Of all the stages.....

I have to be honest, I am not one of those Moms who thinks that every stage from newborn on up is her "favorite stage" in her child's development. I'm sure this knocks me out of the running for the Nobel Mommy Prize, but nonetheless... I have fond memories of every stage now- and I have to say that even in the moment, I was able to take stock, in awe, of each new thing my little critter was able to do and that did bring me a lot of joy, but up until now Ive been a little guilty of waiting for a particular stage to pass. Feeling guilty for sort of wanting the time to move a little faster, and also feeling at times unable to cope and be my best version of a Mama because of some of the difficulties.

Until now. That is NOT to say that I handle each moment with the grace I would hope to have. That is NOT to say that my rambunctious child does everything I ask, when I ask him to do it (far from it, some days) but Cutie and I are really getting into our groove and the frustration level for both of us has taken a nose dive as of late. I know enough about kids at this point to know that all too soon that will change and I will be thrust into some new phase of his life (and maybe mine) that will make me think all over again "how am I going to manage this??!", but for now I am really really enjoying my child to the fullest.

His pride in his ability to walk on his own and somewhat begin to communicate with me is almost tangible. His vocabulary is still very limited- with Mama, Dada, and Baba still topping the charts, but he is starting to mimic sounds now even if they don't yet turn into words and he understands about 90% of what we say to him when we are talking on his level and being clear. He LOVES to walk (or be carried) all around the house and outside and just point to things and make a grunting sound that means "please tell me what that is mother"- ok, it actually sounds more like "Daaaas? Doooos? Ablegabledooododle?" but I know what he means. Sometimes I will have only told him what something is one time, and several days prior, and when I ask him to go get it- he does!! I guess this is nothing new to veteran Mama's but it is so exciting for me and Hubs!

 He has a new love.... his blankie- which is the blanket that our whole house uses- and  I have been watching it for a few weeks now, the content, sleepy look he gets on his face whenever you hand it to him around nap or bed time just melts my heart a little bit.

He will still take a paci- and usually if he is tired or sick he really wants it- otherwise it stays in the crib. He is NOT  a picky eater right now, he is just happy to be eating in general.  I  buy bananas and strawberrries each week  because he eats them so well and its to easy to add one of those to a meal or snack and feel good that he has gotten a somewhat balanced meal!!!

He is pretty "Mama focused" right now, and I have to say it does my heart good. I think anytime you give so much of yourself to something, its nice to have a little recognition now and then, but he continues to be super friendly and loves to be around other kids and grownups so that makes play-dates really fun for both of us... and definitely makes us lots of friends when we are out!

He LOVES LOVES LOVES to read. It totally makes my day. I don't know if I can claim any part of it, or if it is just a part of his little personality, but I did start reading to him really early on and it is literally the only activity that will hold his attention and keep him still for more than a minute. Some current favorites are: Where is Baby's belly button? (he loves a good lift the flap book), Where is ELmo?  and any type of touch and feel book. Apparently they all taste good as well, because most all of his books have teeth marks all over the spine.

He really loves his grandparents, and seems to know who my friends are too and takes right to them. I love that even though we don't have grandparents in town, he really connects with them and knows they  love him.

I have to confess that diaper changing is still a bit of a struggle on most days- I have tried all kinds of things to make it more pleasant- sometimes animal sounds will do the trick, but not always.

Now that he is really walking I can take him outside and let him do his thing in the yard and he LOVES it. I knew he would! I think our challenging time lasted a little longer than some other folks because he is always so active and so mobile but he started crawling really early and walking at about the right time so we had FOREVER for him to crawl and not really be able to move around in the way he wanted to. Frustrating for him and back breaking for a Mama!

He is totally doing the thing that I heard he would do- walking away from me to explore something or other, but then always coming back to me (home base) for a hug and then heading back out again. Over and over he does this- he never seems to tire of it, and I love the fact that he wants to explore, but he still needs his Mama. :)

He thinks balloons are cool but a little scary and most of the time he just wants to be held while inspecting them. The same thing is starting to go for this larger inflatable rubber duck that I bought for him to take a bath in. Usually if he disappears from sight and then I hear lots of loud talking, if I peak my head around the corner he has found this blow up duckie tub and is standing a few feet away from it pointing at it and talking up a storm, but not touching it. Funny the things that are intimidating to a 10 month old.

I have learned so much already about the way our Heavenly Father feels about us through having a baby of my own, but this stage is teaching me even more. I literally delight in Cohen. I delight in being his mother and in interacting with him every day. I look forward to the time that we spend together during his waking hours (most of them anyway :) ) and I watch his growth with so much pride. What a blessing!

Cutie has had a haircut since this picture and now has a mullet. He thought the lady with the scissors was actually trying to attack him rather than just trying to fix those chops of his.