You are ten months old. For some reason, this is hard for me to say/swallow/accept. I think it's because pregnancy lasts nine months, so nine months is as far as my mind has counted for my baby before. Saying you are "ten months" seems foreign to me. Can it be?
You weigh 21.8 lbs and are 30 1/2 inches tall (hopefully I'm measuring correctly now)! You are mostly wearing twelve-month size clothing. Eighteen-month onesies fit perfectly, although the twelve months still fit, just more snugly. You have a couple nine-month size button-down dress shirts that fit, because for some reason they make those really large compared to other baby clothes. You are about to outgrow your twelve-month footed pajamas, since those cover your entire length. You have eighteen-month pjs that fit perfectly, and some 2T which have room to grow but we're using them already. You wear size 3 to 4 shoes. Your hair is light brown, and your eyes a beautiful chocolate. Your skin is pretty fair and Caucasian, but has some of my olive undertones. I can tell when I edit photos of our family, because I look yellow, you look perfect, and your Daddy looks pink!
Your speedy crawling and penchant for learning and touching and tasting new things advances almost faster than I can keep up. There's so many little things I want to remember from your ninth month.
The TOP (not bottom) of your white socks are grey and dirty by the end of each day, from dragging around on the floor while you crawl.
Your first tooth arrived on Christmas morning! It is your bottom right tooth.
You were sick on Christmas Eve. So sick that we had to take you to urgent care that day, out of town, away from the doctors we know and trust, away from our natural remedies. The albuterol breathing treatments calmed your breathing down after you started wheezing and gasping for air in the urgent care waiting room. The antibiotics (azithromycin) and lung steroids (prednisone) you vomited up within minutes of swallowing them, and the little bit we got you to keep down (about 1/2 tsp), gave you diarrhea for the next three days. Since I'm not a big fan of drugs in general, these side effects certainly reinforced my desire not to put these things in your body. You only kept down about one dose of each drug, on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and I didn't give you anymore after that. When we got home, we visited our naturopath and pediatrician. The naturopath gave us a bunch of homeopathic drops to help clear up your ongoing lung and sinus congestion, coughing, and drainage. The pediatrician felt it was probably a virus and advised us not to try to complete the antibiotics. By the time we saw him, he said your lungs also sounded clear and no sign of an ear infection. It's really hard for a momma to see her baby so sick. You were listless, silent, and nearly motionless in the baby carrier for Christmas Eve morning until we got you the breathing treatment. That was what seemed to help the most. I'm still not sure how much of the illness was viral, and what was teething-related, but I'm glad to report you were better within a few days of returning home and taking the homeopathics.
Your first Christmas was so much fun (other than sickness). You watched and listened and played (and slept and nursed a lot to get better). Your Daddy and I gave you a soft nativity set for your Christmas gift. From the family, you received all twelve of Psalty's Kids albums, which I listened to hundreds of times growing up. You also received several board books, a toy car, and a small toy train that pops beads when it rolls.
At meal times, you are eating more food. I've started feeding you yogurt, which you adore, but no other dairy yet. I've also given you small bites of gluten-free crackers and muffins, once you've eaten plenty of fruits or veggies.
The funnest part of about meal times is how darn cute and entertaining you are! The family often sits around after meals just laughing at your antics and enjoying the little things you do. Who needs any form of entertainment when you have a baby around?!
Your favorite toys are anything that isn't a toy. The dishwasher might be top of the list. You've been assigned to the chore of unloading the dishwasher, and you do really well with the utensils. The problem is you unload them onto the floor, so we have to wash them again.
The pantry is another big favorite. There are some metal drink dispensers that you like to bang on. You can pull up on the lowest shelf, and pull cans down to the floor. You can reach the bin of empty water bottles and reorganize them.
On the fridge we have lots of photo magnets, which you like to pull off. You stand on your tiptoes and stretch your hand as high as you can, and drag down the few photos we've put near your level. Your favorites are the one of your Texas cousins (your playmates), and the one of your Daddy and I. Once you get them down, you plunk down on your rear and touch the faces one by one.
You're starting to learn how to use your hands to communicate and mimic.
Whenever we run errands, I let you push the big button in the garage that opens the garage door. You hesitate and smile, because you know what's coming. Then you push it, and it starts opening or closing with a huge creak and rumble, and you jump in surprise and giggle and kick your feet in delight. Every time.
I haven't been teaching you baby signs, since it is controversial as to whether they help or inhibit verbal communication. However, some of your Aunties have tried to teach you signs. You seem to have the idea that you can use your hands to communicate. They've tried to teach you "more", "all done", and "milk." You do the gesture for milk many times during the day, when you're clearly not hungry. But here and there, you've used it to say "I want something," which may or may not be food of some kind. When you are all done with your food, you clap your hands together once or twice.
