10 months!

Our Darling Boy!

You are so much fun! You are interacting with us and playing more and more each day. You now bounce on your bottom, wave your arms in the air, and shake your head back and forth as a way of playing/dancing. You'll do this if you are happy, if music is playing, or if we are making funny sounds that you like, or a combo of all 3! That is our favorite, to see you dancing with joy!!  :)
You are your own little person. That amazes us every single day. Literally there is not a day that goes by that we don't say something about what a big boy you are getting to be, or how amazing you are that you are learning new things all of the time, or just how fun you are, to play with and be around. We crave your laughter. You babel happily in the backseat of the car and I love hearing your little voice. Sometimes you will let out a big loud sound, drawn out, just hearing your own self make noise! You are learning to express yourself and let yourself be heard!
You are also obedient, for the most part.....  I don't know how you know, but when you are about to do something that you shouldn't, we say "NO" and you stop! Now, not 100% of the time, but I'd say 85%. Which is amazing because how do you know to stop?! You started obeying us at this new word of NO, at around 8 months old.
Now you will go back and try again and again what it is that you are trying to do, but each time I say NO, you stop for a second and think about it. Then go back to trying again...
Mostly what gets told "NO" is when you are about to put something in your mouth that you shouldn't, like the coffee table, or the phone charger, the door stopper, our shoes, or grass/dirt, etc. It is a given that anything in the world you get your hands on, it is going in your mouth. That is the stage you are in right now! THE MOUTH.
You have 3 widdle teefies on the bottom right now. They hurt! You will sometimes bite my leg. That also gets told No!

You have gotten 100% better about taking naps. It seems like it happened over night. I let you cry for a couple days, and it really didn't even seem like it took that many days, but now you easily nap for at least one hour, sometimes 1.5 hrs. At your babysitters a couple times lately, it has been 2 hours! You like to nap around 8:45 or 9am, and then again around 1pm. We have an easy routine. You get your bottle in the glider in your room, then that usually lulls you to sleep, but even if you are awake but drowsy, I walk you across the house to our bedroom where your pack 'n play is set up, in our dark room, and just lay you down and you usually go down quickly without a peep. SO NICE!
At bedtime you are a cinch! Same routine... you get a bottle in your glider, and at night, 99% of the time you fall asleep after (or sometimes during) you have finished your bottle. I'll rock you for a few minutes, selfishly storing up your cuddles, and then lay you in your crib and you are sound asleep for the night. We lay you down around 7:45 (sometimes as late as 8:30) and you sleep straight through the night at least until 6am. If you get to bed later at night, sometimes you will sleep in until 7:30am. (HEAVEN!)

We could never be a "family bed" family. You move all over the place! You always have, really. But watching your monitor while you sleep, you will be at the complete other opposite side of the bed just 5 or 10 minutes apart while sound asleep. It's crazy! You like to move in your sleep, and it has gotten to where you cannot really fall asleep comfortably in our arms because you prefer to be free to move around and get comfy.

You eat 3 solid food meals a day consisting of 2 baby food jars (3.5 oz each) and some finger foods. Then you have 3-4 bottles a day as well. Your bottles are usually 7 oz. Sometimes you want more, sometimes less, so we stick to 7oz and you usually finish them.
While feeding you in your high chair, you have learned to yank off your bib. YAY! : /
It's funny. When you are done, you start pulling on it! I have to tell you no and hope you comply. My fear is a messy baby covered in food! I try to keep you as clean as possible during feedings. You do pretty well! You still HATE getting the wash rag cleaning your hands and face after a meal, but it's a necessity!

Oh, this is random, but you have had a cut and bled for the first time! It was so weird to see blood on you! We were with friends at an outdoor concert on the square downtown (May 17th) and I was sitting in a folding/camping chair and you were pulling up on it and you started crying and I look down at you and you had blood on your nose. You had a small cut on the side of your nose. No big deal, but still made it that much more sad to see that blood on you!  :(      You lived.....

