You sure have kept Daddy and I busy this month. You are an extremely active boy who loves to explore every waking minute of the day. Your personality continues to melt our hearts and how quickly you are growing up is really amazing. Daddy and I have commented that you're literally learning something new every day! We find ourselves looking at each other quite frequently and saying "Did you see that?" or "Did you hear what he just said?" Here are some pics from your 10 month photo shoot. We thought it was only fitting to have this shoot from your favorite place these days...the pool!
Practicing walking
Gazing at the pool
Look at all those teeth!
I promised you only 1 more photo before you could finally go swimming
10 months...underwater style
You love going under water
Milestones/Special Firsts:
- You learn new things very quickly! We are amazed at how well you mimic sounds/words now. You say mama, dada, buh-buh (for Buckwheat now), hi, all done, wow, and uh-oh. You also say "mmmm" when you taste something you like.
- You've continued to learn sign language and have mastered the signs for more, all done, water, milky and bath. It's so cute. We say to you, "Ari do you want to wash yourself in the bath?" and you rub your hand in a circular motion over your chest. We're working on teaching you the signs for swimming, go for a walk, and please right now.
- You now have 7 teeth!
- You shake your head back and forth for "no" right before you do something you know you shouldn't. You even look over your shoulder like you're saying to us, "Yup, I'm going to do it anyways."
- You're a social butterfly! You wave hi and bye to everyone you see when we are out and about. You especially love children. You will crawl up to anyone at the pool and start playing with them. It's like you wish so badly to crawl up to them and say, "Hi, I'm Ari."
- You finished your first round of swim lessons. You won't have any official lessons over the summer, but we tend to be at the pool almost every day practicing the things you've already learned. Your next session of lessons will be in the fall with Jim!
- You visited Road America at Elkhart Lake for the first time for the Superbike races. You were fascinated with motorcycles as they zoomed past you. Your head kept turning real fast as you watched one after the other pass.
Watching the race
You rode through the pits on your Strider
Things You Like Right Now:
- You absolutely love being affectionate. You will be sitting across the room and I will say to you, "Ari, can I have a hug?" You will crawl over across the room as fast as you can to crawl up on me and give me a hug. This melts my heart every time. Also, sometimes when you're having a meltdown, I'll say to you "Do you need a hug Ari?" and you will come over right away to cash in. You still also enjoy giving "mockies" and even give them through the phone now on Facetime.
- Blowing kisses! Your auntie taught you how over Facetime. I can't believe how quickly you caught on. Now when you see her on Factime, all she has to say is "Ari, can you blow me a kiss?" and you do it without her even showing you first. It's amazing! You get so excited for your daily Facetime call with Auntie.
- STILL so very in love with your Buckwheat. This pic says it all.
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- Swimming! When you arrive at the pool, you literally start squealing as we walk up to the gate. You are Mr. Independent at the pool ...want to go everywhere, see everything, and you have "no fear". There is even a slide that you can handle going down all by yourself. However, you're always trying to crawl up to the big tube slide that you see the big kids going into. Daddy and I find ourselves chasing you all over the jungle gym in the water.
Playing on the jungle gym
- Your favorite toys right now are your shape sorting dump truck and your refrigerator gears. You can play independently with these two toys for 15-20 minutes. You concentrate very hard and your lips pucker up when you are really focused on something.
- You like to pretend you're on the phone. You pick up our cell phones or your toy phone, put them to your ear and say "hewwo". Then you babble into the phone as if you're actually having a conversation.
- Playing with Daddy's receiver and adjusting the volume of the surround sound, in addition to, pulling on the side of the TV. We must pull you away from the entertainment center 10-15 times a day.
Things You Dislike Right Now:
- Being overtired! This doesn't happen very often, but when you haven't had enough sleep, you get very cranky over almost anything. You will throw your head straight back and cry. Then you fold over onto the ground, before getting yourself back together. When you're in this type of mood, you can't decide what you want. First you want up, so we pick you up and snuggle you. Then seconds later, you want down - so then we put you down and you do the throw your head back and cry thing.
- Playing in your excersaucer - you are way "over" this now. You would much rather be crawling around exploring anything and everything than being in your excersaucer. You act like being put in there is the absolute worst thing in the world. The only time we really put you in there is when we need to vacuum, because you follow the vacuum around and try touching it. How dare we put you in that thing?!?!?
Your Dad:
Daddy is so excited to be on summer vacation with you! His summer break is a bit shorter than mine, so he really wants to live each day to the fullest. He's the first one up in the morning and graciously does the morning routine with you when you wake up around 5:30 each morning. He's also the first one packing up the pool bag, so we can get out of the house asap. I don't say it enough...your dad is so amazing. He takes such good care of you (& me) every single day.
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Helping Daddy DJ at DreamBikes
Your Mom:
I am also elated to be off on summer break with you. Spending every day with you is something I had dreamed of since I went back to work. I keep telling myself the countless projects around the house can wait...spending time with you is much more important! I'm really looking forward to more pool days with you and our big camping trip coming up in July. I've said this before....but I want you to know just how much I mean it. Everything we do is so much more fun now that you're here. I just asked Daddy the other day, "What did we ever do with our time before Ari?" Our days are so much more rewarding now that we have you.
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A special moment nursing you on the front porch
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Last day of daycare!
Watching you learn and grow is so much fun baby boy, but I wish you would please slow down! You're changing from a baby to a toddler before our very own eyes. We love you so much!
Love,
Your Mommy
And more fun pics from this month:
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In the yard
