FIRSTS!! (...steps, haircut, words, sign)

Hayes took his first steps tonight! Just hours away from turning 10 months old, he took two steps on his own. With Robert, Addie, and MyMaw cheering him on, he practiced and practiced right up to bedtime. He made it to three steps in a row at one point. It's looking like he'll take off across the room any day now.

He also got his first haircut yesterday. I was pretty sad to see the shaggy curls go. The lady definitely took more off than I wanted. But alas, he is still adorable and *hopefully* the curls will grow back.

And finally... first sign and words. I'm a little late posting these because he started a few weeks ago. First sign... All Done. First words... "A Duh" (All Done). I'm excluding Mama and Dada from the first words count since those are pretty much a given.

He signs 'all done' when you stop anything, or if he wants you to stop something (diaper changes, car seat, etc). We are working on more signs, but I rarely remember to do them. Addie is much better at remembering to sign things for him. She was a major signer and loves to show him new ones.

Speaking of his sister... does this boy look like her or what?...

But I digress.

I think I've decided speech is my favorite thing to watch develop in a child. How stinking adorable are baby voices?! Hayes started saying "all done" right as he learned to sign it and almost always says it when he does the sign. I'm counting it as his first words because it is definitely the first (besides Dada and Mama) that he uses in correctly in context. But, I think his favorite word is "ought", or maybe it is "what"? Who knows. Whatever it is, he says it all the time, for everything. "Ought" is scattered all throughout the conversations he has with me. Along with lots of very serious facial expressions and intonation.

Here's to many, many more exciting firsts!