2 more months!

i am now 10 months old! yep, just two months shy from my 1st birthday! i don't feel the party planning pressure from my parents yet. boise isn't a busy city ya know. plus the party isn't going be something really grande. well, maybe next month (they're both known to be good procrastinators anyway, teehee).

this afternoon, we went to our subdivision park so that i could try the slide and then do a little bit of a photo shoot in the park. here are few of 'em shots:


and and here's a video of me almost falling out of the slide

dad prepared one of my favorites -- pancit bihon!-- just for today and of course it wouldn't be complete without my monthly cake (with my favorite fruit for it's icing design) topped with 10 little candles.



before the day ended, we took a few more snaps on our lone red swivel chair (sofa in the living room is gone. my folks were able to sell it during our garage sale. it's due to be upgraded soon anyway).


the rest of my 10th month bday pics are here

now, let's all visit babycenter's 10-month old milestones first and see how i par.

i definitely have mastered all 3 from the all-kids-can-do list: waving goodbye; picking things up with pincer grasp; and crawling well, with belly off the ground. and i'll take bets on any race since i crawl really fast now! see?!

on the emerging skills i do say "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent. not very often though since i don't normally call them that. i use some gestures to indicate my wants and needs and also to tell mom or dad or anyone that i disapprove of some things. most often though, i would just cry or shout.

i've done one out of two on the advanced skills. that of standing alone for seconds. i can get myself up without any support and balance by myself. and i can actually do this a lot longer now. a video here to see what i mean.. putting object into a container is a skill i have yet to be taught though. i always make a mess by getting everything out of hampers, bags, boxes, cabinets and shelves, but i couldn't tidy up by putting them back in, heehee. wanna see how?

other 10 month updates:

-- i now weigh 20.4lbs (if only i were a year old, i would've been allowed to use a front-facing carseat) and 28.5inches long

-- i have 4 teeth now! 2 on top and 2 below. brushing seriously!

-- i tried walking by myself! i did 2 steps and dived on the 3rd =). i keep on attempting to perfect this skill by myself so you'd often see me diving down my mat. mom had no luck capturing this on cam yet. teehee. my parents had been making my play area free from sharp and hard obstructions to make walking safer for me.

-- i use almost anything to help me cruise and walk. be it a pair of hands, the furniture, the sofa, my fence, the kitchen cabinets, and yep, even the rolling fruit basket. that's why my mom calls me a "pusher". i push everything from hampers, to my toys, to anything! here i am walking careof dad, walking using the fence, and pushing the hamper and my toy.

-- i am becoming more and more of a helluva talkative baby! of course, none of the words can be understood by anyone but i am composing "sentences" now, "paragraphs" or "stories" if you would. specially when i'm fighting off sleep, i would talk and "sing" to myself as loudly as i could. again, yet to be captured on cam.

-- i've tried "swimming" for the first time this month. i am preparing for the swimming class on the big pool come july ya know.

-- i still eat a lot. my favorites so far include fruits like watermelon, melon and banana. and lately i am loving it when there's chicken on my food =). arrowroot biscuits are getting to be my fave on-the-go snack, specially now that it's summer when we're always out, basking under the sun. here i am taking big bites from this banana. unfortunately for my parents, my board books are included in my favorites. teehee.


-- and i am doing quite a number of cool tricks and collecting lots of funny antics and "gaya,gaya,puto,maya" moments now:

1. i now know how to do the "mano po"

2. i can do the high five but i would sometimes confuse it with "mano po"

3. i give dad and mom kisses. but i've been doing this eversince.

4. i wave hi and bye for real.

5. i know how to drive away "strangers". if someone else wants to carry me besides my mom or dad, i can twist my body and shield one arm from them which directly tells them that i don't know you. heehee

6. when my parents would say "asus, asus", i would fake "coughing". there's also a forceful grunt that i would do that would really make my face all red. heehee. and i'm proud to say that i just learned to do this by myself. =). if you can't picture it, just watch this video.

here's another one

7. i raspberry in disapproval

8. when you say no, i would move my head from side to side, as if i am agreeing to disagree with you. but expect a #7 at the end =)

9. i blurt contagious laughter and giggles out

10. i dance, wiggle, sway and stomp my feet to the music. becomings of a good dancer eh?! video links here and here.

