a couple other things

Geoffrey's been making this sound lately...like a hard /k/ sound in the back of his throat - like he's hockint a loogie - but he uses it whenever he "talks" to you.

"Hi Geoffrey"
"k-, k-" (with a smile)
"Do you want banana?"
"k- k-"

We call it his "sound of the week"

Another sound he likes is to hiss while smiling.

He also has been sticking his tongue out and moving it from side to side.

So cute!!!

Geoff has his 2nd Gymnastics class today. Last week went well. He liked the free play. The structured circle time was a little different for him, but he liked some of the activities - especially when he got to wear the bells and "dance" around!

Development - 10 - 11 months

Gross Motor/Movement: Geoffrey's been working on standing by himself. Throughout December, Geoffrey would be able to stand for short periods on his own. Typically he would pull himself up to standing on the couch and then find objects to hold on to - leaving him standing by himself for a few seconds before squatting down to a sitting position or holding on. Recently, he has stood up from sitting by using a squat (no hands) and standing for a few minutes.

He mostly gets around by crawling. He is quite quick. Sometimes he does what we call the "Pirate shuffle," where he crawls on one knee and one foot (half crawl half spider.) Another cute thing he does is sit and use his feet to spin around in a circle (like the old sit-and-spins, but on his own!)

He hasn't started walking, but we've seen him "shuffle" a few times while standing. he cruises everywhere easily. He can also take a few steps while you hold just one of his hands - but his balance is still pretty wobbly that way!

Fine Motor: Geoffrey is getting much better at self feeding. He is clapping more frequently ( a skill he learned in early December.) He can bang objects together, and has recently attempted to roll his cars on the ground. He can open and close doors on cupboards and on his play house, and open and close the playhouse window. He can't quite do the shape sorter yet, but he is starting to recognize the shapes and their matching holes.

Sleep - Sleep is somewhat of an issue. He only sleepd 9 - 10 hours at night, and takes about 2 45 minute naps. We think he needs more sleep, but we can't quite figure out what works for his naps. We're playing with this!

Food - He can eat all solids now except honey, egg whites, peanusts and shell fish. He does better some days then others. He loves wheat bread/toast, bananas, any kind of fruit, really, and, of course, cheerios.  He is proficient at drinking water out of his sippy cup. Some days he will eat a lot, other days, not so much.

One of his favorite ways of "testing the boundaries" right now is to drop his food on the floor. He will look right at you and drop his food to see how you will react. So we're trying to balance making meal time positive, and making sure he's eating enough, with teaching him that dropping food is not acceptable.

He really does have a little personality now. Overall he is very happy. But he does have a few impish things. When he's mad, he learned to throw "mini-attention-getting-tantrums" by falling backwards onto his back and crying. Unfortunately, this method didn't always work for him as he would keep his eye on you and not check if there was anything behind him, causing him to often fall uncomfortably on a toy or worse, banging his head on a hard floor. Now, he sort of eases into his preferred on-the-back tantrum position - while still keeping his eye on you, he reaches back with one hand and sort of slowly goes down on his side before rolling on his back - checking to be sure his comfortable before starting his fit. The advantage to this (besides not having to worry about him smacking his head) is that the added few moments sometimes gets him to forget why he was upset. Sometimes he'll lay there looking at you trying to decide what pissed him off in the first place - and sometimes you can distract him from getting upset at all. hee hee - so cute!!!

 

Geoffrey's First Christmas

2009  - Geoffrey's First Christmas

Christmas was so wonderful this year. Having Geoffrey in our family has added a whole new dimension to our celebrations!

We set up our Christmas tree one weekend when Andrew and Cori were visiting. We set it up in the Living Room, and only put ornaments on the top 2/3 of the tree. Geoff still spent lots of time trying to grab the lights!

Christmas week was wonderful. Geoffrey got to see so much family!!! Uncle Danny suprised Geoffrey with a present every day leading up to CHristmas. Geoffrey didn't really get opening presents, but we had fun helping him.

