10 months

Zane,

Here we are approaching your first Christmas. I remember being rather LARGE last year at this time and dreaming about what this year would be like for our family and the addition of you. Your Daddy and I would talk about how you'd be after the tree and presents wouldn't last long under the tree. Little did we know you'd have an obsession for the finer things, such as door stops, and our worries would be other places, such as two front teeth that are making you a mad baby!

Let's start with a discussion on those teeth of yours! The month started out with the bottom two coming through your gums. You seemed to have picked up my genes and these two teeth are shaped like a V. Nice and crooked! We're hoping when the others come in they'll push those into proper place. The end of this month has been the top two teeth coming through. These suckers literally came through the gums in two days. One day we kind of saw them and the next day they were there! They're still pushing on through and boy is it resulting in lots of side effects this time around. Some we won't discuss in case one day your fellow high school friends do a search on you and up comes detail on your diaper rash! So that's all we'll mention but lots of that, plus absolute need for Mommy at all times! Throw up has been involved (this might have been from something else too) and signs of that 2-year old stage are showing up. We feel so bad for you and feel a bit helpless.

You are very mobile now. Crawling has become sprint crawling once you see the object you desire. You can pull yourself confidently up on everything and fall a lot because what you choose to pull yourself up on isn't always the sturdiest of choices. You also now stand up in your crib and will stand and cry and give us real tears when you know you should be napping. I think you're playing the cute and how sad I look factor with us.


You also like to crawl underneath things. Several times now your Daddy and I have been doing something and turn around to not see you. We usually find you underneath the kitchen table standing up in between all the chairs. You get stuck underneath chairs and crawl into the coffee table and slam your head really hard as you try to break through instead of just crawling out.


Eating is sometimes easy for you and other times you shake your head to everything that comes near your mouth. One day you love bananas and almost eat the whole thing, the next day you won't even let one stay on your tray. There's a concept - food staying on your tray! You like to swipe your hand across the whole tray to free the space of all food substance. You are Mr. Sneaky with Truman. We will turn around and look back to see you with your eyes right on us but leaning with a snack in your hand to share with your dog. You let him lick it for a bit and then loosen your grip so he can have it. The other day when I caught you I said no and you threw your hands up in the air while smiling at me. And then you leaned your hand behind you and let go of the cracker for Truman to have. Glad you two have worked this out!


Truman has come in handy when you decide to throw your cup on the floor. You won't take from a sippy cup and prefer the ones that pour out more and of course the lids don't stay on as well. Truman has helped clean up apple juice, pear juice and water that's spilled all over the floor from this! We can't seem to figure out why you can't just leave it on your tray once you're finished! Very tidy you are.

You have also developed a new bond with what we affectionately call Teddy. We have several teddies so you don't get attached to just one. You carry one around the house, chew on him, bury your head in him and cry and cling to him in your sleep. If you're tired we'll grab Teddy and place him on our shoulder. You immediately drop your head to Teddy and just snuggle in. It's so precious.

Diaper changing is still a disaster area. Daddy has coined your fight back technique as the alligator grip. You'll wrap both of your legs around our hand and arm and turn so it hurts to hold onto the diaper. Most of the time the only thing that will calm you down is singing.

What do we sing? Your favorite all time song is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. You've smiled at the singing of this song since you were very little. Only my child would pick the one thing that I dislike the most. I add onto the end of the song that the spider stayed outside. We'll keep it this way! No spiders as pets! You don't mind Old MacDonald as well. If your parents could just remember what sounds animals make I'm sure we could come up with more than cow, dog, pig and cat!

Some other favorites include DOOR STOPS! You swing open doors just to get to the door stop and play with it. You purposely push a toy down the hall in order for it to land right by the door stop and you "accidentally" start to play with it. We say no the most to this. You'll sometimes listen and other times act as if we're not there and continue. When we go to other homes it's like you have a honing device and find their door stops right away.

You have recently come up with a new love for chasing balls. You'll push them and chase, push again and chase. You are learning how to throw too which is so cute, until you do it while eating. Blueberries and peas then become a ball to play with.


Your first Thanksgiving went well. You were a very popular little man with your cousins. The three of them couldn't get enough of you! I know, you are hard to resist with that charm.


You also experienced your first snow. Well technically it's not your first snow as you were born in a snow storm and two weeks later we were snowed in again, but this is the first time you could play in it. Grandma C was determined to put on your snowsuit and get you out in the snow. You had other plans and had a meltdown in the snow. Poor Grandma, but she did get some classic photos of your meltdown!


For some reason the new favorite view of the world for you is upside down. You like to lay on our legs and then place your head past our knees to view the world this way. It's pretty funny when you want to do it over and over again.

We have been signing to you for several months now but all of a sudden you are a sponge and are picking up on this. Except that you're picking up on the signs that aren't exactly the things we'd like you to communicate right now. You sign lights, duck and fan and sometimes please. However you haven't picked up on more, all done or anything related to eating. I guess it is so easy to sign lights right now with Christmas lights everywhere. Grandma and Grandpa's hallway is lined with lights and the other night we walked in the hallway and you couldn't contain your excitement and just held your hand up and "said" lights over and over while smiling.


Last year I could picture you, but it still didn't seem real. I could picture you interested in those lights but seeing you tell us how excited you are about them is beyond fulfilling. Your personality begins to shine more and more each day.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

To see a TON more 10 months photos click here. To see Zane's first Thanksgiving visit here.