10 months old

Today Ian is 10 months old! Although he has not yet hit his next big milestone (walking), he is maturing is many more subtle ways. He is very talkative, and babbled quite loudly through some sections of the Bible study I was trying to lead after church today. At other times, he babbles under his breath, as though having a conversation with himself. He says bababa, mamama, dadada, and nanana most often. He also squeals and buzzes his lips, and recently discovered that he can make funny sounds if he puts his hand in his mouth and moves his fingers around while he talks.

In the last week, Ian seems to have gotten over last month's inability to sit still for books, and now listens intently for a while. I think this is partly due to getting a better understanding of what's going on in books. He can now work all the flaps in the "Where is baby's bellybutton" book, whether they go down or up. He also seems to react more to what's actually happening in the books and less just to tactile features (note: his books do not have complex plots).

From a motor skills standpoint, Ian has extended his crawling and cruising capabilities to include climbing on and off our bed (which is just a mattress on the floor), climbing the stairs, and opening and closing cabinets. He is starting to be more balanced on his feet, and can stand for short periods without support. Since he's interested in what's in the kitchen cabinets, I've had to lock two of them, and fill the other three with things that he can play with. He has started to develop an interest in "fill and spill" activities, in which he collects objects in something.

Here he has collected the dogs' bones in his cart:

But Lilo quickly retrieved hers:

And he continues to enjoy destruction, as with this block tower that Greg built:

Greg also stacked up some Cheerios into a tower this afternoon, which Ian seemed to find intriguing and somewhat perplexing

Size-wise, Ian is shrinking (relatively speaking). At his 9 month appointment a few weeks ago, he had fallen to the 75th percentile in height (at 27 inches), and the 90th percentile in weight (at 24.5 pounds). This is a surprise to us because his exceptional length in infancy matched Doug's as a baby, and we thought it would persist. Ian's doctor tells me that this pattern is normal for a breastfed baby, in which there is more growth early on and then more slowing in the 6-12 month period. Apparently the growth charts only really apply to formula-fed babies. In any case, we're interested to see how Ian's height develops over time, and whether he will settle in at the 75th percentile or get back to being taller.

We also learned from the doctor that Ian had his third ear infection. These never seem to bother him, so they're hard to discover. Other than one brief stomach flu, a series of mild colds, and these three resulting ear infections, Ian has been a healthy baby. He hasn't had any serious sickness, and has not yet had a fever.

The doctor also said (as I expected) that Ian must stop nursing through the night now that he has teeth, in order to avoid rotting them. This is a blow to Ian, who finds nursing to be his favorite nighttime activity. I have been gradually shifting him towards spending the whole night in his crib (rather than just the first few hours). Last night was not successful, but the previous night he slept through the night in his crib, and he has been steadily progressing in that direction. I was feeling a little sad to think that my snuggly little boy would never again regularly sleep with me, but his recent adventures in biting have helped me (mostly) get over it!