I figure that since I know lots of mothers that maybe you all can help me out…
- I am getting bored with lame activities that I am playing with Kole lately, does anyone have any exciting things to do with a 10 mth old that will keep his attention?
- I am really getting frustruated that Kole only falls asleep on us for either nap or bedtime. We have tried the ‘let him cry’ approach and gone in every 5-10 min, soothe, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat but he never stops crying! I know I should have started this from the beginning but I suppose with him being my first that I just loved cuddling him to sleep. He goes to daycare in less than two months so I have to kick this habit soon!
- What are meal ideas that you have for a baby Kole’s age? He loves trying new things but I just am not sure what I can be feeding yet. I still give him cereal with baby food (as I love all the iron that he gets from it) and he loves eating fruit but can I start giving him bits of what we are eating for supper? Should I still wait on yogurt till he is one year? I know every child is different so that should make me feel better but at the same time that sometimes frusturates me!!
- Any suggestions on how to prepare your child for daycare? I know he will love it as he will be with other kids and playing all day but what can I do to help the daycare provider?
So when I was thinking about making this post I have a ton of really good questions but this is all I can come up with right now, sigh 
(This is going to be a long post, but I’ll answer all your questions as best I can from what we did/do!)
-Alexys 100% eats what we eat for all meals now. My goal was to have her eating off the table since 10 months and for the most part that’s been true (save for when we eat like sushi or something not really baby appropriate). Alexys has been having yogurt and cheese since she was 6 months old. If you don’t have any dairy allergies in your family, I would say go for it! If you do then I would hold off until a year. Alexys has also been drinking whole milk since she was 10 months old, too. I don’t know if you’re still BFing or if you’re formula feeding now, but he’s going to daycare you might want to start phasing in a sippy cup with whole milk here and there, as sometimes they have a hard time adjusting. The only meal Alexys eats different from us is breakfast – I usually just make her oatmeal (regular kind even) and cut up some fruit or make a piece of toast with peanut butter (same thing for allergies…hold off if you have them in the family). Anyways, Alexys fully feeds herself all her meals now, save for something messy with a spoon. She prefers it and she really stops when she’s full. She definitely has preferences. She even eats things like (homemade) hamburger helper, steak, whatever we’re having – makes life much easier!
-I have no daycare suggestions since we’re not there, except for the sippy cup thing vs. breast/bottle – I know a lot of moms who really struggled with this for not starting soon enough!
-Bedtime was/is our toughest part of parenting I think, so far. We started Alexys on somewhat of a “sleep training” at 9 months. I gave up on the 5 minutes, soothe thing. That failed. We did a mix of crying/soothing and a bottle. I suppose it’s just as bad, but we just give her a bottle and put her in bed at nap/bed time and she goes to sleep. At first, she did NOT and she screamed for hours and hours. Literally. We’d go in soothe, etc. As soon as we’d do that it would all start over. Terrible. So in the end we just leave her crying (with her bottle there). As long as it takes. If I don’t go in there it never took longer than an hour. As soon as I go in the whole process restarts. We started with bedtime, then naptime. Naptime was harder and took longer. Finally we did the middle of the night thing. That was the longest. I could tell from the way Alexys was crying whether or not she was just not wanting to go bed and was overtired, or if there was something wrong/scared, etc. We’ve had a couple blips, especially this week, but once we let her cry she sleeps through the night. We also eventually switched the formula at night to water – she doesn’t wake up for it very often anymore because of it.
-I struggle with this too. And I don’t have any good suggestions either, except it keeps getting easier and then they start to like to play on their own too. I’m interested to see the answers here, definitely.
Good luck
Hopefully you get other answers too – I wanna read them 
Hey,
Try giving Kole what you are eating, you know, as long as it is “baby friendly”. By 10 months I gave Sommer whatever she wanted and she has never been a fussy eater. Try yogurt, cottage cheese, little pieces of cheese, fruit, toast, WHATEVER! I know with my next one I will probably “hopefully” skip the baby food stage and introduce table food right away…. at least that’s my plan. Be brave and if he has a reaction to anything just hold off and try again later on. Sommer was “allergic” to yogurt when she was little – she would throw up every time – but now she is fine. I just kept trying and trying and eventually she was fine. I gave up the formula at 10 months and had Sommer homo milk instead… cheaper and easier!!!
For activities – HMMM…. SWIMMING! Sommer had a lot of fun in the water around 10 months and we still take her swimming at night sometimes. Ill let you know next time we go! Register Kole for swimming lessons this winter… there are ones offered in the evening so you & Conrad can go after work. (Check out the Lawson or the Sandra Schmirler for times, but they do fill up fast!) SALSA BABIES, see if there is a January class available before you head back to work, it’s pricey but fun/a REALLY good work out. 10 months is hard for activities – just wait till he is a year and you won’t have any problems
Sleeping – It is hard when you rock/nurse your baby to sleep. I remember having to train Sommer to fall asleep on her own. Having a solid bedtime routine REALLY worked for us. We did the same thing every night – bath, snuggle, bottle, and then put her to bed tired but NOT sleeping. It took probably 2 weeks of this for it to actually work for her. She did cry the first couple of times because she wasn’t exactly sure how to fall asleep on her own but now she is an amazing sleeper. I still do the same routine (no bottle – now it’s a snack) and I drop her in bed and walk out the door! Also, when she was Kole’s age we did give her a bottle in the crib for bedtime and naps… she stopped going down with a bottle around 16 months… but it really did help her learn to fall asleep and it was a comfort thing.
