10 Months

It's crazy to think that our little boy is 10 months and a week old. He is so much fun and has us laughing everyday. One good word to describe Zach is enthusiastic. When he decides to go for something, he does so as fast as he can grunting and/or laughing all the way. His smiles and laughs are so contagious and his enthusiasm leads to some pretty funny moments. It's great how the littlest things he does are so entertaining to us. We love you Zach!



For journaling/documenting purposes, here are some detailed descriptions of Zach's current level of development:

Sleeping - Zach is finally sleeping through the night. After a week of being up with him for hours I pulled out the tough love and made him cry it out during the first week of April. With only a night or two of lots of crying he learned pretty quick to go back to sleep. Zach seems like he's starting to transition to taking one nap a day. Sometimes he'll do 2 but other days he'll refuse to take his 2nd nap and ends up crashing around 7 p.m. The record is 6:15 p.m.

Standing/Cruising - Over the month of April Zach has gotten really fast at walking around furniture. He can reach almost every item on the couch and anything left near the edges of the kitchen table. He's also braver about trying to stand without support. He can stand for at least a minute without holding onto anything. He usually sits down because he gets bored of being in one place. Two weeks ago Zach learned how to go from sitting to standing without using anything to pull himself up.

Eating - About 2 weeks ago Zach learned the "exciting" talent of spitting. Now I have to watch very carefully or all the food I just put in his mouth will be decorating the floor or his bib. We introduced Zach to Rice Chex and now poor Cheerios just can't compete. Another favorite is banana-blueberry puree. He'll eat anything from spinach to brussel sprouts if I mix a little banana blueberry into it. Water is the only thing he'll drink from his sippy cup and he loves apple juice if it's mixed in with his cereal.

Language - Zach still has his really deep voice. He's very vocal with the yells and grunts but we're mostly hearing vowel sounds. He's been having fun with the "b", "d", and "s" sounds. Zach does say the word "hi" sometimes but we're not sure if he really knows what it means. When he's upset I do hear a lot of "mamamama".

Social - Zach absolutely loves being the center of attention. He has started getting more clingly with me but is still pretty good about going to other adults. He loves seeing other little kids and stares at them or crawls up to investigate. He's so enthusiastic in his interactions that he often scares the kids that are smaller than him.

Playing - Ever since Zach got more mobile he's been much better at entertaining himself. It's so fun to watch him play with his toys and whatever else he finds because he is always so intense. He gets really focused and has to look at what he's holding from every angle, tasting as he goes. Zach's playing mostly sticks to exploring, playing with toys, and looking at books. I would love any suggestions on games and other play ideas.