10 months

Dear Baby Girl,

Today you are 10 months old. I have a 10-month-old.

Not an infant. A baby. An almost-not-a-baby-anymore who is on the brink of being on the cusp of toddlerdom. In eight short weeks, I'll have a . . . nope. Not gonna go there yet. I'm staying focused on the here and now. On today. On today's 10-month-old.

The last month has been a blur. A blur of stressful work, a blur of your daddy being gone for two weeks and me learning how to do it all on my own. A blur of your first illness. A blur. And Somewhere in there, so many smiles and kisses and hugs and laughs. So many games. So many still moments of gratitude and fantastic love.

Every day you become more and more like a kid, less and less like a baby. You are a pro at crawling on your hands and knees now, and you are so speedy when you want to be! The funniest part is when you hit your "high speed," you squeal with the exertion of going so fast . . . or maybe you squeal with excitement at how fast you are going. Either way, it's like your voice is connected to your speed, and we can always tell when you move it into high gear. You love playing follow-the-leader (or chase, depending on who is following whom). If you are in front and we're "chasing" you, you crawl as fast as you can and then stop and look back at us, as if gauging how far behind we are and whether you have enough time and space to make a get away. If we are leading, you follow us diligently around the living room, right on our heels, cackling with glee the entire time, as if seeing us move on our hands and knees like you rather than standing up on two feet is the funniest thing you've ever seen. You are pulling up on furniture now--the coffee table, the couch, the dishwasher door, the chairs in the kitchen. You know what you want, and no matter where it is, you can get to it! You are also learning about drawers (and have smashed your little fingers in a couple of them already), and you are a pro at helping us turn on and off the light switches around the house.

Your favorite game these days is the mimic game. Whatever noise your dad or I make, you love to mimic right back to us, with a twinkle in your eye and a wide smile on your lips. Your favorite sound is the "AH!" sound your dad makes after drinking something . . . only you love to do it not only after drinking but after every bite, too! You have learned to initiate games--you'll make a noise and expect us to mimic you. You'll hide behind something and then pop out with a smile, expecting a happy "peek-a-boo!" One of your favorite games is the "pass the toy" game. You'll hand me a toy, and then point to dad, instructing me to hand it to him. Then you'll hold your hand out, demanding that it be given to you. Then you hand it right back to me. If we go out of order, you shake your hands and then point again, as if telling us, "No, no, no! Get it right!!" Speaking of pointing, you pretty much point to whatever you want these days. Want water? You point to your sippy. Want to go somewhere? You point which direction you want me to take you. You even point at the pictures on the wall that you want a closer look at. It's SO wonderful being able to communicate with you and easily find out what you want! You are also starting to be able to point to things I ask you about. I can ask you where your bear is and you point to him. Then I ask you where the bear's nose is, and you grab it! (We are still working on where Ali's nose and Mommy's nose are.) I love, love, love watching you learn new things, grasp new concepts, and gain new abilities.

You, as always, are talking up a storm. You have moved from babbling to jabbering, from the same syllable repeated again and again to your own unique little language. You talk to yourself with the lilting flow of adult language. You chuckle at your own jokes. You raise and lower your volume depending on if you are talking to me or your daddy or to yourself. If you are talking to yourself, you mutter under your breath or whisper while your busy little hands work on figuring out how something works. If you are talking to someone else, you jabber on and on and on, your volume changing with the natural cadence of language, and then you pause as if waiting for us to respond. We love having whole conversations with you! Your two favorite words right now are "dirka" and "tokai." I think you must like the way they feel in your mouth when you say them, because you will sit there and say "dirka dirka dirka dirka" or "tokai tokai tokai tokai" on and on and on! It's is absolutely the most adorable thing I've ever heard.

Your dad went on his first two-week business trip since you've been born this month, leaving you and me at home to hold down the fort. I loved our time together . . . I didn't have to share you with anybody in the short time we get together in the evenings! It was such a treat! You were a little shy around your dad when he came back home, but that is understandable--two weeks is a pretty significant percentage of your life so far! You warmed back up to him quickly though--you two are such good friends, I knew you wouldn't stay shy for long. No one can make you laugh like your daddy! (He has the same effect on me!)

This month also held another first--not a fun one but one that I knew had to arrive sooner or later: your first illness. You've had mild colds and runny noses before, but you've never had a fever. One night last week you threw up in your crib in the middle of the night. You didn't cry, but your dad and I could see you sitting up in the video monitor. Because you weren't crying, we didn't know anything was wrong; we figured you were just trying to get comfortable. By the time your dad went in to check on you, it had been almost an hour that you were sitting there. Poor baby!! I felt so bad that you had to try and sleep sitting up. Already you are such a strong, determined woman. I am amazed by your calmness and deal-with-it-ness already . . . and you are only 10 months old! I cannot wait to see what an amazing woman you turn into as you grow. (Just remember that sometimes it's okay to cry for me!) We took you to the doctor the next day and you were put on antibiotics. Luckily your fever only stuck around for one day, and soon thereafter you were back to your old ways, smiling, laughing, playing, and just generally being the most adorable, happiest little girl ever. Thank goodness!!

You are the absolute joy and light of my life. Every night, when I kiss you goodnight, I make sure to stop for just a second and appreciate you, appreciate the time we spent together. And every night my soul shines with happiness when I do.

Happy 10 months, Munchkin.

With love forever and ever and ever,
Mom