Double digits.

(Can I just say how annoying it is that the pictures look so grainy when posted here!)

Theo turned 10 months old on the 16th! I can't believe we have hit the double digits already. As summer begins to fade into fall, I really can't believe it's nearly been a whole year. I think back to this time last year when we were getting ready for the baby party, putting the finishing touches on the nursery and picking pumpkins while I hobbled around as big as a house. And now, nearly a year later, I watch our baby boy asleep in his crib (in the same position I sleep in) and lament that he is looking more toddlerish than babyish these days. 

He is so fun right now. He smiles and laughs often and yells and carries on all the time. He plays with toys, loves playing with his animals and demonstrates pride when he does something new. He has begun standing for good stretches of time all by himself. He puts his hands up in a "touchdown" sort of pose and then smiles at himself in the mirror. He can cruise along the bookcase in his room, can walk short distances behind his push toy and can transfer between two things. He remains so close to crawling, but with all the standing and cruising he is doing, I just think he really won't crawl. Or, he will crawl for a very short period of time and then will start walking. 

He is also very into feeding himself these days. He loves toddler food and his favorites are cheese (is this my child?), veggie hotdogs, sweet potato cubes, fruit, homemade blueberry pancakes and pasta. We also gave him some organic vegetable lentil soup from Trader Joe's with the broth drained off and he loved it. I mean, he plowed right through it and the added bonus was shmearing the leftovers around his tray. And much to my great delight, I thawed a squash casserole I made in July and gave him some and he loved, loved, loved it. He ate every last bite, onions and all! He has less patience for purees now, but I still try to get him to eat them since that is the freshest food he gets. I can't say I will be sorry to retire the Magic Bullet and food steamer, though. Making baby food is kind of getting old. We did discover that he is sensitive to beets. He ate them (not me, those things smell like dirt!) and even liked them, but then got a horrible diaper rash. So, no more beets for him. He still nurses a ton and I am trying to figure out what to do about going back to work. I am thinking of just letting him reverse cycle on those days and not pump, but probably will try to pump twice until we hit a year old. He's so close, I don't want to mess anything up yet, but once we hit a year I think I won't pump and just see where that takes us. I always said that one year was the finish line and anything after that is just a victory lap. I am committed to allowing him to self-wean up to age 2, but I will feel a lot less pressure once we hit the year mark. I hope he doesn't wean too soon. I can't imagine not nursing anymore in two months as it has become such a part of our lives. Susan and I feel like we do our best parenting when we follow Theo's cues, so I will leave it to him to decide when he is done. 

With fall approaching, we are getting back into story times and play dates which is nice for all of us. I'm thinking once I get in the groove with my new job, we might try The Little Gym or something similar. We tried it when he was tiny, but it was kind of lame. I think now that he is mobile he would get more out of it. Today I took him to a Harvest Festival in Clayton (think small town America - it was slightly terrifying) and he got his first balloon. I tied it to the stroller so he could look at it and he held the string and flung it around the whole time! 

We are getting ready to begin what is always the busiest time of the year for our family. October is "birthday month" and Halloween and every weekend is already booked. We love it, though. It's so fun to see our friends and family and get to do all these fun activities. We are taking Theo to pick apples next week and hopefully it will be cool enough to feel like fall. We are excited for Halloween and can't wait to dress Theo up. I have started working on his costume already. We are also in the planning stages for his birthday party. It's going to be on November 14th at our house - probably around 11:00, but we'll decide closer to the date. We hope to see all of you there and can't wait to celebrate our first year as moms with this little boy we love so much. 

Happy 10 months, Theo!