10 months old

The day after Evan turned 10 months old it was like a switch was flipped in his head and he started crawling everywhere. He's been crawling for months, but staying in the living area. He started crawling down the hallway and sometimes into the office, but never ventured anywhere else and didn't crawl for long distances. However, all of a sudden he is all over the place! It was so weird how it happened...one day he was staying close by and the next day I couldn't keep him out of the kitchen, utility room, bathroom, office, and bedroom! Not that I necessarily want to keep him out of all those places, but I just have to watch him in those places. And if I ever do try to keep him in the living area....well...yeah right. lol He will try to go where he wants over and over and over no matter how many times I move him.

We're having a good time and I have to say, it's more entertaining now that he's on the move all the time. Sometimes it's hard, but for the most part I don't mind. He's also started trying to get into the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom drawers. I put a lock thing on the cabinet doors under our kitchen sink since I have some cleaners in there. I am planning on putting drawer locks on the drawers in the bathroom because they are very easy to pull out and he often hangs on them and then loses his balance and falls on the tile floor. Other than that I don't plan to baby proof any more than that except for putting a lock on the toilet lids.

He has 3 teeth (two bottom and one top), but he's been very cranky and clingy this week. Earlier in the week he only wanted me to hold him. Not my mom, not my sister, not Matt... just me. And he was whining constantly. This lasted a couple of days. I knew it was teething, but that fourth tooth still hasn't broke through (well, I haven't looked today, so maybe it has by now). His first tooth was rough. He was fine until the day after it broke through. Then it was 4 days of constant whining and fussiness. His second and third teeth were fine. He cried one night in NO with his second and then with his third there were a couple of nights I think it was bothering him, but nothing like before. And now this fourth one is rough too.

He is starting to walk around while holding things much more. He's been doing it for about 3-4 weeks now, but just since last week he's doing it more and more for longer periods of time. It's hard to get him to "walk" to me because he knows perfectly well the best way to get around is by crawling. So when I want him to come to me he sits down and crawls. lol

I'm trying to teach him to clap and do the "so big" motions when I ask how big Evan is. Some of his friends do that so of course I want Evan to do it. ;-) He has no desire to sit still long enough to do those things though! I try to sit and interact with him, but he wants to move!! However, he is more cuddly than he was a few months ago. He'll sit in my lap while I read books to him. Throughout the day he'll climb up into my lap just to give me a hug. LOVE LOVE LOVE that!!

He kissed Matt for the first time last week and then on Monday he kissed my sister for the first time. It was so sweet because he was going to kiss Melissa, but she didn't know what he was doing so she pulled away. I told her I was pretty sure he wanted to kiss her. So she held still and he went for her again. She moved towards him slightly and he slowly moved towards her and gave her the gentlest kiss! It was like he knew she didn't understand the first time and was trying to be slow and gentle for her. So far she's the only person he's kissed except Matt and I. He loves giving my mom hugs now too though.

He's saying more sounds now. He started babbling "dadadada" last week. I think soon he'll be saying "dada" meaning Matt since he babbled "mamama" before saying "mama" meaning me. He's also saying sounds like "ninini" and "nienienie" (that just started the past 2 days) and today he even said something that sounded like "okay."

So what are your 4th of July plans? The town Matt and I usually go to to watch fireworks is having their parade and fireworks on the 3rd this year since the 4th is on a Sunday and they don't want to interfere with church plans. However, Matt RSVPd to go to a wedding on the evening of the 3rd (ugg, I told him I didn't want him to go, but he insisted...and it isn't even for a friend of his, it's a co-worker and it's 3 hours away). So I'm just trying to decide if I'll go watch the fireworks with my family without Matt or if I should wait for him and go with just him and Evan on the 4th (when they have fireworks in downtown Charlotte). I just love the town's fireworks and I wanted to go with my family. But...I don't know how Evan will act the first time he sees fireworks. I'm afraid he might hate it and scream and cry.

How did your little one react to fireworks for the first time? How old were they?