Blessed Beyond Measure: 10 Months Old!

As I mentioned in the last post (Baby Life Week 44), Asher turned 10 months old on April 30. I truly cannot believe that he will be a year in less than 2 months. I am already freaking out about his birthday party, thinking on the one hand that it doesn't have to be a really big deal and that on the other hand it is a big deal (at least to me). I have dreamed about being a mom for years and all of the things I would do when the time came. One of these items on my Mommy Bucket List is birthday parties. My parents were great at always making my birthday feel special and making it a "big deal" in our house, and I want to do the same for Asher...even if he doesn't remember any of it. :) At this point though I still have no idea what a "Big Deal" will mean, so I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to see what I come up with! :)

Anyway...back to my 10 month old (got a little side-tracked for a second)...

Asher is incredible in the eyes of his mommy and daddy. He is growing and changing daily. At 10 months he is still crawling, but he is also a pro at cruising around the house while holding on to the furniture, cabinets, windows... I am pretty sure he'd cruise holding on to Emma if she let him! He does not yet stand on his own without holding on to anything (at least not willingly). We have let go of him a few times and he has stood for 5-10 seconds, but then falls on his butt. He has little desire to stand without a purpose, such as: pulling the TV remote off the coffee table, opening and closing the tape deck (yes we still own a tape player), trying to chew on Emma's backdoor bell, trying to reach and pull down the phone charger, etc. He also has little interest in walking at this time. If you hold his fingers, he will walk around with you, but often he will also get "jelly legs" so that he can get back on the floor and crawl. I am pretty sure that he knows he is quite fast/good at crawling and doesn't care to add to his repertoire of tricks until he can do something else well enough to make up for it.

Asher's favorite toys these days are first and foremost any socks and shoes that he finds. He loves them. It is quite common to find him cruising around the house with a sock in his mouth. As his mother, I do my best to make sure that THAT sock is clean and unused, but that is not always the case. He also enjoys playing with shoes, and frequently crawls around the house with one in hand. Thus, you can often find him at the back door, where lots of shoes tend to collect. Besides socks and shoes, Asher is also quite fond of any of Emma's toys and all other items in the house that he shouldn't have. He will play with his own toys, but only if all other said objects are out of reach. Of his actual toys, he seems to enjoy anything that is hard plastic best (such as hard stacking cups, plastic rings, etc)...I guess those are the best to chew on! One final toy that he has grown fond of is a little monkey/blankie that was given to him by his Auntie Julie and Uncle Dave. In an effort to provide him a lovie to give him comfort when he wakes up during the night, we started giving him the toy to sleep with. He seems to have taken to it quite quickly and is often found playing with it in his crib when we get him in the mornings and holding it when we get him at night.

Asher also loves to talk and make noises with his mouth. He babbles all the time, but also likes to make funny sounds with his lips. He can vibrate his lips in all sorts of different ways to make different sounds...sounds that I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to make. On his 10 month birthday he also started to make a purring noise (it sounds like a cat purring or the Jetson's car flying around). Eric & I both find his noises quite entertaining. He will figure something out and then make the noise constantly for a few days while he masters it. As I write this, the purring has already become old news...now he is commonly found making noises with his fingers on his lips or making a clicking sound with his tongue. Silly guy. Finally, one last trick that he started doing just before 10 months is scrunching up his nose. That doesn't actually make a sound, but it does use a part of his face, so I deem it close enough, as I find it one of the cutest things ever! I am not sure why I find it so cute...maybe it is because he seems to do it for no particular reason...maybe it is because he has a cute little button nose...or maybe it is because I have always scrunched up my nose and it reminds me of myself (& I do like to see a bit of myself in my little guy).

