Ben: Ten Months

This has been a big month for Ben's motor skills! We are officially crawling, crawling up stairs, pulling up and getting into everything! This has been such an exciting time to watch Ben see everything in a whole new way. His face is so pleased and proud when he gets up the steps. We only let him "climb" the stairs when we are sitting right there with him, but it has turned into a favorite evening activity to work up an appetite before dinner. Ben has found that he can climb up on shorter things to get to higher things so we are really in baby proofing mode. When Ben isn't roaming the house, he has really been enjoying stacking all of his toys and knocking them down. He is also really into his toy drum and anything he can use to hit it with.

Ben's favorite foods now include fun snacks like Cheerios, crackers and the like. He will try just about anything and we haven't really found anything he doesn't like yet. Ben is still a good eater and always wants to try what Mom and Dad are eating. Ben is now pretty good at sippy cups and we will slowly be working our way to sippy cups instead of bottles over the next two months.

Ben is loving his new classroom! The transition went really well and the teachers are wonderful! He is currently the youngest and that has encouraged him in his crawling and getting around. There are a few that are walking and I think he is really interested in watching the "big kids". When I pick him up, he is usually sitting at the table munching on some Cheerios with a big grin on his face. He "talks" with the other babies and it is too cute! They babble back and forth and have little conversations with all the intonations and facial expressions that adults would use. Ben is just waiting for us to be able to understand him! We have been signing with him on a few "key" words related to eating and other daily activities. There was one isolated incident when Mom just knew that he signed "eat" and his clapping at meal time has started looking more similar to the word "more". So maybe he is starting to pick it up. Last week we had an isolated "conversation" where he said "duck" and "quack quack". Not sure if it was parental wishful thinking or he is really trying to say those things. Either way we are reading about and playing with our ducks a lot now.

We are getting ready for a family trip to the beach next month and will be sure to post pictures! Hope all is well for you!