Double digits! Little Oliver is ten months old — and not so little but also still just so little. Andy and I were talking about this funny thing that has happened. With each step in Joanna’s development, each month, each new thing she learned, we were amazed by just how BIG and GROWN UP she seemed. With Olly, even though he’s physically bigger and developmentally more advanced, he still seems like such a BABY! It’s the contrast of a first child when we had no comparison and a second when we also have this toddler running around with her opinions and emotions and complete sentences and ohmygod the emotions…. Well, I guess Olly will just always be our baby.

Ten months was a big one for Olly because he started CRAWLING! He hasn’t quite figured out how to get his tummy off the ground yet when he crawls, but he is so good at his army crawl. And FAST. He manages to make it from one side of the room to the other in the blink of an eye. Luckily Joey has been really good at warning me whenever she sees her brother getting close to the stairs — his favorite spot, of course. Olly is so good at terrifying me!

He has also learned how to sit up from a crawl, which is a pretty great skill because now he can both lie himself down and sit himself up. The cutest is that every time he sits up, he claps for himself! I think because we were clapping for him when he was first doing it, to cheer him on, he now thinks that’s part of the process. It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever.

He’s also trying very hard to pull himself up to standing on every possible surface. He can’t quite do it yet, but he’s close. He loves standing. He doesn’t take any little steps yet, but he’ll stand holding onto the coffee table for ten minutes.

This month we all got hit with the worst allergies/cold/nasty congestion and it was just going in circles through the family. Andy was off work sick, then I was off work sick (and Andy had to stay home to take care of the kids), then Andy was sick again, and both kids were sick, round and round… it seemed like it would never end. But we’re all way better now.

Olly also spent a lot of the month teething, poor thing, even though he doesn’t have any new teeth to show for it. He’s still hanging out with those two adorable little teeth on the bottom.

His eyes have darkened to hazel similar to Joey’s. I think they’re going to look so similar when they grow up. And that little tuft of hair that sticks up through his helmet is super adorable.

And speaking of his helmet, This week we had a checkup on his helmet progress and he’s almost done! YAY! They estimate that he’ll probably only have about six weeks left, or less if he gets a growth spurt, but either way he could be done before his birthday in August. He’s still doing great with it, but I dread hot days or taking him out in the sun even briefly because it’s like a little heater.

Ugh. I mean, I get that I’m biologically inclined to think he’s adorable… But he’s like actually really adorable, right?!! (And how cute is his stuffed puppy that looks just like Ruby?!)