William, Month Ten

Most of this month was taken up with the excitement of Halloween, but the other big news is that William is talking! A little. He remains a lot quieter than his brother was at the same age, but he did say his first word, "Dada," and shortly after, "Hi, Dada!" (Video to follow)

When I took William to his nine-month check-up last month, he was still not really vocalizing at all - he almost never made sounds like "goo" or "dada," instead only laughing or crying, and the doctor was a little concerned.  Then I took him over to play at his best friend Cylas's house.  Cylas is one month younger than William but very vocal.  They played together that afternoon and then that evening William suddenly starting baby talking constantly - I guess he just needed someone to show him how it was done.

 

Hanging out with Cylas

Other than talking, everything this month has been much the same as the last - William loves baby music class and library story time, is almost but not quite walking, and is eating any solid food he can chew.  His favorite food these days is probably cheese, which he loves both to eat and to feed to the dogs (even though he's not supposed to).  He also loves pumpkin pie (who doesn't?).  He now has six teeth, and at the pediatrician last month we discovered that unlike his siblings, who were both short and skinny at this age, he is skinny and tall (8th percentile weight, 67th height).

Hanging out with a lungfish at the zoo

Helping me with my shopping

His first time on a slide, with me and Arthur

A trip to Travel Town with his dad:

 

At the indoor playground with Arthur:

The best day of the week, Melodies and Me on Monday mornings:

 

Meanwhile he has been such a cheerful, happy baby, virtually never crying and sleeping through the night every night.  I remember commenting on this blog and elsewhere that William was more fussy and difficult than the other children, which I just chalked up to his personality - then I discovered the sad truth that he wasn't inherently fussy, he was just hungry due to a dip in my milk supply.  We switched to a diet of solid foods and formula and now he is at least as calm and pleasant as his siblings were, if not more so.

Playing with pumpkins on the porch

Now we're counting down to William's first Halloween - then on to more walking, talking, and soon his birthday!