Many things are learned by trial and error (mostly error). This week, all of us have learned what constitutes a good nap regimen for you and what constitutes a bad nap regimen. A good nap regimen is a short cat nap mid morning (on the way to a play session at the mall or church), followed by a 2-3 hour nap starting sometime between 1 and 2 pm. This means you are tired by 8 pm and fall asleep with little fuss between finishing your bottle and 9 pm.

The last several days have been bad nap regimens. For example, you sleep for 45 minutes starting at noon. Then you are awake the whole afternoon until you have a melt down around dinner time and have no choice but to sleep. This dinner nap stretches for 1-1.5 hours (even if Mommy and Daddy try to wake you up), then you are still wide awake at 9:30 pm and wonder why Mommy and Daddy look grouchy.

Sleeping by yourself must be scary, especially if you can’t see Mommy or Daddy when you open your eyes. The last few nights, you have woken up and decided you didn’t want to go back to sleep until you had company. (Company = Mommy rubbing my back or standing by my crib.) Last night, something must have kept waking you up because you and Mommy had some quantity time (quality time would = sleeping) together from 3-5 am.

Now if only we can figure out how to make the sight of the dog as comforting…cause her bed is right next to your crib.

A couple weeks ago, we put away most of your 9 month clothes and dug out your 12 month clothes. Some of these new clothes fit, while most were too big around and were a little baggy lengthwise. Now, none of them are too big lengthwise. We fear that you will be 12 months old and all of your onesies will be too short. We have bigger clothes, just no bigger onesies.

Daddy’s new nickname for you is Stretch Alonzo since you seem to growing taller at an amazing rate. Things you can reach while standing  are also multiplying, making Mommy and Daddy think about more high shelves in our future.

Daddy noticed something peculiar when you are feeding yourself finger foods. When we are out, very little food ends up on the floor unless you are full and just want to play. At home, more food goes to the floor well before you are full and often with you looking right at us when you drop it. Daddy’s hypothesis: you know the dog will likely get what you drop and you want to have the dog nearer to you to watch, ergo, you are willing to sacrifice some of your bits for a good cause.

New parental decree: the dog stays on her bed until meal time is over.

The results: TBD

A sure sign that toddling is just around the corner: you want to stand and walk whenever possible. If you are on the ground, this desire results in you crawling over to the nearest set of big legs, standing up holding on to said legs, and waiting… until that someone picks you up or (better) offers you a finger of each hand to grab on to and walk around. This walking sometimes had a direction (at home, this is towards the kitchen or the dog’s bed–two places you are not allowed). Most times, you are content to walk in circles or figure 8s. There are two limits to the distance you can go: the back strength of your assistant or the presence of something you want to play with that requires sitting down.

Note: you do not seem to enjoy walking on grass yet.

Mommy had to go on another road trip, this time to Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She was looking forward to some relaxing alone time in the evening and a long night’s sleep….only to find out that it was too quiet to sleep: no traffic noise, no window unit air conditioner, no baby monitor static. On top of that, no bath time followed by story followed by bottle. I guess Mommy needs your bedtime routine just as much as you do.

Time to put away the 6-9 month clothes and bring out the 9-12 month clothes. As usual, there is still plenty of room side-to-side, but not enough top-to-bottom. Some of the new clothes we did not get to on time; they are already too small. This is especially a problem for sleepers as your feet seem to be the first thing to grow in each round. Mommy and Daddy are finding it hard to believe that these clothes could fit you. When we got them for your baby shower we were sure you would take forever to get that big. Then you grab on to things that you’re not supposed to be able to reach and we believe you.