Happy 10 month birthday Matteo!!!!

Well it has been a challenging month for mothering!! and I can't believe he is already 10 months old...in a few weeks we will have been together for more days than he spent in the orphanage as he was about 5.5 months when met and then the G&R about 5 days later.......As Matteo celebrates 10 months today and the day began with him refusing his morning bottle!!...I think Matteo is growing up too fast for my liking....on his 9 month birthday we didn't celebrate because we were both sick and though I planned to, it just has been a challenging month in a number of ways...so hopefully today we will mark both the 9 and 10 month mark.

...Matteo has become much more active, taking risks, testing boundaries, banging, throwing, taking apart, chasing cats, grabbing, eating cat tails, being curious about so much, so wonderful to watch this side to his personality developing...he is not walking but crawls really fast, so has no need to walk...,....though I've tried to encourage him to stand on his own, he is not that interested........his playing is definitely different now, he can sit for a bit and tap two blocks together, but doesn't clap his hands together though loves it when I do....laughs when I cluck like a chicken...will have to get that on video....loves to laugh and be entertained...still loves textures and still puts most things in his mouth...challenge to make sure they're all appropriate...he is also much more independent with his food...wants to feed himself...is eating very well (minus the vomiting with the gag reflex), but again likes to have something that he can take, so toast in the morning, cut in tiny squares, in-between bites of oatmeal and apple...pasta at lunch between bites of broccoli and carrots etc...fruit, some fresh, some pureed still....I was eating an apple yesterday and he wanted to try to bite into it but was not so successful so accepted my giving him little bits. He watches what I eat and always wants me to give him some....not always possible...He sleeps through the night...usually asleep by 7 and I was giving him one last 4 oz bottle at 10:30-11 but he refused that one about a week or so ago, so he only gets a diaper change and then he's back to sleep until 6-6:30-7:00...but occasionally I need to go in and comfort him at night, some bad dreams.... a few pats on the back, some soothing words, a back rub and he's sound asleep. Sometimes in the night he wakes up and I can hear him playing with one of his toys that's attached to his crib...and then he puts himself back to sleep. He loves his crib and there are things that he has that can entertain him. The pillows in it are the ones I bought in Vietnam for his first crib at the hotel, so they have transferred nicely. So we are both getting enough sleep with is absolutely great and most of the time he is in a good mood when he wakes up....I'm not. I usually need my morning coffee to get me feeling a bit more awake.

...on the other side, we are still having trouble with his gag reflex....he gets bored very easily, and sometimes if I'm not watching too carefully he entertains himself with sticking his fingers in his mouth....I know part of this is that he is teething, and of course does not know to get himself a teething ring so I have to watch and hand him one if he is doing this.....he also I know puts his thumb in his mouth for a variety of reasons, sleepy, he's nervous, he's hungry, he's bored...very hard to figure out which one it is at times....the biggest challenge over the past week and a half has been his refusal to drink his formula or as much of his formula as he did before, I tried changing the nipples and that seemed to work for a bit, have tried serving the milk cold and will try hot, though he has always preferred it at room temperature.......now he is eating more dairy etc....so may not need the formula, but still very upsetting for me...not for him...he is very very stubborn at some things, he will purse his lips and turn his head and just refuse to have you get that bottle in his mouth....he also gets frustrated if he is not able to go where he wants, again for safety issues, he doesn't understand....but very determined to explore every inch of the house that he is able to......I think the hardest thing at the moment is that his drinking has changed...he drinks very little water (other than in his food) and very little juice...keep trying the sippy cups but have a little more success with regular cups.....so know he is getting less in liquids and this is what is troublesome....and yes has me worried...I am trying to stay calm about that but not so easy....so any advice from other moms out there will be appreciated!! Should I try a different formula??...put in a call to my doctor's office today only to discover they're on holidays until Monday, so will wait and see what the next few days hold!!..

....so that's where we're at at the 10 month mark...at his last vaccine about 2 weeks ago, Matteo weighed about 17 lbs and 4 oz...with clothes, so in November he was about 13.4 pounds, so has grown about a lb a month......and his height I believe was up about a cm?? though can't remember it...but is still steadily in the 5th percentile for weight and has jumped to the 10th percentile for height...I'll have to confirm the chart they're using to plot his growth on. He has his next vaccine in two weeks and then at the end of April we're back at CHEO for our second appt. at the International adoption clinic....we have had no phone calls so all the testing they did, the results will be discussed at the next appt. but they did tell me that if anything urgent showed up they would contact us....so no news is good news...

As a present for Matteo's 10 months we have signed up for 8 weeks of Kindermusik. Thanks B. for suggesting it. A new course for 0-18 months is beginning at a community centre very near here. Matteo loves music so thought it might be something he will enjoy though I am concerned that he is still very young for anything structured...but we'll give it a try...it begins on April 11.

So happy 10 month birthday my little boy!! I love you so much!!