Little Buddy,
The days seem to fly by so fast, and with each one that comes and goes you seem to be growing and changing. I love these two pictures of you because they capture your happy heart so well. You continue to show us how much you love people. You are so friendly and you love to walk up to new people, throw up your hand and say "Hey!" You love life and you make the most of every moment you are awake. You meet the day head on and you don't stop until it is time to go to bed at night. You are a busy little bee!
During month 10 we got to spend some special time with Su-Su and Aunt Kathryn. They came and stayed a whole week with us before we did all of our summer traveling. They both loved getting to spend time with you in your environment, doing the things that you love to do, and watching you do all the amazing things that you have learned to do.
We spent the rest of your 10th and 11th month traveling. We were back and forth between Orlando, Carrborro, NC and home. It was a crazy and eventful time, and you mastered the art of sleeping in a pack-n-play (for 7 weeks!), eating on the run, and making a playground out of whatever new place you were. You handled all this instability like a champ. I think we could say that adaptability is a trait you may possess!
You are physically developing so much fast! During month 10 you progressed from standing to walking so quickly. It was a little overwhelming if I'm honest. At the beginning of the month you were standing and holding onto things. Then you would let go, learn your balance, and begin taking a step or two. You spent a ton of energy and time teaching yourself to walk. By month's end you were completely walking by yourself. It was so fun watching you go from one side of the room to the other. You were truly proud of your accomplishment and you kept practicing until you made it perfect. You haven't looked back at crawling since!
You are verbal development has been fun to see too. You really like to talk. Your mouth opens with your eyes each morning! You don't have many words yet, but you have a lot of sounds. Month 11 has brought a lot of new sounds, and some we think actually have associations with them. You say ma-ma, da-da, na-na, bah (ball), and ba-ba (bye bye). You make noises and look for a response from us, which is so fun. Sometimes you will copy-cat what we say too. We are really looking forward to you beginning to talk more.
You continue to be independent and strong-willed. You don't like to be held, at least not for long, but you really enjoy when someone sits with you on the floor to play. You love to wrestle, especially with Daddy. You don't like to be helped, especially when it comes to your walking. You refuse to hold hands and you have had some tough tumbles because of that. You are completely over baby food. You prefer to eat whatever we are eating and you want to pick it up and feed yourself. It is hard in some ways that you don't want my help, but I am incredibly grateful for your will to try and your desire to learn and master new things. You have learned the concept of no, and we are working on learning safety boundaries for you. You test these boundaries frequently, which can be trying, but I am thankful we are walking this road now instead of years down the road.
You also have begun doing a few very sweet things that I don't want to forget. To soothe yourself when you are going to sleep you twirl a little lock of your hair. It's amazing to watch how this calms you. I can always tell that you're ready for sleep when you reach for your head. You also have started to give "kisses." Mind you, these are no traditional puckers. They are open-mouthed, tounge-out, big ahhh-noise kisses, but nonetheless, you are communicating affection through them. You run towards us with your arms way up high when you want us to pick you up, even though you only want to be held for just a second. These are the precious little moments that we are cherishing with you while you are still a baby.
Your daddy and I talk every so often about how we never knew we could love you so much sweet Bear. You are an incredible gift to us from our Father and we are so thankful for you.
Love, Daddy & Momma
