10 Months Old

I am on a posting roll!!!

It's now time to brag about my newly 10 month old baby boy! He rocks my world!!!

The amount of growth and learning he has experienced in the past few months has been astounding. He is quickly becoming less and less of a baby and a little bit more of a toddler. 

(This is right before he plunged off of the couch in excitement and fell on his head :-( )

 

(All better!)

   

(These pictures get harder to take each month!)

Just in the last 30 days, Josiah has begun to understand and associate the words "hi" and "bye" with waving. Although not always, he will often lean towards Jesse or hug me if we ask him where "mama" and "dada" are. He has said "dada" for months and has said "nana" for nearly as long. He now tries to repeat me when I say, "no no" and "mama" (although both sound really similar to "nana"). I can tell which he means because it's in direct response to what I just said, and because there's a slight difference in how nasally it is or the tone in which he says it. And, his most recently syllable is "ba". I'm trying to be more deliberate about teaching him words, like "ball". I know many kids his age know a handful of words, so I want to try. He comes over to me and starts pulling on my shirt to climb his way up into my lap. I do have to be careful in public because he pulls my shirt so hard that I could easily flash someone. None of us want THAT to happen! I am trying to teach him the word "up" when he pulls on me, though. And when he wiggles himself out of my lap, I try to teach him the word "down". He also claps in excitement and shakes his head no when you say "no no" or shake your head. Of course, he smiles really big every time I tell him no. Even if I slap his hand or stay it sternly, he just smiles. It's hard to not smile back. He only gets really upset when you take away what he wanted. And even though he is mild-mannered and happy 90% of the time, he'll scream and collapse to the floor dramatically if he doesn't get his way. He typically gets over that in less than a minute and is smiling again. So, it's not so bad.

He took 3 steps on his own on June 9th, and about a week later took up to 6-7 on his own. At any given time he'll take this amount of steps, but crawling is still quicker and easier. He gets braver, though, each time and steps out without holding onto things and seems steadier on his feet. On June 15th, his top two teeth came in at the same time. He was such a trooper and didn't even fuss. 

 

Although I thought Josiah would out-grow his carseat by 4 months old (and he did get quite heavy in it), it was actually May before he surpassed the weight requirements. It was a long process of finding the convertible carseat I wanted and then finding a place to buy it from and having the money to purchase it. It finally arrived March 31st, and now my big boy fits nicely in his seat with room to grow!

I installed a mirror on the headrest of his seat, so as he's rear-facing, he can see himself, and I can now see him from my mirror. He makes faces at himself all of the time. He laughs every time he yawns. He claps at himself and talks constantly! It's so funny!!! He's got so much personality. He just smiles and laughs constantly. He's one of those people that makes you feel like the most special person in the world because he lights up when you walk into the room, but in truth, he's that way with almost everyone. Everyone around us adores him!

 

He's so sweet. He loves to cuddle, and will climb into my arms and lay his head on my shoulder, squeezing me tight. I recently started giving him eskimo kisses and he laughs the whole time. He is just the right amount of independent and cuddly for me. As I said, he still loves his mommy and will crawl up in my lap, but he also spends a good time during the day playing on his own with his toys.

 

He's great when we run errands or go out to eat. He sits quiet and happily in his carseat, cart, or highchair, and makes our trips very enjoyable. The other day, I went to dinner with my mom. The first table next to us had several young kids, one being really close to Josiah's age. And this particular kid was screaming. The family on the other side had a newborn baby who was fussing too. I don't blame the parents. I know stuff like that happens, but it made me very thankful for my baby who ate happily and smiled at everyone who walked by.

 

He just gets more and more fun! I love him with my whole heart and am so proud of him. These 10 months have simply passed to fast!!!