TEN.

Oak Jackson, 

today, you are ten months old, and...

I love you.

You bring so much joy to my life. 

I am learning so much from you and through you.

You are one amazing boy.

I love your backwards laugh, and the space between your teeth.

I love your superman curl and how your hair goes to a point in the back, on the left side.

I love that you laugh when others laugh and clap every chance you get.

I love that you love the itsy bitsy spider and butter-cup.  Best lyrics ever.

And that you think the best book in the whole wide world is "Shake It Up Baby."

I love how excited you get when you are going after something, and how broken hearted you are at the smallest things.

I love that you love trucks and cars and trains and wheels and airplanes.  

I.LOVE.YOU!!!

happy ten months dude.

this month...

You are "cruising" a whole lot more...and a lot faster.

I'm ready for you to walk so you will be further away from germs. :)  Makes sense to me.

-you colored all by yourself with markers for the first time.  you prefer your skin way over paper.  so, we bought some crayons.

-you are a champ at waving.  i love it. hi. goodbye. all the time.

-still giving high fives...but now we are working on "knucks."

-you are eating A LOT of new things...yogurt, hard boiled egg yolks, zucchini and summer squash, asparagus, cheese, blueberries and the list goes on...
AND your first ice cream cone!

-we played and swam at Mama's house.  Grandma has this exact picture of me looking out these windows...

-you have conquered feeding yourself puffs and yogurt melts...for a while you really emphasized your pointer finger and thumb little pincher action...VERY meticulous (that might just run in the family)...you are even taking bites with your new teeth

-speaking of TEETH, top two...CHECK.  goodness gracious those two caused some snot and congestion and ear infections and sleeping out a wackiness and pain... BUT they are quite lovely and i think you will find they will come in handy.  you are pretty cute with teeth.  i secretly hope you keep a space in between the top two.  AND your two fangs are coming in also!  wow, four on top!

-you went on your first real beach trip (Cali. was more of an ocean viewing)
you didn't much care for the sand or waves the first day, but each day you liked it more and more

-Norman still doesn't care too much about you...BUT yall  have started playing ball together.  you like it. he doesn't.  you hold the racquet ball in your hand and norman tries to get it.  we throw the ball, then force norman to bring it back.  again, you like it. he doesn't. BUT we are working on it.  I gave Norman a big ol' lecture the other day about shipping him to Mama's house if he didn't start loving you.  I think its  working...

-you went to Louisiana for the first time (even before we drove through it on our way to Alabama.)  We went on a retreat between Baton Rouge and New Orleans...i'll have to do a post about this trip.

-we celebrated Pa's birthday with Parker

I love you Oak Jack.  

TEN MONTHS.  TEN. TEN!  

This mama is in full party planning mode...at least in my head.
Man oh man...this is gonna creep up on us!  2 months. ready. set.
I'm so excited.
You are going to be ONE. A whole year.

BUT...TODAY you are ten months, and I'm so glad.  I love you today.