Guinn Family: Is He IN or is He OUT

One show that I enjoy watching is "Project Runway." If you have never seen the show, it's basically a clothing designer challenge show that begins with a dozen designers. Each week they have a challenge and one person is kicked off. As the weeks pass, they have challenge after challenge which ends with 3-4 who get to compete at Fashion Week in New York City. Anyway, Heidi Klum, the host always has her catchphrase- "In fashion, one day your IN and the next day your OUT."

What I mean by this post title is that Baelor has officially been out of the womb longer than in the womb. Yikes! I can not keep up with this growing boy! I can keep up with his physical growth i.e. not growing out of clothes or diaper sizes quickly, but the months are passing by too fast for my lack of sit-down documentations of Baelor.

Since his last 8 month post he has really taken off! It was September 24 (close to 9 months old) when his bottom two teeth poked through. He didn't appear to have any fever or insane amounts of drool before they popped through, so it was quite unexpected. Reina was much later in getting her first teeth at nearly one year old. Baelor decided that very same Thursday evening when his first two teeth popped through, that he was going to begin his crawling adventures. It took a week or so to really strengthen his crawling from an army crawl (using mostly upper arm strength with no legs), to the more traditional style of crawling more widely used among his contemporaries. I've read that babies who crawl in the most traditional form end up being more coordinated.

October has been the month for him to really show us how much of a BIG BOY he is becoming. On 10/11/12, Little Guy advanced from crawling to standing (while holding onto something). Baelor will pretty much find anything to crawl up to and stand against, but his favorite is probably the stairs. Of course! He tries going past the first step but it always ends with a BONK and a little cry. Luckily there is carpet and his short stature doesn't create too much of a fall. We try to steer him away from dangers like bar stools, fireplaces, and anything metal or sharp to fall on, but that seems to be just the right height for practicing. I get worried that he is going to lose too many brain cells, but Paul reminds me that babies are made to be quite resilient.

Baelor Leevi has always been a quiet, patient, happy baby. He still is, but he is starting to show us a little more of his funny personality. He likes to blow raspberries and create as much spit as possible. If you blow back to him it just promotes further blowing and added juices. Something funny that Baelor has been doing lately is shying away and diverting his eyes if you look at him too long. How does he already understand that staring is rude? I remember Reina at about this age would squeeze her eyes shut as tight as possible to show her pleasure. Baelor is doing the same thing. He'll squeeze them shut really tight if he finds something humorous.

I have always said he is a quiet, patient baby. This is true...to some degree. He is beginning to take charge and show us who is boss- H.I.M. It's quite funny though. He doesn't necessarily cry when he wants to nurse or eat or get up from bed. He just let's out as big a noise as possible. It still makes us laugh. He can't just say, "Hey, I want this so give it to me." But we can tell it's implied. In some ways he just reminds me of a teenage boy...lounging, yelling, joking around, concentrating on electrical devices in his hands.

This guy loves to play! He understand humor, playfulness, silliness, joking around. Sometimes I just can't get enough of him so I attack him with hugs and loves and kisses and complete and utter attention. He eats it up- literally. I am actually a little worried that he is gonna become a biter. He bites everything...the bigger and harder the bite, the more he loves you. At least I know he loves my face, arm, neck, eyeball...
Everything goes in his mouth. I'm not used to this as Reina didn't eat garbage off the floor at any age. She seemd to know better than eating debris off the floor. So I am learning to pick up small pieces of carpet threads, crumbs, doll shoes and leaves.

He has been into squeeling. Some people might hear him and assume it is a cry or frustration, but he is just happy to be advancing. He is loving all the learning going on now that he is mobile. Hmmm...I guess that's how we feel about technology and our ability to do pretty much anything via mobile.

The night before he turned 10 months (November 1st), he crawled himself halfway up the stairs ALL BY HIMSELF. I suppose he would have completed the whole staircase, but my mommy instincts took over and grabbed him as soon as I saw the unsteady, backwards leaning action start to take effect. He now officially can crawl all the way up the stairs. Of course we try to "have his back" as he shows off his stair-crawling skills.

All of us have really enjoyed watching Baelor grow and learn. Sister Reina is excited to see him learn new things as well. She is excited to hear him say words like "Mama", "Dada" and "Baba" and especially that she can actually play with him and get responses back. She is so good with him. She has never tried to harm him ever, but is a protective, loving sister. Keep it up sweetie! We know we have been blessed with two happy, healthy, smart and sweet kids. Loves!