All caught up now

Dan's been sleeping pretty well lately. Two one- to two-hour naps each day, up to nine hours at night. All weekend, I slept when he slept during the day. Dan turned 10 months old on Monday and I finally caught up on my sleep deficit. Good thing, too. He's a bundle of energy and I've got my hands full trying to keep up with him.

On Tuesdays, I take him to storytime at the library. The group, misnamed Lapsitters, is tailored to six to 18 month old kids. My son hasn't sat on my lap since he was six months old. This morning, he was the loudest, wiggliest babe in the bunch. He shrieked his way through several of the songs, jumped up and down while I grasped his middle, and crawled all over, heading first to the big (covered) electrical socket in the middle of the floor. Actually, that's the first stop for every kid in the group. He also tried to climb on his friends, Carson and Louis, who are not so keen on his advances. Dan also auditioned some new mommies. He crawled up to various mommies and climbed on their lap. Me? I'm just chopped liver, I guess.

He just doesn't ever seem to stop moving. This afternoon, he was on the bed with Jim and I. He lunged back and forth between us, tried to climb the headboard, and tried to climb over us. And the walking ... he's walking farther and farther every day. We prop him up and let him go or he'll walk with us holding on to just one hand. He gets going so fast that I'm afraid he'll break into a run. He's had a few tumbles, but it hasn't deterred him so far.

Later on today, Jim took Dan up to the padded playground at Southpoint. Dan climbed stairs, and slid down and crawled up slides at least a dozen times, according to Jim. He was exhausted and ready for bed when we got home. Dan was actually still when I changed his diaper and didn't protest when I put on his pajamas.

So, now he's fast asleep. And all it took was nonstop activity all day long.