Ten Months Old

Dear Nathan,

You are a focused explorer. As soon as the front door opens you are on your way out. Crawling has become a thing of ease and you often surprise us where you pop up. You have started standing up and walking along furniture but you are adamant about not standing on your own or walking with us.  One of your favorite places is by our sliding glass door. You stand up and smash your face against the glass and drum on it.  Every day you use your mobility to find a new object to carry around and chew on. Occasionally you put an object in your mouth and crawl around with it hanging out while getting to a new place.

You love music and start rocking from front to back the moment you hear it (whether it is us playing an instrument, singing, or the radio). If we start rocking with you, you smile bigger and rock harder. We often find you standing up by the piano pushing the keys.  You drum on every surface you touch love when we join in.

We have recently discovered your love for water.  You sit up well in the bathtub and splash and squeal with delight.  As soon as your diaper is changed you head to the bathroom and pull yourself up on the tub, hoping to play. You love swimming in the pool or playing with buckets of water outside.  Fears of diving in and being totally soaked is not a hinderance to you.

You have started gaining more control over  your fingers and you prefer t0 feed yourself.  The second we put food on the tray you snatch it up and shove it into your mouth, even if we haven’t had the chance to cut it yet.  If your hands are full of food you release what you have to grab the new option. When you are eating something messy you always grab your hair and coat it with the remains of your meal.

You like your alone time to fall asleep. Usually you wiggle and fight us until you are in bed and then you are content to talk to yourself for a bit and then go to sleep.  Lately you grab the blankets and pull them up over your head. You usually sleep through the night but wake up early. You take a nap around 9, second nap between 12:30-1, and go to bed around 6:30-7:00.

Some of your favorite games are peek-a-boo, hiding in a blanket fort, crawling around the room with us, and being spun around in a circle. You and Emily are beginning to play together better.  We love hearing the two of you laugh together while playing games.  Thank you for being in our family Nathan.

We love you!