10 months old — New Photos!
I’ve been procrastinating on this post because I have yet to take Sam’s 10 month photo. The week of May 13th, Sam had this nasty cut on his nose so I thought I’d wait until it healed (babies heal so quickly :-). But as it was healing, his recurring clogged tearduct flared up again and has been oozing for about 10 days now :-(.
So here’s the update and photos will be forthcoming.
This month has been all about communication. The biggest milestone was Sam figuring out what "hi" means. The funny thing is that since he knows it gets attention, he uses it in other ways too — like the "can you play with me?" Hi and the ever-popular "how dare you leave me in the playroom while you use your computer/go to the bathroom/organize the kitchen etc" Hi :-).
The cutest thing is that he says hi to the birds and squirrels in our backyard. Whenever he sees a bird or squirrel, he’ll crawl over to the sliding glass door and wave. I wonder if he thinks they’ll say hi back?
Sam also has learned to communicate about the status of his diaper. If it’s in need of attention, he’ll crawl over to my lap, pull up on me, and give me this look — no words, but the look definitely communicates his need. Amazing.
Sam has also developed an affinity for small spaces. His favorite is the space between the couch and the fence, which is normally the home of the exersaucer. Now that it’s moved to our room (for shower time), the space is open and I often find him crawling over there and peeking out from behind the couch at me.
He’s also started hiding his toys behind the bookshelf and toy bin storage structures. There’s just enough space between the fence and the bookshelf for him to wedge himself in sideways and stash some toys. The bins are easier as he can both pull them out and stuff toys in the space remaining, or put them behind, in the few inches between the bin and the wall.
Sam’s receptive language has also dramatically increased and he now responds to "where’s the ball/doggie/barn/bird/squirrel?" by finding the object or crawling over to the window and looking outside. We’ve been capitalizing on his natural "ba ba ba" focus right now and pointing out all the "B words" in his world. He also understands bath, bottle, and bye bye.
As a side note, I am so fortunate to have this time with him each day and to get to watch all of his development unfold — definitely one of the biggest gifts of my life. Thank you to John for making this possible and for Sam for putting up with me :-).