Ten Months Old

Dear little man, I can't believe you are already ten months old. In just two months you'll be graduated to an official toddler-- although "toddling" might happen sooner than that. We've been watching you carefully to catch your first independent steps. You've already started taking the first "steps" beyond cruising along furniture to walking behind your wagon, boxes, chairs, etc.. Just about anything can be turned into a walker!

Your favorite thing in the world right now is playing ball. You love anything that can be thrown or rolled or fetched. The other night your brother exclaimed it was the most fun he's had with you yet. We were in his room playing Legos. You were standing up, reaching into the lego box and screaming with delight as you grabbed fistfuls of Legos and chucked them across the room at us.

You're obsessed with opening and closing doors, looking inside cupboards, and taking lids off boxes. You empty drawers, pull things off shelves, tip out baskets, and stand on your tip toes to pull things down off tables. The fascination with the dishwasher seems unending. You have made your first attempts at climbing the basement stairs and you are learning to climb down off of things using feet first. Your first discernible word seems to be "Hi" which you bestow on the cat or any other animal that you see. We call you "Baba" because you make this sound a lot but we also call you "Pickle" and "Baby" and sometimes even "Will" (accidentally).

You're finally dropping the third nap and even occasionally taking one big long nap in the middle of the day like a "big kid". You eat like a big kid already too, eating just about everything we do. I was just about to accept that we'd be serving purees for a lifetime and then suddenly you ate some cheese, a muffin, peas (by the handful), waffle, cornbread, sprouted wheat toast, roasted kale, broccoli florets, homemade kashi bar, zucchini, seaweed snacks, eggs, kidney beans, veggie burger, chicken, pizza, french fries, burger, and quesadilla. You eat chili by the bowlful, along with oatmeal, any kind of fresh pureed vegetable, any kind of soup, and mild pureed fruits. The thing you're still not keen on is avocado, banana slices, cauliflower, and other cut up fruits. Generally though, no matter what you are served, you eat about twice as much as your brother :)

You boast four teeth. You seem to be getting some tufts of downy soft blonde hair. You pretty reliably use the potty and make a grunting sound when it is time to go. You drink independently from a tiny glass but also love to suck water from a straw.

You are starting to play shy peek a boo games with strangers. You seem to do this only to be coy because really you love all the attention. You generally go out of your way to get noticed by the grocery store checker, people in line, friends I'm talking to, etc. and then the minute they say something to you, you duck your head into my shoulder or behind the sling and peek out.

Which will come first: first words or first steps?