happy boy

i think i can, i think i can...

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broken

the first casualty

i need a nap

swimming is exhausting!

i climb

yes, he's still our little monkey.

10 months!

we are 83 percent of the way through the first year with mason and still loving every minute. our warp-speed crawler is into everything! no really, i mean everything. from drawers and cabinets to camera bags and purses, it seems that nothing escapes the curious grasp of our little monkey. while we've childproofed a LOT, we've also come to the realization that he (and we) are going to have to find some middle ground. one of mason's more endearing traits at this point is crawling toward something he knows he's not supposed to touch (i.e. the laptop, armoire cabinet door, dog gate, just to name a few) while shaking his head no.

speaking of the word no, i've become very aware of how often it comes out of our mouths lately! my goal for each day is to say other words to mason more often than i say no. some days this is an easier task than others! most of the books i've read say that children don't understand "no" until sometime after their first year. i disagree. mason seems to fully understand the concept this month. the first few days we noticed this were marked by him bursting into tears any time we told him no. thankfully the crying part was short-lived and now he just stops what he's doing and finds something else (mostly!)

other milestones this month include signing the word "more" (the only one so far -- we're working on milk, eat, bath, sleep, and occasionally diaper), attempting to climb, cruising around the furniture, taking a few tentative steps, following us from room to room, and pulling up on us (instead of just stationary objects). mason also stoops to pick up items and is much more adept at standing and sitting gracefully.

he still has just two teeth, but has been trying various food from our plates which don't require much chewing. rice and beans from lupe tortillas and pappy's home grown watermelon seem to be his favorites so far.

and mason's smile and ticklish giggle continue to light up our days. we just can't imagine life without him.

lover of flip-flops

mason has an uncanny knack for finding flip-flops... seriously, ask any of our friends - he can spot a flip-flop from a mile away. while we concur that flip-flops are the coolest, we really wish he wouldn't try to stick them in his mouth...

we learned from these pictures (other than our house was quite messy on sunday!) that we own a lot of flip-flops... and they need to find higher ground during mason's flip-flop obsession days!