Months 8-10

The past two months have been absolutely amazing. We've been blown away by Ethan's development. Watching him grow and change is so amazing. What has he happened during months 8-10?

-He went on his first outing without his mom & dad. He went to church one evening with his great aunt & uncle. We heard he behaved very well for them.

-He started eating green beans, peaches, mangos, oatmeal (which he may have reacted to), and buckwheat pancakes.

-He started working on his pincer grasp and within a week he attempted to feed himself. Less than two weeks later he fed himself chunks of sweet potato. On Thanksgiving he showed us that he has mastered this skill and LOVES to feed himself small chunks of food. I love the way he uses the back of his chubby, little hands to push in any food that didn't make it all the way into his mouth.

-He acquired 3 more teeth!! His Right Lower Lateral Incisor, Right Upper Lateral Incisor, and Lower Left Lateral Incisor (took forever to break through and just broke the surface last week so it's still an itty bitty tooth) have arrived. At 10 months old he has a total of 8 teeth.

-He started pulling himself up on us while we are sitting or laying down. A month later he is pulling up on low fixtures and loves to stand. I'm thankful for the dryer door so he is busy while I do laundry. Our leather bench/ottoman is also helpful. He stands next to it and I don't have to worry about him injuring his face if he falls down since there are no sharp corners. He loves to bang on both the dryer door and the ottoman. Throwing laundry off the dryer door and toys off the ottoman is another fun game.

-He signed for milk a couple of times. Before he nurses I say milk and show him the sign for it. Now he waves like he's signing for milk so most of the time I think it's waving vs. signing.

-Has really gotten into touch and feel books. He has always liked them but now he remembers where to touch in each book. He has also figured out how to put his fingers through the holes in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, which is still a favorite. He likes to turn the small pages to race ahead to Saturday. He also loves to lift flaps in books and does it on his own now.

-He babbled Ma-ma-ma for the first time. It was the greatest thing I've ever heard. He is now connecting Mama with me and Dada with Matt but sometimes looks at me and says Dada or looks at Matt and says Mama. Cute.

-We went trick-or-treating for the first time. He was in his first parade at daycare.

-We celebrated Ethan's first Thanksgiving. It was a great day!

-He has started to really play with other children. His interaction with them is advancing. We play a chase game with him at home where he crawls and we chase after him. He looks back, laughs, and then races off. We were excited to hear that he initiated playing the same game with another child at daycare. Ethan also had playdates with his friends. He played with friends at our mom & baby group too.

-He learned to throw balls and will throw or roll the ball back and forth with us. Of course, sometimes the ball still goes behind him, in the opposite direction of us, but he's working on it.

-He started doing "tricks" on cue. His tricks include waving, giving big, cheesy smiles, clapping, and dancing. Most recently he does all of them in a row and it's hysterical. He claps whenever he hears someone say "yay". Matt was watching a Pearl Jam concert on tv. Ethan heard the crowd clap after a song was finished so he started clapping too.

-He gives kisses when we ask for them. He's not consistent with it yet, but they're definitely kisses. Big, slobbery, open mouth, leaning into you kisses. Too cute!

-He learned to initiate playing peek-a-boo. He knows to hide around a corner, a book, a blanket, etc then peek out and smile.

-Ethan's weight has remained steady between 21 and 22 pounds but he grew in length. He is definitely still nursing and eating enough but is also very active so we are not concerned.

Some pics of Ethan over the past two months:




Ready to go outside and play



Reading and cuddling with Daddy before bed.

Playing ball with Momma.

He needed another haircut already!

So did his Momma.

Looks like he's asking you what you think of his hair. Really he's putting peas in his hair.

Another new fun thing to do...

He climbs into the shower after we get out just to splash around.

Still throwing baby tantrums, which are growing increasingly more intensive. Here he was mad at me for having him lie on his back for this photo.

Still easily distracted. I'll look back on these tantrums as easy to deal with.







Playing peek-a-boo

Enjoying the view of Fall in our neighborhood

Jammin'



Eating his pancakes!





Exploring the leaves