You also are just now learning to wave bye-bye. It is adorable to see your little hands waving!
You use "ma-ma" to refer to me, or any of the other females in the house when you want them to pick you up. You crawl over to someone's ankles, pull up onto their pants, and ask pitifully, "Ma Ma?" until they swing you into their arms.
Since getting your tooth, you have discovered your tongue! You wave it in and out of your mouth, and make "la la" and lather lather" sounds. You sometimes stick your tongue waaay out when you're eating, just to see how it makes the food fall right out of your mouth.
Of course, you are also learning that you can bite things now. You've bitten me nursing about three times, and bitten my shoulder once. Each time, (after I yelp ow!), I pinch your cheek a little, and tell you in a stern voice, "Don't bite Momma!", and set you down on the floor away from me. You wail and wail and wail. I'm barely pinching you enough to feel it, let alone cause you pain, so I think the pain you are feeling is that of discipline. You have a very soft and sensitive spirit. I think you know you are being disciplined, that I am not approving of your behavior. It makes you sad to feel separated and to feel my disappointment with you. It makes me wonder if you will be "easy" to discipline, because it won't take much to bring you to a place of sadness, not wanting to disappoint us. After thirty seconds or so of you sitting on the floor wailing, I pick you up and hold you, and tell you again, that you can't bite, that you need to be gentle, that I love you anyway, and I forgive you.
Now there's been a few times that you've started to bite my shoulder, and I tell you in that low voice, "Don't bite," and you immediately look at my face, and stop biting. You are learning quickly, which makes me happy, because I don't like to discipline you.
I "think" you are also saying, "Dog." It sounds like "ohp?" Dogs are one of your favorite things. You try so hard to pet and play with Auntie Priscilla's dog, Eve, but she is old and blind and doesn't like playing with babies. She just trots away from you when she hears you coming. Sometimes you interpret this as her playing hide and seek, or crawl and catch, with you, and you giggle and try to chase her or run away from her. Pretty soon, you realize she's not playing, she just walked away. And you move on to other toys.
Our neighbor has indoor dogs, but they come outside several times a day. When you hear them barking, you immediately stop and listen, eyebrows raised. I tell you, "Dog!" And often we walk outside to greet them. You extend your hands to them to lick, and you giggle and kick your feet.
At a thrift store in Houston, we bought you a small Little Tykes "coupe" car. You were reaching and reaching for it, and when we set you down in it, you turned the steering wheel around and around, and were so happy. We brought it home, and you like to be pushed around the house in it, or take walks outside in it.
We've tried to put you in a walker and a doorway bouncer, but you are not a fan of either one. You are not a fan of being stuck in some baby prop, in general. So they've been sold to make way for other toys you like better.
Just last night your Daddy was playing "catch" with you, using a very soft ball. You sat in my lap while I helped you catch and throw or roll the ball. You giggled more than I've ever seen you giggle!
Your naps are starting to transition from two, to one. You've been taking two naps for a couple months now. Usually the morning nap was 60 to 90 minutes, and the afternoon nap anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Now, some days you still follow this pattern, but other days, if you and I have slept in until eight a.m., you will just take one nap around 12 p.m. I follow your lead by watching your sleepy signs, and helping you fall asleep when you are tired. Often, you're taking your second nap at five in the afternoon, which isn't far before bedtime, but you are so tired you really need that nap!
It's taking you less time to nurse to sleep at night, so now we bathe you at seven p.m., and you're asleep around eight p.m. You still wake up three or more times a night, which is getting tough on me. Around five months old, you were sleeping through the night, or at least six or seven hours straight, but that hasn't happened in a long time. I'm trying to figure out some new solutions to help you sleep longer stretches at night.
One of your favorite activities is reading books. I've been taking you to the library every two or three weeks, and picking out a handful of board books. It keeps things interesting for me to have the books changing. Underneath the couch is our stash of library books and books we own. I read the entire stack of ten or more books to you every day at some point. You sit still and take it all in. Pretty much as long as I am willing to read to you, you are willing to sit with me and listen. You help turn the pages or lift the flaps or touch the soft fabrics in the touch-n-feel books.
Anything that opens with a hinge is a big attraction to you right now. Lift-the-flap books fit this need perfectly, as do cupboard doors and regular doors. You also like playing with buckles or latches (like on a decorative trunk I have), and pulling zippers down (like on my windbreaker or sweat jacket).
Your Daddy's newest nickname for you is Jaxeroni.
And, it is a new year! You have now lived in parts of two calendar years, with hopefully many more to come.
I pray that as your body is growing stronger, your spirit will grow stronger. That as your heart becomes tender to us, it becomes tender to Jesus.
