10 months and growing

What a busy few weeks! Caedmon has been amazing us with all his new discoveries and skills, it's been great fun. He's really transitioning from a baby into a little boy.

We visited Hamilton last weekend, and our boy had a great time learning about different toys. He surprised us when we put him on a little ride-on toy...he started pushing with his feet and scooted right across the floor. I guess he is expert enough with his walker to transfer those skills to a new toy. He thought it was great!

He also had some fun playtime with his cousin, Kayla. The first thing he did, as she was playing nicely with blocks, was to swipe both her socks and play with them. She was a little surprised but didn't seem to mind too much. He's gotten to be quick about taking off his own socks, but can't remove his shoes, so I guess in this situation he had to be content with "helping" Kayla.

Why crawl when you can walk? With assistance of course, Caedmon loves padding around holding our hands. He's really getting stronger and more steady and although he's not pulling up too much, we're seeing him making a lot of progress. At times we can help him balance, then let go, and he'll stand on his own for a few seconds before we need to catch him.

Andre and Caedmon have really had some great bonding time lately. For some reason, the cat has grown more tolerant, occasionally almost even friendly, which Caedmon thinks is great news. We're still working on "petting" rather than "grabbing," but as long as Andre's patience holds out, I think we'll get there!

Since he's already quite comfortable at the piano, Caedmon apparently decided he is ready to take up a new instrument. Daniel got his guitar out last week and he was just fascinated, wanting a piece of the action. He was entertained for some time with picking at the strings and sitting close by while his daddy played. I suspect this is one picture we'll see numerous times in the future!

We haven't captured it on camera yet, but Caedmon has also started mimicking certain gestures. We can often get him to wave at us; it's a very small wave, but adorable anyway. Daniel really gets credit for this new skill; he spends a good minute practicing waving with Caedmon every day when he goes to work. Now, not only does our sweet boy wave when we wave and say "bye-bye" to him, but anytime one of us goes out the door to the garage (as Daniel does in the mornings) he will give us a teeny little wave, unsolicited. He's also begun pointing; we try to point at objects to name them or to show him what direction to go. He doesn't point at things yet but often has one finger up. Sometimes it seems, to my mommy's eyes, like he's saying, "I have an idea!" or "Just a moment!" Although I know that's not the case, I'm sure he will discover the value of directing that pointer finger at things that he wants very soon.