The Travis Family Blog: 10 Months

Before I update about Christmas and the New Year I want to step back and talk about how crazy it is that Joel is already 10 months old! Here he is sporting his super adorable Osh Kosh overalls!

We enjoyed our first fall as a family of three. I made a mental bucket list of things we wanted to do and we were able to complete most of them. Our favorite memory was taking Joel on his first camping trip at the end of September. It was a blast and we look forward to many more nights spent in our tent in the years to come.

Camping @ Turkey Run State Park

Joel is a bottomless pit though you wouldn't know it by looking at him. He is small for his age, 25 percentile, but he LOVES food. He loves to sit in his highchair and feed himself. There are few things he won't eat: yogurt, peaches, avocados. His favorites are chicken, peas, and pears. He has also started needing more milk throughout the day which has been quite this adjustment for this working momma.

This fall he started attending "daycare". In September I started a new job at Purdue, working part time in Liberal Arts Career Development. It was a hard adjustment for me but thankfully we are blessed with a wonderful childcare situation. Because of Phil's work schedule we were able to work things out so Joel only spends 10 hours a week away from his parents and his house. Those hours are spent with our wonderful friend and neighbor, Amanda, and her 3 kids. Joel loves it! It is such a comfort knowing he is cared for so well while I am away.

Just before thanksgiving Joel decided that he wanted to be able to explore the world on his own. He now crawls everywhere at a fast pace, pulls himself up on furniture and more recently the kitchen cabinets, and tries to climb up the stairs. He is really not interested in standing on his own which is fine with me for the time being. This new found independence has been fun to watch. I now sweep the floor multiple times a day and vacuum at least twice a week in hopes of keeping things out of Joel's mouth which has become a human vacuum.

Joel loves being outside. This year we enjoyed an incredibly mild fall with days in the upper 60's through November. We went on several walks, crawled around in the yard and spent time in our backyard swing. There is so much to see outside and Joel can often be found standing on the back of the church pew looking at the world through our living room window.

Swinging in the backyard

Joel's favorite activities include closing and opening any door that is cracked, turning off the light switches, taking baths, turning pages in his board books, and knocking over block towers. He still loves singing and going to church. He loves people and has recently had a few play-dates with some new baby friends.