10 Months

My sweet baby turned 10 months old today. This morning, Jordan asked me, "Where did my newborn go?!" He's been replaced by a super active, quick crawling little boy!

Lately, I've been feeling as though I am desperately trying to fill a leaky bucket full of water. I want to freeze time so badly. With every advancement Baby Jo makes, I get happy and sad. Why must our children only be babies for a year? Couldn't we take 2 or 3 years away from  the 60+ years of adulthood and add it to childhood? Can't we let our little ones be little for a little longer? I'm so excited to see Jo as a toddler, but I don't want to trade in my Baby Jo quite yet.

There are so many things that I want to remember him doing that he will most likely stop soon. Like how he gets so excited to hold a clean diaper whenever I am changing him. He shakes it hard like a pom pom. Or how if he is holding a "toy" (for Jo, any old makeup container is a toy) while I am changing him, he will wave it against the wall rapidly to make a soft scratching sound. Or the way he ATTACKS hair! Oh, that kid and hair. I shudder to think how much hair he has consumed. He LOVES to grab it by the handfuls and shove it in his mouth. If the victim has short hair, Jo just lunges toward their head and feasts. If I'm holding him on my hip, he'll often take the end of my long hair and munch. I'll miss his sweet baby breath and his baby smell. The way he repetitively slaps his bath water with his hand so violently that it soaks his face. He never seems to notice. I'll miss how quiet and content he is in the car. So many little bits of him that will inevitably go away makes me heart broken.

He is a super fast crawler. His favorite room of the house is my bedroom, and that is for one reason: my makeup box. This baby looooves my make up (much to his father's fake concern). His favorite toy in the box is my eyelash curler, although my powder mineral eye shadow containers are a close second. Basically, he just loves to dig through the box and inevitably dump the entire thing on the floor. It's a little handy when I am putting my make up on for the day because he will happily sit next to me and play...but if I am using a certain make up that interests him....let's just say he hasn't mastered the art of sharing.

When he isn't looking through my make up, he is finding harmful objects to play with for fun. He still loves chords of all kind. I never realized how many nail clippers we owned until Jo started to crawl. It seems like he can find one in every room! He also still loves cell phones and remote controls- especially if you are trying to use one at the time. His jumper swing is still a great distraction.

Sleep has improved with Jo. His pediatrician explained that his amount of sleep per day was a little less than most babies his age. She wasn't too concerned but suggested that I stop nursing him at night. Until two weeks ago, I was still nursing 1-2X per night. Ferberizing went very poorly so we decided to let Jo cry it out at night. My mama heart shattered into a million pieces, but it didn't take long before our little guy was sleeping through the night! Hallelujah! But it is a double-edged sword. See, when Jo would have interrupted sleep each night, he would wake up between 7:00-7:30 am. Now that he sleeps soundly without interruption, he is less tired in the morning and is usually ready to start his day around 6:00-6:30 am. Blerg. I still nurse, rock, and sing him to sleep each night. I'm not ready to give that up quite yet. Jordan agrees.

Though Jo is still very social, he has become more selective with  his smiles. Before, he would give a huge open mouth smile to anyone who said hi to him. Now, he often gives them a wide eyed stare with a tight lip. He still doesn't seem to have stranger danger, though. He happily goes to the gym daycare and doesn't seem to mind being passed around from person to person at church. He seems to favor the company of children. Whenever I have a friend come over with an older child (usually 18 months or older), Jo tries to join in on the fun. He follows the children around as fast as he can. It's so cute to see a clueless toddler playing with toys around the house while a baby desperately crawls as fast as he can behind them with a smile.

He has two tiny bottom front teeth growing in ever so slowly. Many people are surprised that at 10 months, that's all the teeth he has, but I don't mind. I love the look of his gummy mouth; it makes him seem a little younger.

He has become more interactive this month. He loves to echo sounds...if those sounds are "AH!" or a fake cough. He likes being chased by me on the ground. He'll laugh and laugh and collapse on the ground from excitement. He also loves it when I open my mouth wide and he can stick a toy in it (and I try to not think about germs). That's one good thing about babies getting older, they are more aware of how to play with others.

Jo still prefers purees to solid foods. He'll drink breast milk from a bottle, but doesn't really care for water in a bottle or sippy cup. However, if you offer him water in a normal glass, he will drink forever. With each sip, he does this tiny bounce. It's delightful. He did try spaghetti recently. He seemed to enjoy squishing more than eating it.

He is working on pulling himself up to standing. No steps have been attempted yet, but I'm fine with that.

 Jordan and I are still complete and utter dorks when it comes to our baby. We often talk about how sweet and smart and adorable he is. Sometimes we will hold him together and comment on every part of his body. "Oh, look at these cute little fingers." "Awww, look at these fat feet." "I can't get enough of these chubby thighs." Pathetic, I know. I often will look at Jordan and mime my heart exploding when Baby Jo is doing something tender. We are just too in love.

I often remind myself that my baby growing older is a PRIVILEGE. I'm so lucky and blessed to have a healthy baby that gets to grow and live. I try to remember that when my grief over my growing boy sets in. He is such a treasure.

We love you, Puppy!