10 Months Old

Samuel Jacob,

You are 10 months old! Double digits! You are growing so fast right before our eyes and continue to be such a little delight. You are a joy!

You have six teeth now! You got two right in a row on 12/20 and 12/21 and then another top tooth on 1/8. You seem happier now that they are in, and I'm hoping for a little break before the next round of teething.

You and your brother! He can be a bully to you a lot of the time, and you just take it in stride. One day you'll be big enough to stand up to him. For now, you deal with him taking your toys and pushing you aside when he wants you out of the way. We're working with him, but thankfully, you're a tough kid. He sure loves you though, always wanting to know where you are, telling us he misses you, and asking to "play" with you.

You are fully in crawling mode now, no more army crawling. You just made a sudden change one day, and we haven't seen any belly crawling since. You are increasing your speed too. You can get into anything you want.

You have been pulling up on everything for the last couple of months and have started walking behind things. My goodness, you look so big when you do it! We don't have a lot of furniture since we put our house on the market. I think if we still had our coffee table in the living room, you'd be walking around everything.

You have a particular fondness of Papa Joe. You always want him and will refuse to go to anyone else (even me!) when he is holding you. We've started to see the beginnings of separation anxiety in the church nursery. I'm not looking forward to that stage.

You are over baby food. You slap the spoon away when we feed you almost anything. You want to do it yourself, you little independent guy. You're going to drive your Momma crazy at meal times. You eat finger foods like a champ, and we are slowly introducing more and more table food as you get older. I try and get you to eat oatmeal or rice cereal and yogurt for breakfast, a veggie and fruit for lunch, and cereal and meat for dinner, but you have been solely interested in finger food and bottles the last few days. I hope it's a stage. You need more than cheerios, yogurt melts, crackers. bananas, and green beans in your diet.

You love balls and Rhapsy. I caught this on video last week.




You say ball anytime you see Rhapsody. It's adorable. And you have a good arm! Ball is really your first word after Mama and Dada. Sometimes we think you're saying ball and sometimes bye bye. It depends on the context. You are waving bye bye too. It's so sweet, and you're clapping on command.

Cognitively, I've seen some big developments this month. You have a better understanding of cause and effect. I see it in the way you play with your toys especially your gum ball machine and piggy bank. You have them figured out! It's amazing to watch you learn.

You are wearing 9-12 month and 12 month clothes. Your 9 month clothes are all too snug and too short. I've been squeezing you in some until I can get your bigger clothes sorted and washed, but they really are too small. You wear a size 4 diaper.

Your sleeping is hit or miss. For most of the month, I'd say you were improving with even a handful of nights where you slept all night without me having to get up with you. But then you've had nights where you're up for an hour or so at a time, refusing to sleep. I stopped feeding you in the middle of the night. It's rare now if you get a bottle at night, but you still like to be soothed and rocked at some point in the night. I savor the good nights and pray for extra energy in the morning after a bad night. You are a consistent napper and take a morning and afternoon nap daily.


Your smile and sweet demeanor are evident to anyone who sees you. What a special blessing you are to our family.