Double Digits!

Today, Collen turned 10 months old! I say it with every milestone, but I really can not believe he's already 10 months old! It's incredible just HOW MUCH a baby changes in 10 short months!

These days Collen is:

- Crawling up a storm! He loves to take off and then laugh and laugh...waiting for one of us to chase him.

- The week after he started crawling, he started pulling up. Now, he's pulling up with ease and cruising around the furniture. Today, I watched him move from one of his stand-up toys to the ottoman without help! (Slow down, buddy!!)

- He isn't showing an interest in walking at the moment, but I have a feeling he'll be walking by his first birthday. Those legs are still pretty wobbly right now!

- Such a character! For a while, I wondered if he would ever show his sense of humor. He would laugh at something a few times and then be done with it. That is no more. He laughs at so many things these days....usually whatever he deems humorous. He'll sit alone, playing, and just crack himself up. It's hilarious and so adorable!

- Developing a distinct personality. He definitely has his preferences on things, and he will let you know if he is not happy with something. It baffles me that kids already come wired with impatience and short tempers (because he certainly didn't learn any of that from us!). We're starting to have to use discipline to teach him boundaries and expectations - like not touching things that could hurt him and not throwing a fit when we take something away. Parenting becomes hard so early on....but I know it's for his own good.

- Speaking his own language. This week, Collen developed this language of his very own. You're all probably familiar with the jibberish that babies speak. Collen can be persuaded to get into a conversation by having his jibberish spoken to him. He will join in and talk right back. I've tried to get a video of it, but he's more interested in the camera at that point.

As far as where he is physically, he weighs somewhere around 22.5 - 23 pounds, and he's probably close to 30 inches.

He still LOVES to eat! He'll eat pretty much anything that's put in front of him. When we go out to eat, we used to (still try to) feed him before we ate, but once we're eating, he thinks he should be eating, too. So, we save snacks (puffs, yogurt melts, crunchies, etc.) for when we're eating so he's kept occupied. He gets 4 bottles of formula a day (6 ounces each), and of those bottles, he probably gets a total of 20 ounces. He has better things to do than drink his milk...

He loves to play, play, play. And if it all of a sudden goes quiet, you can usually find him with his books. He opens them and points at the pictures....talking to himself or laughing at the pictures. He is a child after my own heart. I hope he loves to read as much as I did as a child.

Collen loves animals - especially dogs. He and Tucker have become friends...sort of. Tucker tolerates him and lets him pat him and "hit" him without even flinching. I've been pleasantly surprised by Tucker. :) Gracie is still too big to play with Collen. She gets too excited when he's around, and she just wants to lick him all over. He likes to look at her from a distance and gets so excited when she comes into view.

It's so strange that in 2 months we'll be celebrating his first birthday! We have tentative plans in mind but nothing set in stone, yet. I know it doesn't need to be over-the-top, but we have so much to celebrate! Every day with Collen, these days, is something new, and we're loving watching him grow and learn and just be Collen. Just when I don't think I could love him anymore....I do. He brings so much joy to our lives. Thank you all for keeping up with us as Collen grows and for continuing to pray for us and praise with us!