10 months.

Max will be ten months old on the 29th of this month. The time is flying much faster than I'd like it to be--it's inevitable, right? Still--too fast. Ok, what's Max been up to--everything! His curiosity levels are screaming and he's everywhere now. And I think he finally knows his name, "MAX!!". Unfortunately, the way he hears it is, "MAX! get that out of your mouth", "MAX! get out of there!", "MAX! stay here!"... the list is almost endless. The really cool thing about him is that I think he actually listens and it responsive to what Amy and I ask of him. He likes to pet the cat and does so gently. While he's petting the cat he makes high pitched little sounds that make us think he's actually trying to communicate with the cat--almost like a different kind of baby-babble that we usually hear. He appears very careful and makes mistakes only once. In particular, he made the mistake of hanging off of the oven door handle and it opened on him tossing him to the floor, he cried and I consoled him. Now he crawls past the stove, looks up at the handle and does not touch it--he gets that it's dangerous. For this reason, we really don't have the house very baby proof except for a few things. Max seems to be very careful not to get into situations that he can't get out of while still exploring.

He seems fascinated with anything that he can get his hands through. He seems to understand some cause and effect situations. If an object is blocking something he wants, he will do everything in his power to move it or push it aside. The other day I had my hand on a magazine because I didn't want him to tear it. He made an effort to pull my hand at the wrist. When that didn't work, he grabbed my pinkie and pulled back--hard. So now he's learned that pulling back on my pinkie makes me move my hand--he's really strong so it does hurt. I know that he's learned this because he did it with Amy. He has many toys but seems to be fascinated by simple things like, buckles, keys and small shiny things. I still remember that the first thing that fascinated him were spinning ceiling fans, he doesn't look at those anymore.

He notices many more things now like airplanes, helicopters, ambulances, certain sounds that machines make. He's not pointing yet but he is aware that we live in a busy world and he's noticing everything.

He eats everything. His diet still consists of small, soft foods because he still only has two little teeth on his lower jaw. Amy and I went out for sushi this evening. While we were waiting, Max got to sample miso soup and tofu--it's soft enough for him. He was loving it and asked for more. So far he seems to like almost all veggies and fruits. As with most kids, the sweeter the better. He loves ice cream particularly because he asks for it while he's getting it spooned by saying--"ah, ahhh, ahhhh!". Amy cooks a wide variety of foods so Max is developing a very diverse and eclectic palette.

He climbs stairs effortlessly now. He can stand firmly without wobbling and the most steps I've seen him take on his own are three. He can walk fast when he's holding on to something like furniture, the wall, us. Amy feels that he'll be walking by the time he's one which is in two months--geez, I can't believe he'll be one--just too fast...