Six Years Ten Months Old

 This Spiderman is one outstanding super hero!  At any given moment you might see him run through the house or fight off some nasty pirates with his sword to protect his baby brother.  He's been the lead guard lately who defends his mom.  Sometimes he puts on his Batman pajamas and Batman underwear; this way he can be a super hero through and through.  Rocco is all about adventure and imagination.  When bad guys are all around, Rocco is there to protect!

 He's convinced that he is going to be the next quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs.  Then, again he may just be a receiver. H'e so good he can play offense or defense.  Any position.  You name it.

In the way of television, Rocco has really started to like the Disney sitcoms.  He watches Jessie, Dog With a Blog, Austin and Ally, and Good Luck Charlie.

Rocco is not just an excellent speller, but he is a tremendous writer.  He's working on a book at home titled "Wild Cats."  He would watch National Geographic videos online, listen to me read a book about wild cats, and then add to his book.   He even wrote on his pages on his day off from school.  When he's at school, he gets to attend a special extra class where he is learning about poetry and publishing books.

On January 6th, Rocco was baptized.  This was a special event for so many reasons.

First of all, Rocco accepted Jesus as his Savior back in December.  Once he acted on his faith and prayed to Jesus for forgiveness of his sins, he wanted to get baptized to show others that he belonged to Christ.  Rocco was one of 10 who was baptized on this day.  Since Jason is the pastor where we attend church, Rocco was baptized by his daddy!

The ten individuals were the first to be submersed in the baptism pool in our brand new sanctuary.  On this special day, we dedicated our building to the Lord, baptized 10 people, and dedicated 13 children (Maverick was one of them). Here's our family portrait that was taken that day.

Rocco is a deep thinker.  One day he asked me if he would be a kid in heaven and if time passed in heaven. Would he get older?

The other day he cracked me up with something he said.  Out of the blue in the car he said, "Mom, I'm glad I wasn't born in 1978 because I don't want to be in those wars back then."  In his mind 1978 is forever ago, and I guess when he thinks of ancient wars 1978 is as good of a date as 1800.  I laughed and told him that I was two years old in 1978. It wasn't that long ago!

10 Months Old

At ten months old, Maverick is above the 97th percentile for his height. He measured over 31 inches long, and his head circumference is 49 cm.  He is a big boy, but he is lean for his height.  His weight is slightly less than 23 pounds.  He continues to nurse and eat stage 2 Gerber fruits and vegetables.  His favorite seems to be the rice cereal that we mix with breast milk.  He tried chicken noodle soup broth and really liked it.  Gerber Puffs are a new treat that he's experienced recently.  They're small enough for his little fingers and soft enough for his new teeth and gums to chew.  This month we also introduced Gerber baby cookies.  He turns them into pure mush between his fingers and it just drools out of his mouth.  Rocco has informed me that he can't watch his brother when he does this because it is just too gross.  I think it's rather sweet.

And just look at those 2 teeth.  They're shining through really well, and we predict new ones will be coming in soon.

He cruises really well now when he is holding onto the couch.  And he's standing for longer lengths of thime without holding on.  He will slowly squat back down without just falling over all the time when we let go of his hands.

Maverick loves to be read to, especially when I sing the book to him.  At the sound of any music or rhythm he will start bouncing.  The other day David began playing the guitar at our church.  Maverick was bouncing to the beat.  That baby's got rhythm.  I keep saying that he's going to be my drummer.  He's really good at patting, and he loves his toy drum.

What a sweet mess our boy can get into!  His new thing is seeing how many Kleenex tissues he can pull out of the box before we come running with, "No, Maverick."

Throughout the day he just jabbers away.  He will go down the roll call.  Mama, dada, nana, baba...He can say, "Bye."  He knows ball and can say it, too.  He doesn't wave as much as he used to .  We are currently working on blowing kisses.  He's not there yet.

He knows how to use a brush now.  It's cute watching him try to fix his hair.

One thing Maverick loves is the large canvas portrait of himself that hangs above his changing.  "Where's the baby?" I'll ask him.  He is a squirmy worm when we change him.  He will roll over, get up, and try to grab his picture.  I'll point out his mouth, eyes, and nose on the canvas.  Then, I'll go for Maverick's belly and tickle him.  He loves it.  Peek-a-Boo is still another one of his favorites, too.  He will also play pat-a-cake with his hands open now instead of closed.  Of course we are holding his hands to help h im.

I'm still so blessed to be working just part time at the school.  I only teach Tues and Thurs from 8 - 3:30 and Fri 8 - 11:30.  This allows me to be at home with Maverick. Nana and Granddaddy watch him on Tuesday and Thursday.  They have to put up barricades in the living room just to contain him.  Jason watches him Friday morning.

And he's ten months now but this was his first time he ever slept in his crib. Nana laid him down for a two hour nap while I was gone one day.  When she told me he was in his bed I couldn't believe it.  I told her to take a picture, and she did.  Just look at that sweet little miracle.