10 Months!

We're in the double digits!!! I, for real, cannot believe it. March of last year is unbelievably fresh in my mind - my belly was getting, well, quite large, we were having amazing baby showers and celebrating John's big 3-0. The year has flown.  

This month was a hard-fought one. Chuck battled a cold literally all month, and just when we finally put him on antibiotics because it moved into his sinuses, he got a stomach bug. Oof. Let's just say nobody's been sleeping too much around here. But, thankfully, Charlie's on the mend, and to celebrate his recent couple days of total wellness, Charlie, Stan and I (John's ridiculously sick) headed to the Zilker Kite Festival. And oh. my. What a freaking afternoon. It was a gorgeous, sunny, 80-degree day, and the boys couldn't have been more captivated. Charlie played in the sand, flirted with the ladies, and of course couldn't stop babbling and pointing at the kites.

Charlie's still crawling around like a madman and pulling up on everything. He wants to walk everywhere, but only if he's got both of your hands and can lean so far forward he looks like he might just fall right on his face. I'm not sure it's great practice for becoming an independent walker, but he just loves it. We need to just go ahead and buy him a little walker for the house because he's used a couple when we've been at the store, and he totally gets it. He gets going a little too fast, but I know he'd love being able to walk "on his own" around the house.

He's started eating meals of real food this month. We even ordered him his first kid's meal at Magnolia! Meals look a lot more like this now...

rather than the space-food packets he's been downing, and he's totally loving feeding himself. (Baby food is so nine months.) Although he's not too sure what to do about the texture of all the "new" food. He loves all sorts of different foods - eggs (yes, I won him over!), turkey, sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli, oatmeal, kale, pears, peaches, yogurt etc., but if it's not on a spoon, I'm having to pry open his jaw and shove the food in on the first bite. But after the shove, he'll pick it up and feed himself...what a primadonna!

We're loving the weather and have spent most of the month outside - playing in the sandbox, pulling weeds, splashing in random puddles, chasing Stan and taking long walks. Chuck's started to take off when we get to story time at the library; he loves to crawl up front and sit on the blanket with the big kids. It's super sweet to watch him mosey around breaking all sorts of personal space boundaries. He is super aware of, well, everything, and gets crazy excited when we pull up to his Gaga and Papa's house - he has all sorts of things he likes to check in on right when we walk in the door. And my mom came down for the last week of February to help with my crazy work schedule, and Charlie thought it was HILARIOUS to peek around the corner in the morning and see GiGi on the couch. What fun! But probably the best thing this month is the mamamamamama's and dadadadadadadadada's! Just when I was certain he wasn't purposefully directing the different inflections, he started crawling across the room to me adamantly calling mamamamama, and just when John was feeling low that he was saying mamama, he walked out of the room, and Charlie shouted DA! until John walked back in. Sweeter words have never been spoken. We're working on "up," "more," and "please" and "thank you". Ha! Just kidding about the manners, but I really hear him trying to master "up" and "more". We'll see. Chuck's just like the best little copy-cat lately, and I love to see what he picks up on and remembers. He knows John thinks it's hilarious when he does his bobble-head thing, he dances all around when his Gaga sings the Little Pookie book and leans in for a headbutt and a hug at different cues from my mom. What a freaking smarty.

For the moms that want it - Charlie's still up and down around 6:30/7:00, nursing four times a day (morning, after naps, and before bed) and eating real food at breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between. He's going down for two naps, but, like I said, this was a rough month with all his sickness, so his sleep has been so off. Thanks to the antibiotics and my mom crafting some killer black-out curtains, this past week has been MUCH better.

Ten months of Chuck. Two more months until the big birthday. Just amazed. Everyday. Because even in the moments of pure frustration (i.e. - four weeks of a snotty nose), my heart is fuller than its ever been. This kid. This love. It's pure magic. Happy ten months, sweet boy.

So over baby food.