11. i clap whenever you say "clap" or "good job". video of my "keyboard recital" here with clapping at the end.

i have lotsa tricks rolled up my sleeves and they sure are making my folks laugh their heads off. if they could only capture all of my antics, my mom would be really happy. heehee. i'll update you with more of these next month, meanwhile enjoy my month 9 to 10 pictures!

the first steps

'the first "two" steps' is more apt i think. and yes indeed, just two.

this afternoon, i just started to get bored cruising and crawling and thought that it would get me faster to that toy, that was about two feet away from me, if i'd walk by myself. and walk, i did! i took two heedless and unmeasured but brave steps, little ones but really fast, that made me dive on my third step.

did it hurt?! nah! i even tried to do it again. and i still fell, face down, on the third step. this won't stop me though from doing it again and again until i perfect the skill. i get a lot of encouragement from my parents too so i know i can do it, someday. my parents will surely be happy once i start walking on my own!

let's go "swimming"

... and when i say "swimming", i mean dipping and wading in water =)

it was my first time to "swim" on my baby-small inflatable pool today. it was just too hot outside that my mom thought that it would be a great idea for me to dip in my pool. i had this pool for about a month now but it was only today that it was finally inflated and put into use.

they actually bought this together with other swimming stuff for me (read: swim suits, sunblock, salbabida, etc) as soon as they found out that YMCA offers parent-and-baby swimming lessons. the class is more of a parent-baby bonding/nurturing class rather than the "real" swimming lessons. so my mom's all the more excited that she had ourselves immediately enrolled for the july class which starts monday after labor day.

more pics here and a bonus video here =)
so how was my first time "swimming"? i initially didn't like it. i was almost crying and wanted my dad to carry me back. well, it was a whole new experience for me, ya know! but as soon as i learned how to wade and play with my water toys, i got the hang of it and enjoyed myself. we'll see how i'll do once we're in the real big pool. mom's crossing her fingers this early, heehee.

happy dad's day

it's my daddy's day today! so after celebrating at the holy mass today, we headed straight to sizzler's for father's day lunch. and oh man, i ate a lot. and i mean a lot!


as soon as we got home, dad opened our gift for him. mom helped me make this photo book for my dad. she even got worried that it wouldn't be delivered on time. but alas, the package was waiting on our doorstep last friday.


if you want to see the photo book pages, you can do so online. they are at my mom's multiply page. you can also view all of our daddy's day snaps at our flickr album.

happy father's day to the best daddy in the world! here's a little something more that mom and i made specially for you! we love you soooo much!!!

ps. happy father's day to my lolo dadi and lolo tatay too!

tooth #4

my upper tooth is beginning to have some company! :)

so here i am, seriously brushing my teeth ;)

high five!

my dad taught me how to do the "high five" (or the "apir" for some of you) yesterday and i was able to learn it in a jiffy!

i still confuse it with "bless" though that i would sometimes move my head forward to touch my dad or mom's hands. haha. ah well, it's yet to be perfected. soon my friends, soon.

wavin hi and bye

my parents had been teaching me to wave to my mom when she goes to work and to wave "hello" to anyone, for probably more than a month now. i try to do it but they don't know that that was a wave, haha.

they finally found out that i can actually do it last june 4. when we were saying our goodbyes to some of our filipino friends during one dinner gathering, i did wave! it was only recently though that i was able to perfect the skill. i wouldn't fail to wave whenever my parents would say, "hi" or "bye" while waving, or say "wave" or whenever they would ask me "paano mag-wave?", or when they would wave and tell me "o ikaw naman". then, they would always reward me with a "good job" cheer and then i would clap my hands to commend myself.

very often though, i wouldn't do it in front of anyone aside from my parents. shy type eh? but if you catch me doing it, you'd also see the bonus claps and the sweetest smiles!

mano po

pagmamano, is a Filipino tradition that my parents would definitely not fail to teach me. last night, mom was just trying to see what i would do if she places her hand near my forehead and says "bless". at an instant, i moved my head forward until my it touches the back of my mom's hand! it's as if i really know how to do the "mano po". that's what i do everytime she or dad does that. pwedeng pwede na raw ako mamasko! :).

i have yet to learn how to get one's hand while i "bless" though. but i'm pretty sure that in time for our planned vacation in pinas come Christmas time, i have already mastered this Filipino tradition to show respect for the elderly :)

i am joel and i am 9 months old!

i turned 9 months old last saturday. and of course it wouldn't pass without our family celebration and food. that saturday, dad prepared a special paella with lobster and they bought me a boston cream cake topped with 9 lil candles, which i was able to partake with them, finally!


