Ten Months Old!

Dear Carolyn,

You are ten months old today. My adorable little baby is rapidly turning into an adorable little toddler! I’ve already started planning your birthday party…well, I’ve picked out the cake and set a date, does that count?

You’re starting to walk now. You walk mostly when you have something in your hands or see something you want to grab, because it leaves your hands free instead of needing them to crawl. And you are so proud of yourself: you giggle whenever you string a few steps together – especially if it’s towards a dog. The dogs are absolutely terrified that you walk now. Just wait until you learn to run!

Once again, there are no teeth to report. I promise if you haven’t gotten them by kindergarten we’ll get you baby dentures so you can smile with all your classmates. It doesn’t seem to bother you in the slightest, though. We’re entering a new phase of solid food: anything on a spoon is automatically yucky. This month you’ve tried: nectarines, papaya, wheat germ, cheese, lentils, chicken, red peppers, onion, beef, parsnips, tomatoes, turkey, mandarin oranges, asparagus and pickles! You could live on peas, ditalini pasta tossed with butter and romano cheese, blueberries, black beans, grapes, cheese, graham crackers (a.k.a. cookies) and cheerios. Thankfully, you’re generally willing to eat other things too.

You now have a vocabulary of three signs: “milk”, “more” and “all done”. You’ve figured out how to point to things, and generally get your meaning across, although sometimes I’m a bit slow on the uptake. There are times that I think you might be saying “duck” (like in the bath, with your 6 duck bath toys) and times when it sounds like you’re saying “dog” (also generally in context) but we haven’t quite declared either of those an official first word.

You definitely have a very strong personality, and a very strong opinion on what you do and do not want to do. I, uh, can’t wait to see what you’re like when you turn two! You’ve perfected a little escape move: arms straight up, legs turn to jelly, don’t bend in the middle. This makes it almost impossible to hold you in any fashion – on my hip, in my arms or on my lap. And you’re getting really good at nap and bed-time delaying tactics. You either pop your binky out of your mouth, babble at it for a bit, then drop it on the floor or try to put it in my mouth, or you do something really cute like point to my eyes, nose and mouth, where of course I’m forced to kiss your fingers.

There are moments when you are very frustrated – and frustrating! – and I wish that you were just a little older so we could talk and you could tell me what you want in words instead of crying. But then there are the other moments – like when I’ve nursed you to sleep for your morning nap and I’m just holding you in the rocking chair and you smell like milk and the cheerios you had at breakfast, and I desperately wish I could stop time just for a little while.

Love, Mommy

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