You have started making a growling sound a few weeks ago (May 6th). So funny! Like an animal growling! You do it at random times! You also have started doing this clearing your throat sound. It sounds like small little fake coughs, or like someone is clearing their throat. BUT! The kicker is that you do it in response to us! You do it first, then we mimic you, then you do it back! We go back and forth! So much fun to interact with you and have you and us copy each other! To see you doing something purposely in response, amazing! I know this is just the beginning, but it is just that. The beginning of us getting to communicate back and forth with you. I know soon enough we'll be having full on conversations with you, but we're not there yet, so we'll take primitive grunting sounds!  
:)

I still use your high chair and your finger foods as a way of keeping you happy while I can get some things done. Magical! It only lasts maybe 10 minutes or so, but it's so nice to know that I can leave the room and you are trapped (i.e. SAFE) and happy. You soon enough want to be let free and fuss about being locked up, but that's just because now that you know how to crawl, that is just so much more fun than being behind bars!

You love when we stand you up on our laps and bounce you up and down. You jump and kick your legs, as if you are the one making you bounce! You laugh and giggle and it's so fun! You are so active!

-Something I notated a while ago: on April 29th: you laugh when I raise my eyebrows up and down. (hysterical!) and you laugh at funny faces we make!
-On April 10th: you can stand holding on to furniture.  (now pull up on EVERYTHING!!)
-Also on April 10th: you started making this buzzing sound when you cry. You'd put your lips together and make sound and blow while you cry! Sounds like you are a little motor boat with tears.  :(
-Now when you start to get upset, you won't make that buzzing sound, but you will put your lips together in a little "O" shape and just fuss. Your lips crunch together tightly, in the shape of an O. So funny! (but sad too, because you are sad!)
-The very first time you pulled up was on April 6th. It was in your crib, you pulled up to stand holding on to the side rail.
-That was just one week after you learned to crawl! On March 31st, I had a baby shower to attend and Daddy was out running errands, so Meme and Grandpa were watching you at our house, and they really worked with you. They dangled toys or any desirable objects in front of you to get you to launch forward, and you did it for the first time! For weeks leading up to that, you would get on all 4's and rock back and forth. You did this for a long time! We thought you were close to crawling for a long time! We would say "any day now!"  But we never really dangled things in front of you, or really tried to make you because we figured you would do it all on your own time. But then you go and do it for the first time for Meme and Grandpa! We recorded your  new skill the next day on video.
-Also that week, on April 7th: we noticed your very first tooth coming in! It was in the middle on your bottom row.
So within one week, you crawled, pulled up for the first time, and had your first tooth come in! BUSY BOY!
-On April 4th: we noticed you went from your tummy on the floor up in to a sitting up position all on your own.
-April 1st: you started clicking your tongue on the roof of your mouth. You will start this first, then we copy you, and you copy back. So smart.  :)
-On March 23rd I wrote: "discovers hands more. Slapping high chair tray and Mommy's leg. Stares at fist open and close. Goes from sitting position to on to his belly. Scoots all around in circles and backwards on his belly. Just starting to push up his arms all the way, and on his feet like a bear crawl, (rear end high in the air) but doesn't move anywhere. (like Baby Yoga position.) Just pushes up. Still loves his jumper and is highly entertained by the dogs!

**I take notes on my phone and date when you do something new or something that I want to remember**

You have the absolute best Daddy. He is constantly making up songs that he sings to you on the spot, just about whatever is going on at that moment. What we are doing, or what you need, or just anything! You love it! He loves walking in the door at the end of the day and seeing your face. You get a big smile when he walks in. He'll hold you and do this gnawing/mouthing/fake biting action on the side of your ribs and you go CRAZY in laughter! Tickles!! You love to climb all over him and "wrestle". I can't wait until you are bigger and I know you guys will really wrestle and tackle everyday!
We are currently buying a new home, and one of the criteria for the new house is a big yard so that one day you and him can play catch.   :)
He's already bought you a glove. Bought it when you were a newborn and it's waiting in your room.  :)
He meets your every need. He does any and everything that you need/want, all of the time. He's so wonderful about taking care of you and loving on you constantly. You are one blessed little boy to have such an amazing man to look up to your whole life.

Happy 10 months muh boy!