10 months

There is nothing better than having a 10 month old! He's growing more and more independent, but he constantly seeks our attention and approval. He gets excited by everything, which makes even the ordinary fun for us. I feel somewhat relieved to be passed the worst of babyhood and have come out more confident as a person and have developed into my identity as a mother. I started out so full of fear, but within such a short time I feel prepared for anything- now that I've said that he's going to be a difficult toddler, ha. The biggest changes I've noticed within myself is that I am surprisingly patient with Eli and I am very passionate about the right to parent my child my way. 

(Above: Eli going out for the first feel of cold after an overnight 35 degree temperature drop.)

Eli can crawl, but he prefers walking. He started walking along the walls of our apartment to get from room to room on his own. He doesn't fall down as often. He's discovered how to squat and sit.

He likes to feed mommy and daddy his food.

He loves his toothbrush and carries it around with him chewing on it. He isn't a fan of us trying to brush his teeth yet, but if he doesn't have his own toothbrush he gets really upset when he sees us with ours.

He started babbling all the time. His most common sounds are: da-da, doy-doy, na-na, tuh-tuh, th-th

He loves throwing everything on the floor: books from the bookshelf, shoes from the shoe rack, DVDs,  fridge magnets, anything left on the couch, etc.

When we go outside when it's cold he laughs, screams and says, "Oh! Oh!" He doesn't like to wear his jacket though. He doesn't seem to like wearing anything confining.

I've wanted to start night weaning for along time and we finally went through it. It took 2 nights of drama, but now Eli sleeps through the night without eating. After waking sometimes up to 4 times a night to "eat" I was constantly exhausted so it was a needed change and I feel liberated.

He loves leaves. Whenever we go outside we let him collect a few and he carries them around, crushing them to bits and crying big tears when we have to take them away.

He likes looking at our picture of Jesus. Every time he walks passed the picture he stops and says, "dada." All men- occasionally women- are "dada" right now.

He now has 4 teeth and he loves any opportunity he can get to use them. He likes biting all his finger foods into pieces with them and we can't eat any type of produce without him going into give me-give me hysterics. He is most obsessed with apples and likes to eat them with us whole. We can't go passed the produce section at the store without bringing on much screaming. He has become somewhat picky with food, but if mom or dad are eating it he'll chow it down, even if it's something he would never normally want like egg yolk or brussel sprouts.

It's getting harder and harder to trick Eli. When we try hiding something from him he knows where it's gone and his attention span has increased to where he keeps looking for it until he finds it.

His interest in books really exploded this month. Several times throughout the day he brings me books and sits himself on my lap. He is really particular however. If I try reading something he isn't interested in he pushes the book away and fusses. Right now he likes the Llama Llama books, animal picture books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear and books with little flaps to lift on each page.