On December 22, we went to Nonna and Grandpa Gary's, where we opened presents with Uncle Blake. Geoffrey's big gift was his Red Flyer Wagon! He still didn't quite get the opening presents thing, but he LOVED any package that had a bow on it.  

On December 23, we went to Disneyland with Angie, Andrew, and Cori. We started at DCA and rode the carousel, California Screamin, the sun wheel, Monster's Inc, and Tower of Terror. Then we headed over to Disneyland and rose Pirates before watching Fantasmic! (Finally, the new dragon!) and the Believe in Holiday Magic firework show. We finished our evening riding Haunted Mansion Holiday!

On December 24th, we went to Aunt Heather and Uncle Ron's house. Nonna and Grandpa Gary were sick, so Uncle Blake came with us. Geoffrey got to meet Kipp, Kim, and Jeff. Geoffrey felt a little clingy - he spent some time holding close to Mommy. He warmed up after a while and loved looking out of the glass door at all of the dogs  in the back yard!

FOr dinner, we went over to Grandpa Bob and Grandma DeeDee's house. Geoffrey started of clingy again, but he did go in the new pool with Grandpa Bob for a few minutes for its inagural weekend. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dee Dee got Geoff his first remote control toy - a cute little alien!

Back home, Tammy and Dave came by to open their gifts from us and to skype with Mom and Bobby while they opened their gifts (x-box!!!). Aunt Tammy and Uncle Dave gave Geoffrey a really cool gift - the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Barn. We are so excited to put this together - it is a stand up barn facade with lots of activities on both sides. Geoffrey currently has a play table that he loves pulling himself up and playing with the activities - we think he will love the barn as a next step!!!

On Christmas Day, Geoff, Grant, and I flew to Michigan out of Ontario.  Geoffrey did really well on the flights. On the first leg of our flight, we were lucky to get a row of three to ourselves. On the 2nd leg, a very nice man made a couple of moves for us so we could each have our own row of two right across from each other. (The kind man ended up with his own row of two, as well, but it was still very nice of him. At one point, he offered to let Grant sit with him in a row of two so Geoff and I could have our own row - Very nice to offer to give up your own row!)

We got into Michigan and we were greeted by Grandpa Bobby, Grandma, and Aunt Michelle. Uncle Andy was out the house and we had another big Christmas! Geoffrey got the cutest talking bears - one from Aunt Michelle that goes with the barn Aunt Tammy got him, and one from Grandma and Grandpa that says his name!

The next day, we drove to Columbus to see Aunt Florine, Teri and Sasha. We got to visit for the evening before heading on down to Cincinnati. On SUnday, we visited with Geoffrey's Great Grandma Edith. The drive home was longer than anticipated due to lots of snow - and poor Grandma got really sick - the same thing Grandpa Gary and Nonna had! Grandpa Bobby and UNcle Andy got sick that night, too. The illness only lasted a day, but it was pretty intense!

We spent the rest of the week relaxing, playing, shopping, and enjoying each other. We spent New Year's Eve watching the Times Square and hanging out. Geoffrey made it to midnight and went to sleep right after!

We flew home on New Year's Day.We were lucky enough again to get rows to ourselves for both legs of the trip - the last leg, from Arizona to Burbank, had only one empty seat on it - luckily we got it!

When we got home, Uncle Danny had one more suprise for us! He said he had rewrapped Geoffrey's barn that Tammy got him so Geoff could have one more present to open. When we opened it, it wasn't really the barn - is the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Home! Uncle Danny had bought that for Geoffrey!!!!

Geoff sure is a lucky boy. And we are so fortunate to have him. My best Christmas gift was getting to be with my two favorite boys - Grant and Geoff, Uncle Danny, Belle, and getting to see all of our family!

Happy 2010!

so much to blog about

But I want to post this today so I have the date! Geoffrey's 5th tooth is here! his top tooth, 2nd on his left!

 

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(¸.·´ (¸.·´*Bobbi Jo*
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