To Calvin, who is ten months old (today)

Ten months old and moving fast!  This time last year we were washing newborn clothing, organizing the nursery, and going for daily walks.  Of course we are still doing those things, but the clothing is much bigger, the nursery much messier, and the walks a lot more fun!  When we had a sneak preview of spring at the beginning of March you really enjoyed spending time outside playing in the driveway, or going for walks and watching the ducks in the nearby pond.  It has been such a joy to watch you discover all these new things!  Everything that is worth talking about you refer to as dadada, except for food, which is more often not called banana.  But for all of this verbal expression you have resisted our attempts to teach you sign language and have only signed dog on rare occasions.  The books all say that you will be more likely to learn the signs for things you like, so it's not surprising that you've tried signing dog first, as you just love all of our pets, but the cat is really your favorite - when you see her you squeal with delight and take off after her as fast as your crawling legs will carry you, and luckily she is a willing participant because you are a quick mover!  It's likely that you won't be crawling that much longer, either.  Over the past month you have shown an eagerness to learn to walk, and we have encouraged you to take some steps while close to us, but in the past week you have started taking a few steps at a time without our presence and encouragement.  Your balance is still a little off, but it won't be long now.

The past month you have been very fun in so many different ways.  You are starting to play with your toys differently:  you know how to put the shapes in the shape sorter, the rings on the pole, and the blocks in a stack;  you will play "catch" by throwing the ball back and forth with mom or dad;  and you really like dropping things.  You have also started mimicking more often and will now do your own version of "sooo big" along wiht us.  You now enjoy being read to, and seem very excited to watch the words and pictures in the book while sitting in our laps.  You laugh and smile more than ever now, though the outside world might never know it—you are always so serious when taking in a new situation!  You are absolutely amazing to us, and we are thankful for you every day.

To Calvin, who is nine months old today!

Nine months old, what a milestone for you!  You are three quarters of the way through your first year, and your parents are feeling like the time is just slipping away.  You successfully tried a couple of new things this past month, including swimming lessons (our favorite day of the week!) and eating more finger foods.  But the past month seems to have been more about mental advancements than physical ones.  You started mimicking our motions about two weeks ago, something that you had not previously tried.  This new interest has led to a whole host of separate advancements, the wave being our favorite:  you have two different kinds of waves, the first being where you look carefully at our waving hand and then turn your palm towards yourself and open and close the fingers very slowly, and the second being where you flap your whole arm up and down quite rapidly and watch us get excited and giggle.  A few times this past month you have also tried mimicking the sign language motion for dog that we have been using, but you still refuse to use sign language to communicate "more" while eating (we figure that you just take your eating too seriously).  Our favorite new skill, however, is your babbling.  You now love to string non--coherent speech sounds together, making delightful soliloquies for us to enjoy, and you have your own brand of singing, as well. 

This really has been our favorite age so far.  You have become so much more interactive, both with us and with your environment.  You no longer need help to get the things you want, but you have been very good about listening to us when we tell you there are things you can't have.  Soon after you turned eight months old we got you your first car in the form of a walking/riding car toy and you love to walk around the house pushing it in front of you.  You pull yourself up and cruise around the house with very little assistance now, even walking while just touching the wall to steady yourself, and you are now able to stand for nearly a minute at a time without any assistance at all.  You laugh a lot more frequently, enjoying most of all when your dad drops things while you watch (as in when he pretends to juggle).  And our favorite new physical development by far has been your new love of cuddling.  Although this age has brought with it some true signs of separation and stranger anxieties, it has also brought signs of attachment to your parents and we love it when you pull on our pant legs or reach out towards us, looking to be picked up and cuddled, and we love it when, after we lift you up for a hug, you reciprocate by placing a big, wet kiss on our cheeks, and laying your head on our shoulders while wrapping your arms around us.  Yes, this is by far our favorite age yet.

the excitement of discovery

Do you think it's too early for lessons?