Ten months old!

As of this past Friday, Will is ten months old!! Such a big boy! The big 0-1 is right around the corner! Will is still army-crawling all over the place. We've expanded our baby-proofing so he's often frustrated that he can no longer open cabinets like he used to and other interesting things have been moved.

This morning I gave Will a new puzzle to play with while I got dressed. It was a wooden puzzle with large wooden pieces with wooden knobs. He lifted the pieces off and examined them but soon took off for more interesting things (like the outlet). When I went to move him, it took me a second to figure out what he had in his mouth- he had put the knob of one of the puzzle pieces in his mouth like it was a pacifier and proceeded about his business. Now every time he finds that puzzle piece, he puts it in his mouth like a pacifier. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a while! Naturally- I grabbed the camera! (See below!)

Will is still chatty but no "real" words yet. He definitely has a good sense of humor though. He laughs quite often. Lately, he has started laughing at things on the TV. I know, I know...he's not supposed to be watching TV. He generally doesn't, but sometimes while I'm cooking I'll turn the TV on and put him in his high chair with some toys. It keeps him quiet while I need to keep him immobilized. We watch a preschool channel called "Sprout" which plays preschool shows like Sesame Street and The Berenstain Bears. There is a show called "The Sharing Show" and the host is a pink pig puppet with a blue dress. She has a very high-pitched voice and every time Will hears her voice, he laughs and laughs. He's also laughed at Mickey Mouse's voice too. It's very cute.

He has been a pretty good sleeper lately too. About half the time he can sleep through the night and the other half he wakes up for one night feeding. Much better than our twice-a-night feedings we were doing not too long ago. For the last several months, he has been a very consistent napper with a morning nap and an afternoon nap, each 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Lately, though, he has been sleeping more in the mornings-about three hour naps. It has been a little challenging because when he does that, he doesn't get lunch until about 1:00 and he doesn't get tired for his afternoon nap until about 4:00 or 5:00- which is usually dinner time. He's not ready to drop to just one nap so I've been trying to get him up by 7:00 am so he can be back down for an earlier nap. I hate to wake a sleeping baby, but I'm trying not to let him sleep longer than 2 1/2 hours during any one nap. He's come such a long way- he now puts himself to sleep (no more rocking or bottles to sleep) and he is very good at staying asleep.

He has recently shown more interest in stuffed animals. He has several but he never played with them much until recently. He seems to gravitate toward the dogs. He has a small blue dog that he likes to have during naps and he has a large dog that is just about as big as he is that he likes to wrestle and hug. And, of course, he loves to play with Zoe. So far Zoe has been very tolerant of Will. He likes to pull her ears and whiskers and he tries to stick his fingers in her mouth. She pretty much just lies there and lets him do whatever he wants. When she's had enough, she stands up and walks away. She is very interested in him, however, right after he's eaten. She knows he's a messy eater and she likes to help him out with food on his clothes, face, etc.

Speaking of food- Will has been eating the Gerber "3rd foods" which are little meals with small bits for chewing. He has had the beef and vegetables and we're going to try the spaghetti and meatballs soon. He has had mangoes and pineapple, which he likes, and parsnips, which he doesn't care for. Zoe, on the other hand, seems to like parsnips so she got a bowlful. One of Will's favorite new snacks is small whipped yogurt melts. They look like large chocolate chips but they are made of whipped yogurt and they melt once he puts them in his mouth. He's had peach and mixed berry and he's a big fan of both.

On Saturday Will had his first visit to an Apple store! We went to the Shops at La Cantera which is a big outdoor shopping mall with a bunch of fancy stores. It was the first time Will and I had been there so it was fun. We had lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant (and Will was pretty good) and then we walked around the stores. It's actually almost park-like. Very nice landscaping and benches. Will also visited the Sony store but he seemed to be more entertained at Apple.

This week we are looking forward to a visit from Will's Aunt Erica! Very exciting! We are planning a trip to San Marcos to go outlet shopping and we may even visit Sea World! I suspect that Aunt Erica is also going to get some babysitting time!