Southerners in SoCal: Life of Wilder: Week Forty

Wilder's representing for our MS State

Bulldogs this week! Hail State!

It's an exciting day in our house today!

Can you see why? I finally found a way

to get Wilder to cooperate with these weekly

pictures! He's sitting still, he's smiling... I

think I'll officially call the strapped-into-the-

highchair method a success. We're both

pleased as punch, can't you tell... :)

It's been another busy week around here, but not quite as busy as last week, and I'm happy to report that most of the busy-ness has been spent attending to the business of getting back on our schedule. It only took a day or two to get thrown off of it but it sure took a week to get back on it. I've had to very intentionally plan our days to make sure Wilder definitely gets his morning and noon naps and each day his (and, therefore, my) sleep has improved.

One good thing that came of getting off schedule though is that I will never again take his schedule/great sleeping habits for granted. I definitely learned my lesson -- never again shall I allow myself to be tempted by activities, no matter how fun, that are to be held during a regular naptime. Nay, henceforth I shall remind myself, "Self, remember Week 39? Remember when, at 9 months old, Wilder slept worse than a newborn? That's right, step away from the sign-up sheet." We've still had to deal with a little teething fussiness and his new affinity for standing up in the crib (but not laying himself back down) and also increased sensitivity in general. Did you know that crying peaks at 9 months? So yeah, that's happening in our house right now. But my increase in sleep has definitely left me more equipped to deal with Mr. Fusspot so overall it's been a good week and much better than last week.

Wilder is busier than ever and our playtimes now consist mainly of us following him around the house as he explores. I love seeing him exercise his curiosity and discover new things... even if it can get a bit messy at times.

He shut himself in the dogs' room and

then got all mad about it haha

He loves spinning the wheels on his stroller.

He also loves to laugh at me or give me this

look when I tell him "No." I think we're in trouble.

The bouncer seat isn't obsolete,

it's just been repurposed

(Gah, he used to look so tiny

sitting in that thing!)

Finding new things to pull himself

up on. (Don't worry, it's sturdy, Grana!)

I also love seeing him interact with the dogs. They're his best buddies and are so tolerant of his pulling, prodding, and climbing, maybe because they know he's the only one in the house who will give them people-food.

I was a little out of it last week and forgot to give you the rundown on Wilder at 9 months so here goes... The little guy's emotions are just running wild lately. He's been more sensitive, but he's also been getting more excited about stuff too. He has started bouncing up and down on my hip if I'm holding him when he sees something or someone that tickles his fancy. He loves chasing things across the floor -- balls, things with wheels, the dogs. He loves peekaboo and will hide his face behind a curtain, a door, or a piece of clothing and peek out when I say, "Where's Wilder?" He babbles all the time. I love riding in the car with him and listening to him in the backseat talking to himself or to the dogs if we're headed to the park. He says dada, baba (for mama), dog/doggie, ah-gee (meaning I get it, when he's going after something), ba (for ball), a drawn out Ppp sound for Posey, and a thousand other sounds that I've yet to interpret.

He can clap and high-five on command and loves to crawl after something when we tell him to Go get it! He knows to look up in the sky when he hears an airplane. He's obsessed with throwing things and loves for me to hand him something and say Throw it! He's starting to give me hugs when I pick him up, which is so sweet. Also, a lot of times when I pick him up he kicks his legs out very enthusiastically like he's swimming up to me. It cracks me up. He can pull up to standing, cruise along a piece of furniture pretty well, and get onto all fours but still prefers army crawling. He has 3 teeth (two on bottom and one on top) and has another one coming in on top. He makes us laugh constantly and it makes us so unbelievably happy to make him laugh. When he laughs or smiles really big, he turns his tongue over on its side. I love when he does that :)

He loves food, except he's burnt out on bananas right now and still hates avocados. Everything else I put in front of him though gets scarfed down. He eats oatmeal mixed with pureed fruit for breakfast, all finger foods for lunch that he feeds himself, and fruit and veggie finger foods plus either a jar of chunky meat baby food or a soft-cooked piece of fish for dinner. So we're down to 1-2 jars of baby food a day, which I love. He's still breastfeeding about five times a day. He goes to bed around 7:30 every night, wakes up about 5:30 AM to eat, but then goes back to sleep until 8:00 or 9:00 so I really can't complain. If I didn't wake up then to feed him he'd be waking up for the day at like 6:00 or 6:30 so I'd much rather just go ahead and get up for a few minutes to feed him and have him go back to sleep for a few more hours. It's so crazy that he was in my belly for 9 months and now he's been out of my belly for 9 months. Even though I loved being pregnant, I much prefer him on the outside. He's so much fun and I look forward to every day that I get to see him continue to develop and learn.

