long. I start thinking about all of my stressors and it just worries me even more, making matters worse.

School has been totally kicking my butt lately. I'm taking two courses this semester, and while one of them is cake, the other one is a mess. I have to create a course, beginning to end, on a topic of my choice. I do love my topic though - Baby Sign Language. Jason and I are completely on board for teaching Henry to sign. I took over 3 years of sign language while in high school and college, and it is amazing how much of it I still know. This book has been our favorite and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in teaching their baby to sign. The benefits of baby sign language are countless. I could spend an entire post on just that. But I won't!

So, the snow. Yesterday we received the largest amount of snow that Texas has seen in one day in recorded history. It's completely insane how much we got. The DFW airport reported 12.5 inches. I know to my MD/VA friends, this is nothing. But for here, it is completely unprecedented. While it is a bit frustrating being stuck at home (we cannot make it out of the neighborhood in our Civic, well ok, I don't want to try), it is also absolutely beautiful outside. It's been a lot of fun walking around in it with Jason. He's been very reminiscent of his childhood up in Washington. They spent a lot of time skiing. Me, personally, I've never seen more snow than this and of course have never been skiing. Absolutely beautiful! Especially since Jason and Mike (my father in law) were able to dry out the satellite. I MUST be able to watch the Olympics tonight. Opening ceremony! SQUEEEE!!!! (another s word!)

One week from tomorrow is my shower (oh my, there's another one!). Can't wait. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family that cares so much about me to throw this for me. My grandmother has really outdone herself. I think she's just as excited about Henry as we are. From the way she acts, possibly even more so!

Ok, that's enough S Words for one day.