Double digits!

Luc,

You, my darling boy, will be ten months old tomorrow! I'm writing this letter a day early because in addition to being your ten month birthday, tomorrow is also the day of your baptism! Daddy and I and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tim (your Godparents) are really excited (also a little nervous about the whole getting up in front of the entire church part, but I'm sure we'll all do just fine).

I thought for sure you'd be walking by now, but it hasn't happened quite yet. You did take your first steps at the beginning of the month, but since then, you seem to have lost interest in progressing any further. And hey, I'm absolutely okay with that. I'm in no rush to be chasing you on two feet, you're fast enough on two knees!

You are very comfortable with crawling. You love to crawl back and forth into and out of rooms, over rugs and through doorways, testing different surfaces and going up and down single steps (like at Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tim's new house). Granny got a new doormat and was laughing at you as you went from your hands and knees to your fingertips and the balls of your feet to cross the rough bristles of the mat. I felt sorry for you, knowing how rough the mat was, but you didn't seem to mind. You did it again and again.

We have started to potty train you, sort of. Daddy has been encouraging you to go potty before bath time. And we've been waiting for your cues and taking you to the potty if we suspect you need to go. You actually went poo in the potty for the first time this month! It was a huge pile of poo too! We were sooooo excited (only parents could get this excited about poo). I even took a picture of it. Still debating whether or not to post it on the blog... but I'm leaning towards doing it!

Speaking of poo, you haven't been enjoying the act as of late. It seems your poo has taken on a rather rock-like consistency, which doesn't feel too good on the way out. You sometimes scream and cry and cling to us. I wish I could do something about it! We've tried prune juice, extra water, switching from rice to oatmeal cereal, and cutting out bananas and not giving you so much applesauce. None of those things have made too much of a difference so far.

You are the sweetest boy, and you are becoming a real cuddle bug. I am really enjoying this side of you. I love it when you put your head down on my shoulder, or when you reach up for me to pick you up, then give the biggest and longest squeeze imaginable!

And you give kisses! You open your mouth wide and dive towards us, or Kelly. It's really funny. So cute. And also kind of gross.

You aren't too shy around strangers, which I hear is unusual for a person of your age. When you first wake up (which happens a lot when we just arrive someplace), you are often very quiet and pensive about the people you encounter. I got a taste of this first hand when I wore sunglasses (buggies) for the first time around you last week. You looked at me, taking it all in, hesitating to smile, for the longest time. You don't ever mind going to someone else though, and you eventually warm up and become an extremely social baby. You often don't even need to know where we are, as long as someone is entertaining you (or vice versa).

You have started to imitate us (finally!) this month. You imitate waving "bye-bye" (though sometimes you look at us like we've lost our minds, and sometimes you clap instead), you sign "more please" at dinner, and you clap in response to "yay". You also raise your arms up when we do, which means "so big" or "pick me up, please".

You also imitate nodding your head (not "yes" but more of a bopping motion) and shaking your head (not "no" but more of a side-to-side dance move). Man, that's cute.

And you even imitate some sounds now. Baba (means nothing that I can discern) wawa or woh woh (you do this all the time when Kelly is barking, so maybe you are trying to say woof?), yaya, and a few others, depending on your mood. You say a lot of different things now, sometimes just chattering away to yourself, your toys, and to us. You're becoming even more conversational these days.

Your third and fourth teeth came in this month. First the top right center tooth popped through, then the top center left. They didn't seem to bother you at all, much like your bottom two. You are a real snagglepuss.

We ran out of disposable diapers at the beginning of this month and we decided not to go right out and get more. I've been doing a lot of laundry, but we've been almost exclusively cloth diapering you this month, and it's worked out very well. Granny still refuses to use them though.

Well, I'm way too sleepy to finish your letter tonight or add more pictures. So, I'll have to say, TO BE CONTINUED!

Love,
Mama