Asher's appetite is amazing. I call him my little garbage disposal. He will eat basically anything that you put in front of him as long as he is not too tired (then he will just play with it or rub it in his hair). Since he is becoming more and more independant, he does sometimes fight us when we try to feed him. He wants to feed himself. I usually try to get him to eat with my help for as long as I can, but when he starts to refuse, I find him things that he can feed himself. At this point, that may be pieces of fruit, crackers, cheese, puffs, etc. He especially loves his puffs and had a funny little giggle that comes out when he sees me getting out the container. When he does feed himself, you have to watch him because he tries to eat as fast as possible with as much in his mouth at one time as possible. It almost seems that Emma taught him to eat his food quickly before Mommy takes away (something Emma is known for). He is never happy with just one or two pieces of food in hand, but must have as many as his sticky little hands can hold. When the puff container is out he desperately wants the entire container, even if you put a few puffs in front of him. Besides edible things, Asher is also known for eating (or trying to eat) the indelible. I have pulled sticks, leaves, plastic eyes, dirt, fuzz, cardboard, most recently (tonight) a piece of wood (that he bit off a wooden block) and more from his mouth. Seriously, it is only by the grace of God that he hasn't choked yet!

Asher is still growing like a (good) weed, but starting to get into more average percentiles. He is now just over 22 pounds and nearing 30 inches tall. He also now has 6 teeth after cutting three teeth in one week a couple of weeks ago!

Asher's personality (I think) is a mini version of his Daddy. He loves his Mommy (me) and comes to me whenever he needs me. He likes me to be nearby and will often get upset when I leave him or he loses sight of me. That said, he also loves his Daddy. Last night, Asher was playing in the kitchen when I noticed that Eric was home from work. I said, "Asher Daddy's home," and then he crawled to the window to watch his Daddy come into the house. :) Asher has little problems with strangers, but he can be a little shy or clingy sometimes in overwhelming situations or when he is tired. Eric jokes that all it would take for a kidnapper to get him is a van full of socks...thus, I will give him all the socks he could ever want/need so that NEVER happens! He is a funny little guy with a great sense of humor. He loves to laugh and is very ticklish (basically everywhere). He laughs most at funny noises (including anything you can do with your hands or mouth, and also animal noises...he laughs every time I oink!). He also enjoys playing peek-a-boo, but never seems too interested in patty-cake. He likes to clap & gets a big smile when you clap for him and say "Yay Asher!" He also now waves a shy little wave (which sometimes is a cross between a wave and blowing a kiss) and sometimes tries to say bye. He says DaDa all the time now...sometimes when he actually wants his Daddy and sometimes for other (unknown) reasons. He still says MaMa once in a great while, but only when he really wants/needs me, and it is always said in a whiny/verge of tears voice. He likes to chew on books & try to tears the pages, but has little interest in reading. Part of me fears he will have ADD, since he can never sit still to enjoy a book, but I know that he is just a little man on a mission to explore the world, and believes (for now at least) that there are better things to do. Finally, he is sleeping much better lately. After the recent three teeth broke through he has slept through the night much of the time and has had only short visits from me the other times. Praise The Lord!

Well, that about sums up our life with a 10 month old..can't wait to see what else he does/learns/says in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy his 10 month photos...

See the scrunched up nose? ...SO CUTE!!

He is no longer interested in mommy's photo shoots and is a bit distracted by all the toys that I had tried to move out of the way.

Getting him near the calendar has become a challenging task!

If I can't get him to come to the calendar, I will take the calendar to him!

Reviewing his April schedule.

Must get ahold of Mommy's calendar...

Got it!

I love his expression on this one!

Distracted again...this time by the puffs.

Notice there are puffs all over the calendar, but he MUST have the entire container instead.

Mommy tries to relocate the puffs...baby finds them.

Got 'em!

"Mommy isn't going to take these from me this time!"

One of the only ways we can get Asher to hold still for pictures these days if for Eric to stick his finger in Asher's ear... It may sound strange, but it works fairly well. A couple of months ago, we noticed that Asher really likes to get his ears cleaned (don't worry I only clean the outer part). Then, we figured out that he likes to get his ears touched too...strange, but true. Now we use that to our advantage when we need him to hold still for something (like lying down on his monthly calendar!).