10 Months

If I had to choose one word to describe Dayton these days it would be -- busy. He's extremely mobile, fast, and curious which combined equate to busy . Sometimes all it takes is me turning my back for a few seconds and things like this happen:

I've pretty much given up on doing dishes while he's awake because he just can't stay away and wants to be helpful. Look at him ready to hand me that breakable ramekin. Yikes!

He eats mostly table food at this point and definitely prefers to feed himself which is nice because I can give him food and go about whatever I'm doing. But the obvious downside is how messy it can get at times.

As of about a week ago, he is completely weaned which I'm enjoying - especially the part where I can make Nate get up to feed him a bottle when he wakes between 4-6 am.

He's already taking steps and will probably be walking within the month. He loves toddling around holding onto just one finger and will even let go to take 3-4 steps. Since he weighs around 25 pounds, it will be nice not to have to carry him around as much, but with that increased mobility comes even more busyness and trouble. Here's a short video of some walking practice:

 

As far as sleeping through the night, he's still more inconsistent than I'd like. Some nights he does just fine and others he's waking up and screaming multiple times. I'm not sure if it's teething or what, but hopefully we'll get it sorted out soon.

One thing we love about him is how cuddly he is. He loves to snuggle, especially when he's tired. In fact, the whole cry-it-out method does not work on this kid. He likes his pacifier but isn't nearly as attached to it as Bridget was as a baby and can go to sleep without it. And he doesn't seem to care about having a blanket or not which is what Felicity has always required. He needs to be snuggled. So we hold him and rock with him until he's drowsy enough to lay down. I enjoy every single second of those snuggles and hope he stays that way for a while.