Time is flying!

I am so sad how I have nearly abandoned this blog. I think about it and I make mental notes of what to post but then finding the time to actually do so is another matter! We now have a 10.5-month-old little guy. He is getting into everything. He cruises along the furniture, stands up in his crib, pulls up on everything (even people's legs and has been known to nearly de-pants his teacher). He hasn't taken his first steps yet but that is OK with Mama! He is working on the upper two teeth. The lower two came in late July/early August. His newest word is "bear" as in "Mama Bear." S calls me "Bear" as a nickname and N has taken to copying his dada. So S yells, "Bear" and N follows with "Ahhhr." He misses the 'b' which is funny beause the first sound I heard him make was a 'b' sound at a young age. He is such a joy. He has a bit of a cold right now so he's extra cuddly. I walked into his classroom yesterday to find him curled up against his teacher with his blanket. She said she had been feeding another baby and N went to his crib, pulled his blanket through the slats, and went and sat at her feet and cried until she picked him up. He even brought the blanket home with him! He would not let go. Today he ate a piece of a deposit slip. I don't think I'm in the running for mom of the year but that is OK. In addition to paper (deposit slips, napkins, paper towels, advertisements, mail, etc.), he also loves electrical cords and anything else he should not be touching. He loves to pull all the CDs off the shelf and bang things very loudly on the floor. He waves hi and bye quite often now. He used to just move his whole arm up and down. Now he does more of the finger bending, you know? It is so cute; some days when I pick him up he will wave at me with both hands and then make a beeline crawling to me (head down, all very serious). It cracks me up and melts my heart. He has a posse at school now; he and two other babies (one 11 days older) move in a pack and get into everything. They make me laugh. We are going to have a playdate with the one 11 days older than him later this month. He was over 22 pounds at his last check-up. What a big boy! He is doing much better with table food now and solids in general, probably as of August. He just wasn't all that interested before. In early September he had a reaction to peanut butter. He tasted a tiny smidgen; he loves to grab whatever I'm eating and have a taste too. He broke out in hives on his nose, mouth, and neck. I was so scared! The on-call doctor suggested he was OK if he wasn't acting uncomfortable and if his breathing was OK and sure enough, he was OK. He loves the water. We went swimming three times this year and two of the times he fell asleep! He must find it very relaxing! He was not very fond of the ocean though; it was very rough the one day we went. We are planning his first birthday party, which is going to have a rubber ducky theme. The invitations are being designed and are almost ready. I cannot wait! We rented a community room near us and I'm looking forward to it very much, although not looking forward to my baby being grown. The first year is just so amazing!