but before we feasted on our sumptuous dinner, we did some photo shoot like always. since it's almost summer, we had it in our backyard. here are some of the shots.

more pics here
then just before we called it a night, i helped my dad build a new toy - a push walker-slash-bike. as it claims, it would help me in developing my walking skills. but boy was it too fast i fell down quite a number of times. hence, my dad had to support the walker whilst i push it.



today is another story. this afternoon, we were scheduled for my 9th month well baby check up, so all three of us headed to st. alphonsus to see dr. womack. i enjoyed looking at the fishies from the aquarium at the waiting area until my name was called.


as usual, i wailed as soon as they laid me down on the weighing scale. i really hate that scale! from my vitals, i am at the 55th percentile for my weight (at 18.8lbs) and 50th for my height (at 28 inches). my head circumference is still at the 25th. not bad eh? moreover, based on the 8th month skills questionnaire that my parents filled up (when i was 8th months old of course) and dr. womack assessed, i scored way above normal, almost perfect actually. talk about an overachiever! haha. the only thing that made me happy on this check up though is that there were no shots at all! this is the only well baby check up without needles as per dr. womack. how neat was that?!

so how am i now that i am 9 months old? ... let's start with baby center's 9 month old milestones.

i scored 3 out of 3 for the mastered skills (and i have discussed those from past monthly updates so i won't bore you anymore with those details).

for the emerging skills: i do try to cruise while holding onto furniture or in my case, my fence (and yeah, the sofa). but most often, i'd crawl since i am a tad bit of a scaredy cat. coz you already know that i can crawl forward on all my fours now right? and since i do it faster now, i'd rather crawl :D. here's one video of how i crawl taken during the start of the month of may. compare it with this and this when i was playing "habulan" with my dad.

i do drink from a sippy cup. but often i'd just play with it. i prefer my strawed cup instead. yeah i play with that too, but at least i can drink water or juices from that better than the sippy cup. i also eat with my finger now. i still am a primadonna so i still want mom or dad to feed me, but i get cheered on everytime i do the pincer grasp and successfully put the food in my mouth. so expect me clapping everytime i get that food in my mouth, as in everytime! hahaha. and lastly i do bang objects together. normally when i am holding objects with both hands.

under the advanced skills we have playing patty-cake and peek-a-boo. and play, i do! i have preference over peek-a -boo though. and i'd do it with everything, my bib, my shirts, my toys. whatever's in front of me or i am holding i'd put it on top of my face, then off, while my mom or dad says peek-a-boo! and mom had no luck catching this on video since i'd stop playing whenever i'd see the camera on. hahaha. lastly, i say "ma-mei" and "dada" to the correct parent. i don't always call them that though.

more skills and developments? read further as i have listed down a few more ...

1. i now stand by myself and balance while standing without support. and i try to stay in that position for a long time. i don't mind falling actually, i have too much butt padding. thanks to my diaper!

2. i now have 3 teeth! finally, my upper tooth came out! my mom brushes my teeth, all 3 of them, seriously now.

3. i love walking while both my hands are being held by mom or dad.

4. i have tried to climb our stairs using all fours and was able to reach the end.

5. i have finally learned how to do the "close-open", but i still don't do it if i don't feel like it. talk about attitude!

6. i have started to develop some fears and have fallen into stranger anxiety a dozen times. i am one scaredy cat, a "duwakang"!

7. i dance better now. if you call this kind of dancing better. heehee.


8. i have become more and more expressive of my feelings. i am more "malambing" now, and much more bubbly and giggly. and at the completely opposite end, i have also become more "maldita" specially when i want something and couldn't get it. and if my parents say "NO", i would often shake my head in disapproval and rasperry after (a video of my raspberries). yeah, the makings of a bratinella! hehehe.

9. i eat more table food now, not only at home but also whenever we dine out (thank God, finally!). and oh my, they taste soooo gooood! i still eat mom's homemade baby food and the boxed and jarred stage 3 ones. i eat anything placed in my mouth anyway, heehee. i love anything chunky. i like to chew a lot. and i specially love being able to bite through big pieces of fresh fruits. and i also love snacking, now that i can feed myself finger foods (another video here).



still with me? if you are, then you're free to look through my pics over the course of one month! here are my month 8 to 9 pictures!

wow, i can't believe that i am only just 3 months away from becoming a toddler! weepee!