10.5 month update

(written at the beginning of February - TWO MONTHS AGO and somehow never published!! 1 year update coming soon!)

At the time of writing this, when you are actually a little over 10 months, I am so glad to say, you are back to yourself.  Just happy to be here, smiley, social you.  Not that you weren't YOU last month.  Of course you were, but it was a sicker, more tired, sick-and-tired of being sick-and-tired you.  And who could blame you?  In the month of January, there was precisely one calendar day where the whole family was healthy - January 1.  Other than that you got sick twice, which spanned 3 weeks total, and the week you were actually healthy, Addie was sick, so we all stared at the same 4 walls for a month.  While you were sick you also all but lost your appetite, and started rejecting pretty much all solid food except for oatmeal and occasionally yogurt.  So happily we bid January, and the month between your 9 and 10 month birthdays, adieu.

Not that some wonderful things didn't also happen.  Developmentally you're changing so fast.  You are now pulling up to standing really easily, and almost always choose to stand rather than sit.  No letting go yet, but you're "cruising" by walking along holding on to furniture.  You also love to "walk" while I hold your hands, but it's a hysterical high-stepping marching band walk where you thrust your knees sky-high and giggle uncontrollably the whole time.  While this really belongs in your 11 month update I'll go ahead and add it - just yesterday I ran upstairs really quick to grab my coat before we headed out, and returned to find you had you climbed up half the stairs at lightning speed.  It was a good run without having to worry about the stairs... On the same lines this week you also climbed on top of Addie's toy kitchen.  So there's that, too.

favorite toy

first time up the steps

pre climb.

With all this standing and cruising come lots of falls.  This was a particularly eventful day when you fell straight onto/into things at least 3 times:

You have three teeth now, and are working on a few more that should pop through any day.

You can now sign "please" (sometimes) along with more and all done, and say three "D" words - "dah" - dog "dada" - dad, and most recently, "DEE!" which is Addie!  I love it.  You'll also say what sounds a lot like "hi" (waiting for some more consistency to say that's a real word), and "bye-bye" while waving.

Sleep is great.  Two naps a day of 1-2 hours each, around 9 and 1.  You consistently sleep 11 hours at night, 7-6 or 7:30-6:30, but we can't quite seem to crack the 12-hour code.  I'm fine with it, and you almost always go back to sleep after a quick early morning meal, and then I have to wake you up by 7:15 to keep the rest of the day's schedule on track.  You're an avid thumb sucker and I'm not doing a thing to stop it. :) 



Your appetite has kiiiinda returned from last month's hiatus, but you don't ferociously attack everything I give you anymore. I'm hoping this is just a phase; lots of things get spit right back out these days.  I rather enjoyed the bottomless pit, Mikey'll-eat-anything guy.  Perhaps he'll still return.  Favorite foods?  Original Goldfish crackers are your love language.  You'd be thrilled if I gave you peanut butter and banana oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Yogurt is always a hit, as are frozen peas and carrots.  Scrambled eggs and most any meat are highly offensive, which was news to me when that started because you used to love all of that.  You like drinking from a sippy cup or a straw or a real cup.

how big is Will?

Not much phases you, but if you're upset, almost anything is immediately solved by me picking you up and holding you.  We went to Walmart the other day for groceries.  I've done countless grocery trips with both kids, but for some reason, Walmart with both kids is more daunting, and I typically reserve trips there for when daddy can stay home with the kids.  It just had to be done though, so onward we went, into the great black hole (by the way, if you haven't tried Savings Catcher yet, what are you doing?!?).  While there, I realized that actually, a trip to Walmart with all of its cross-store zigzagging and time-sucking and waiting in lines... is your absolute dream come true.  I held you for over an hour straight (in the Ergo), uninterrupted, and you were in heaven.

At home, if I'm in sight, you typically want me to hold you or play with you or let you climb all over me, and will chase me down until I do one or all of the above.  However, if I'm out of sight, you play great on your own, or with Addie.  I have heard some of the hardest laughing from the two of you while sitting on the steps, listening to you play your made-up games.  Despite loving being held and toted and snuggled, you aren't super clingy, and can still be left with grandparents or in the nursery without any struggle.

One of the neatest things to see emerge this month is that I believe you are going to be a giver.  If you have something - a snack, a stray crayon, a toy - nothing makes you happier than to hand it proudly to one of us.  Sometimes you want it back, but often you'll just give it up, usually beaming with delight.  In a selfish, greedy, and self-serving culture (who am I kidding.. in a selfish, greedy, and self-serving HOUSE), I pray I can somehow nurture and encourage that tiny seed of generosity in your heart so you can serve the Lord with wide open hands, throwing all you can toward others, all the while absolutely overcome with joy about it.  A very wise man once said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" (Jim Elliot).  And the wisest man ever to live said it this way: "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6:38)

We love you.  We are praying for you.  It is such a privilege to be your mom.  That you want me to pick you up, to comfort you, to be your jungle gym - it's an overwhelming honor.  Now STOP GROWING UP.

Love,
Mom