For preparing for daycare – yes, having the sippy cup transition is helpful! And having a daycare provider who will follow YOUR routine and not make their own is very helpful. If the bottle in the bed thing works make sure you let your provider know this is how you want it done… some people don’t like their kids having a bottle in the crib but if it works, it works! Bring the same thing to daycare every day or leave a special blanket there. Sommer brought her soother, teddy (of course), and we have left one of her favorite blankets at Tanya’s. I made sure it was one blanket that she had used often while at home the first year… it seemed to help with the transition.
I can’t believe how old Kole is now! Such a special boy – I love him!! If you need anything just ask
You’re a great Mom!
I don’t really have any advice, but Mark and Maria had trouble with the sleeping thing and bought a program off the internet called ‘sleep sense’ which has worked out great for them. I think going in every 5 minutes might keep them up – but, I haven’t actually reached that part of parenthood, so it’s not speaking from any experience. Good luck figuring it all out!
I have copies of the sleep sense program if you want a look!!!
I would love to take a look Kortney! Thanks so much! And thanks ladies for the support. I think a lot of it is on us for not wanting to put in the time and put him through stress but I find that we do that a lot as parents but in the end it will be better for them! We are home all weekend so I think we will begin then, I will keep you posted
Can’t wait to hear. I’ll dig through my stuff and find it. I didn’t use it, didn’t work for me…scratch that. Didn’t work for Alexys, LOL.
And Melissa, I’m really glad to hear that you put your baby down with a bottle and they sort of stopped on their own around 16 months. I was a little leery at first doing it since everywhere says no way, but I find the REASON they say no way is because falling asleep with pooled milk in their mouth is bad. My kid most definitely sucks the bottle dry, chucks it across the room, and then falls asleep – no pooling milk.
So this morning Kole woke up and it was 4:30 (so too early to wake up). We tried putting him back down and he ended up crying for an hour and still did not go to sleep. We did not go in b/c before it has proven unsuccesful. This is the second time that we have let him cry for that long and it does not seem to work. How long is too long to let him cry? He is not one of those babies who only cries for 10 min then falls asleep, he cries and cries until his voice turns hoarse!
Also, how did you start with the bottle in bed? Do you feed it to him and then the last little bit put him in his bed to drink? I feel like I should be doing this already but I think I have just been in a funk with the way I have been doing things and have just been to comfortable to think about changing it. I know already that Kole will cry as soon as we put him in there, with a bottle or not, so please pray for us to have lots of patience!!
I started the bottle in bed around 8 months, I think? And I gave Som the WHOLE bottle in bed (I know there are people reading this and rolling their eyes – get over it – it works! – and my child’s teeth are fine). We could put her all sunggly in her bed and walk out the door, and she was fine because she had her bottle to drink
Also, do you have a musical aquarium or something that plays soft music? This worked wonders for Sommer… if you don’t have one then go over to my house and get it out of the blue bin in Sommer’s closet (since I am not home and James will have NO idea where to look)…. this might help Kole. I think this distracts them and gives them something to look at while they are falling asleep. Seriously, go get it!
As for crying it out – Sommer never had a problem GOING to sleep, it was staying asleep. Up until she was 8 months old she would wake up at 5:30 and cry. I use to run in there and nurse her back to sleep and then when I stopped nursing at 9 months I would run in there with a bottle… so I had to quit that. So one day (on vacation) I just quit and she cried for like 2 hours. I was to tired to get out of bed and eventually after 2 hours she stopped. The next morning she cried for 1 hour. And the next morning she didnt cry at all – and hasn’t in over a year and a half!! I had to turn off the monitor so I didn’t feel bad but I knew she was safe, fine, just mad at me. I know it hurts your heart, it hurt mine, but it worked for us. I am stubborn!!
Just remember that Kole is going to be mad at whatever you do because he likes things the way they are
Be consistent and be stubborn!! Like people always say it took “a week of hell” but they always learn. You can do it! Turn off the monitor and watch a movie 
Sheena, it took 3 hours the first time for crying. I felt terrible like Melissa said, but I got into the shower (we’re just in 800 sq ft so no matter what I can hear her) and waited and waited and waited. She wasn’t an easy transitioner. It was more like 3 months of hell. She cried A LOT, LOL. And it’s not perfect and we’ve had our slipups but I just kept going.
It really does break your heart, but you can do it.
I leave a bottle of water in Alexys bed that she finds if she wakes up – she screams and screams (like this morning for example), but eventually found her water and went back to sleep after 30 minutes of crying. Like Melissa, I was just too tired to get out of bed.
And yep, we give the whole bottle in bed. I put her down, I give her the bottle, and she goes to sleep. She even puts her arms out now to get her bottle. There is never crying at bedtime (anymore…). At first she’d cry and scream, but eventually (2 or 3 hours) find her bottle and go to sleep. She’s not one of those 10 minute babies either. I was jealous of those ones. It just means they’re strong willed
To make you feel better – Sommer didn’t want to nap today, she wanted to nap “in Mommy’s bed”, and she cried/screamed bloody murder for 45 minutes!!! Eventually she found her soother & teddy and went to sleep (and 2 hours later she is still sleeping!). Just remember, you are more strong willed than your 10 month old
Kortney – looks like we have similar parenting techniques