10 months

Happy Birthday To You! This has been a big month for Isaac! Last week, we heard him say his first clear word, "hi." Every time the phone rings, he says it over and over until we start the conversation. Occasionally, he will also say it to someone entering the room, sitting next to us in a restaurant, or passing by our cart in Wal-Mart. :) We suspect he's also said Mama and Dada, but aren't sure yet if he's connecting it with us or not, and I think I hear him saying something resembling "yummy" and "mmmmmm" while he is eating. He is also clearly understanding several words we tell him, such as his name, no, bite, up, etc.

He has also made great strides in eating this month. He can feed himself small pieces of food now, which has made family mealtime much more pleasant. It takes great concentration, noticeable by the deep wrinkles in his forehead and determination in his eyes, but he is very good with his pincher grasp. Once the bite is conquered and inhaled, he often lets out a squeal of laughter and delight before attempting another. He especially likes Cheerios, peas and carrots, American cheese, and vegetable crackers. Pieces of banana prove to be yummy but slippery and, therefore, extremely frustrating. His favorite baby foods seem to be apples and ham, apples and chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, and oatmeal cereal with apples and bananas. His favorite thing by far is still the bottle. No matter how much food he has eaten, he gets excited all over when we start shaking up that bottle.

Isaac is also playing more sophisticated games this month. One of his favorite games is to hold his hands out for me to help him sit up while I say, "up" and then to fall backwards into my lap or onto the bed, as I say "down." He gets the most mischevious look on his face right before he falls back. He also likes to play ball. We sit on the floor with him and roll a tennis ball to him, and he rolls it back to us. He's quite a performer and loved when Grams clapped for his efforts in this game. He can also initiate a game of peek-a-boo. He will hold up a blanket in front of his face while we say, "Where's Isaac?". He then jerks the blanket down, grinning from ear to ear, as we say,"There he is!". Some of his favorite toys are his blocks and cars. He loves to remove all his blocks from the bucket and sling them around all over the floor and is learning to roll the car Ethan gave him and the little fire truck from Maw-Maw. He also likes to "read" his books and to listen to us read to him. He is beginning to point to pictures in the books as we read.

As for movement, Isaac is extremely mobile, but still not crawling. He can roll and wiggle across a room in seconds flat, but refuses to get up on his hands and knees. We are wondering if he's just going to skip it altogether. We are encouraging crawling, standing, and walking, but are also satisfied with his progress if he waits a while longer. We know he's easier to keep up with like this. :)

We feel extremely blessed to have such a happy, healthy baby. He is the joy of our lives, and we look forward, Lord willing, to watching him grow up and to sharing our lives with him.