Flourish Grace: Happy 10 Month Birthday Liam

Dear Liam,

Today you are 10 months old! 10 months! This past week I started planning your first birthday party…and yes, i teared up the first time i typed “as Liam turns one”…how can it be true that my baby will be one in eight short weeks?!? Hands down this was my favorite month thus far and everyday day gets more fun. Liam, you have such a big personality and your energy is contagious. You have two speeds fast and crashed… you are like the energizer bunny until your batteries run out and you simply crash for an all out, arms spread wide, down for the count… nap. This is the sign you batteries are running low…

You love to dance! Every time i say “Liam can i see your dance” you start bobbing side to side or every time you hear me start singing “just dance” you start dancing. In the last few days you started dancing to commercials and a lot of the music your toys make. Last weekend I taught you how to do “so big” on our way home from a day trip to Brown County. You love to show me how big you are.

Your favorite game to play is peak a boo! You play two ways, one hiding behind a blanket and the other when you crawl behind the recliner and wait for us to ask “where’s Liam” and then pop your head up with THE BIGGEST smile.

This past month you have gotten so fast at standing up, transferring between close pieces of furniture and cursing along the couch, around your table toys, and about the coffee table cubes. You started walking really well with your walk behind toys and can stand up on them on your own to walk. You don’t seem to have too much interest in walking by yourself yet because you know how fast you are at crawling.

You love to empty all of your toy bins …

You learned to sit yourself up on your knees to play and also got a lot better at sitting yourself up on your butt to play from crawling. You now do it all the time. It is nice to see you sit in one place once in a while. Instead of clapping when you get excited you do a full arm swinging clap while bouncing on your knees.

You have been carrying everything around in your mouth! I’ll blame it on the fact that you now have three teeth (very, very soon to be four). Cutting your top tooth has been ten times harder on your than your bottom two were. It was a rough month in the teething department.

You love to ride on your toy race car. I am pretty sure you could sit on it all day long and get pushed around. You have a permanent grin on your face the whole time you are riding. Besides your car your favorite toys this month are your two table toys, your walk behind walker, your Sesame Street music player and pop up toy (I just conversed with your Daddy on an appropriate term for that toy and pop up toy was the best we could come up with), and empty bottles. You love stuffed animals and give lots of hugs and kisses to them. The aquarium (behind you in the picture below) is one of your favorites as well. You love to crawl up and turn it on and just watch the animals move around. The aquarium used to be in your crib but after a few too many days of laying you down for a nap and having you wake up in a spit second only to crawl of and play i brought it downstairs.

I forgot to mention last month that you learned to climb the steps, you are so fast!

You finally learned how to work your walker and now run around the kitchen. The walker is a dangerous weapon to anyone else in the kitchen with you. You chase me around and love to run me over.

You got on a great eating schedule this month and still love food. You typically have a 7 ounce bottle at 7am, breakfast of fruit or oatmeal at 8:30, 4 ounce bottle at 9, nap for about 30 minutes, 6 ounce bottle at 12, lunch at 1:30 followed by snacks, nap sometimes in the afternoon for about an hour, 6 ounce bottle at 4, dinner meat with vegetables, a yogurt, and table food at 6pm, and a bottle at 8pm before bed. You are sleeping wonderfully through the night for over two months now 8pm-7am. You mostly sleep on your belly and have a habit of balling up your blanket and using it as a pillow.

You love drinking from one of our cups. Every time i take a drink in front of you you spit your pacifier out and open your mouth for some. If you find an empty cup, you will bring it to your mouth and make a slurping noise like you are taking a drink.

You are wearing mostly 12 month cloths and a size 4 diaper. No doctors appointment this month (not until you are a year old!) but we weighted you this morning and you are 22 pounds on the dot.