On Monday we had a playdate with Ashley and Lorelai at their house. It was so cute to see the babies play together. I definitely need to work with Wilder on sharing though -- I gave him a Mum-Mum and then gave Lorelai the other one from the package and before she could even take a bite Wilder grabbed hers and ate it while still holding his in the other hand. You don't mess with the boy's food, apparently -- the little piglet!

Tuesday we went to our last swim class. Wilder has done so well and I think the classes have helped him a lot. They've definitely helped me know better how to teach him too. At this class the little kids learned how to get in and out of the water. I thought this would be something Wilder wouldn't be able to do yet but I was surprised. With just a little push, he would climb his little booty up over the side and out of the pool! The instructor also told me that he's the only baby his age that she's seen who will use his arms and legs at the same time. Apparently they usually only do one or the other but he seems to have the right technique down. I'm so proud of my little fishy :)

Watching the kids from another swim class.

He loves watching people, especially

other little kids.

Yesterday was a big day in the Taylor house. Our beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs had their first football game of the season (Go Dawgs!) and the Chargers had their first preseason game, which we had gotten Paul tickets for for Father's Day. Of course, we had to get Wilder all decked out in his maroon and white for a little photo shoot that afternoon. He was a little grumpy so he wasn't totally feeling the whole modeling thing but we managed to get a couple of cute ones.

That's a football on his butt,

in case you were wondering

He loves to ring his cowbell just like

a good little Bulldog :)

Then it was time to switch gears and get ready to head to our first Chargers game and Wilder's first ever football game. We were soooo excited! Wilder was still a little grumpy so I was worried about how he would do at the game, especially since kickoff was right around his usual bedtime. (OK, I promise I did learn my lesson from last week but we had had this game planned for months so we definitely had to go. Luckily having his bedtime pushed back a couple of hours didn't affect him nearly as much as missing a nap. And, for some reason, even when he's fussy at home he usually perks up when we take him in public. I love that about him.) We took some pictures of Wilder in his Chargers jersey...

... and then headed off to join the thousands of other fans trying to get to the stadium. The traffic was horrible, of course, so getting to the game was a little bit of a nightmare, especially since right as we were about to turn into the parking lot and were stuck in a line of cars with nowhere to turn around, Paul realized that he left his wallet with all the cash in it at home. Parking was cash-only so we both started freaking out a little bit. I even resorted to getting out of the car and asking the people in the car in front of us if they would cash a check for me. My mom died laughing when I told her this and, OK, I'm sure I looked like a total crazy person but we were desperate, people! We had been in traffic for like 30 minutes trying to get there and the game was minutes away from starting and we thought they were going to turn us away to go find an ATM and then have to get in all that traffic again trying to come back!

But, when we got to the parking attendant he just took our license plate number and gave us a ticket that we could pay online later. Who knew? So it all worked out and the mini freakout and stranger solicitation was totally unnecessary. We made it to our seats just a few minutes after kickoff and, y'all, I have to do a little bragging on myself for a minute -- I got us awesome seats for super cheap! I used GoTickets.com and got us seats 16 rows from the field in the endzone for $40! That's ca-ra-zayy and awesome! Yay, go me! :)

Anyway, like I said, we were kind of worried about how Wilder would do at the game, it being past his bedtime and kind of loud and all. But he was in heaven having all those different people to watch. He was especially fascinated when they jumped up and cheered. I can say with absolute certainty that he had a blast. We all did. We even saw the Chargers make an interception right in our corner of the endzone. It was such a fun thing to do together and a fun memory to make.

We got Wilder some Baby Banz earmuffs to protect his ears from the noise but he wouldn't keep them on for long. Luckily the section we were in was about half Chargers fans and half 49ers fans so they were never all cheering at once and it never got super loud.

Fascinated by all those people

Our view... not too shabby eh? :)

The littlest Chargers fan

Heading home

Sleepy boy

So, funny story... The other day we were walking at the dog park with Ashley and Lorelai. The park has an area fenced off where they're trying to grow grass. It was a really hot day that day and when the sprinklers in the fenced section came on this dog ran under the fence and starting sprinting around through all the cool water. I mean, he was dashing around to each sprinkler sticking his face in it and having the time of his life. He looked so joyful and everyone else just stood there watching him wishing they could do the same thing. It reminded me why I love dogs so much -- they are so pure and happy-go-lucky. Thinking about that dog will always make me smile :)

Also, we want to wish my brother, Wilder's Uncle William, a super birthday this weekend! Wilder absolutely adores William and can't wait to come to TN and play with him again soon! We love you, William!

Alright guys, I hope everyone has an awesome Labor Day weekend! We're going to try to spend ours on the beach :) Here are a few more cute pictures from this week...

Eating dinner with the 'rents at Corner

Bakery after a trip to the Y

(and, yes, I sanitized that table before

I put his food on it!)