Ten Months

How we started our month:

How we ended our month:

That hardly seems fair!

It's almost impossible to believe, but this time last year, I was sitting in a hospital bed, probably having just gotten a lovely steroid shot in the ass to get your lungs to hurry on up and mature, and now.....POOF! You're ten months old.

It's been a busy month, little man. I can't believe we were in Honduras a whole month ago, with your Tia Emi & Tio Pete snatching you away from us on an hourly basis, trying to teach you how to crawl; and now here you are zooming along the floor after kitties and rolling balls, and oh yeah, Daddy's blackberry, and anything that slightly resembles an electronic or electronic cord of some kind. You're becoming more of a handful daily; while I used to be able to blog or surf the web while you explored the world available to you at arm's reach, now I find myself throwing the computer aside as I throw myself between you and the power strip next to the television. Good times. Thank goodness Babies R Us has a big baby proofing section. And to think, I was *this* close to breaking the Babies R Us addiction.

Tio Pete passes right over the whole learning to crawl thing and starts thinking about Ethan's career as an Olympic swimmer...or beach bum.

Along with crawling, you've mastered the art of the "pull up". You started it last month with the whole "Look Ma, I could jump out of the pack and play!" stunt, but this month, you have taken on the coffee table, the jumperoo, the chair in the basement, the entertainment center, the built-in bookshelves in the basement and mommies legs. You are quite the puller-upper. Nothing cracks me up like watching you pull up on the coffee table while I am on the couch. I will sitting there watching you play on the floor and the suddenly you disappear from view for a moment. Next thing I know, I see two little hands on the coffee table. A second later, there's a forehead. And then the eyes...and the nose....and then the smile. It is too cute for words. You know it makes me giggle and you always laugh when you finally show your whole face.

The jumperoo is even more fun from this angle!

So I mentioned the basement--that's because this month, apparently right in the nick of time, Daddy & I got the basement carpeted so you'd have your very own little playroom. So far it's the best thing since sliced bread. You get to have your "a tornado of toys went through here" room and mommy kind of has her living room back to herself. It's lovely. The basement has a long way to go, but it's so great that you have a place that is totally safe and wide open to explore and play. I love watching you go from toy to toy, figuring out how they work, deciding which one is your favorite for the day. Yesterday you actually figured out how to steer the wheel on your English/Spanish ABC car. Very exciting stuff.

One other thing you've added to your repertoire this month is high-chair sitting. You were a pro in Honduras, in the little wooden restaurant high-chair. You've never been a fan of your big fancy Chicco high-chair, so we decided to get you a booster seat for home instead because they look more like the restaurant seats. And guess what? You dig it. So the fancy expensive high-chair sits in the corner, collecting dust. Fabulous. But at least you eat better now. And in restaurant high-chairs, which means Daddy & Mommy get to go out more often. Thank you!

Where's mah beer, wench?!

Speaking of eating, you've mastered the art of picking things up with your fingers and putting them in your mouth. Give you a tray and a handful of sweet potato puffs and there's nothing you can't do, my friend. Every time you pop one of those things into your mouth, you yell out in victory, and then "chew" it (you have no teeth and it dissolves, but still...) into oblivion. You're also enjoying a fine array of foods these days; we sneak you formula a couple times a day in the oatmeal. We ply you with yogurt and puffs and cheerios and veggie booty and shredded cheese. We put butter in your oatmeal and meats. You get two hardboiled egg yolks daily. And in the past two weeks, you've started getting little bits of everything that goes into Mommy & Daddy's mouths. In the past couple of days you've even been entertaining the idea of a sippy cup of formula with your breakfast and lunch. You don't manage to ingest more than an ounce of it, but Mama will take what Mama can get.

Sleeping is....well, didn't I say we weren't going to talk about sleep again until you were a year old? Yeah. Let's stick with that plan. I will say that this is the month we all started sleeping in a big king size bed and that, in and of itself, is very, very nice!

Today we took you to get your ten month pictures. They should have been nine month pictures, but we sort of dropped the ball on that one. You were supposed to go two weeks, but you had a cold & I didn't feel the need to immortalize your snotty nose forever with professional, expensive pictures. Then you were supposed to go last week, but Mommy was sick and didn't feel like dealing with the anxiety of picture-day while fighting the "hit by a bus" sensation of this year's rendition of the common cold. So we got to it today. Last time we went, you were just barely sitting unassisted. Today, you were all over the place, sitting, twisting, crawling, all the time totally irritated that I was trying to get you to hold still and constantly putting you back into position.




You've become an independent little boy, if you can even believe it. Between today's "Maaaaa, leave me be!!!" attitude at the photographer's, to the way you lose track of my presence while you're playing with your toys, it is clear to me that the high-needs, colicy baby of your newborn days is growing into a confident, independent little person. You still like to nap with me and you still love a good cuddle, thank G-d, but you also seem to love exploring on your own.

At play group, you are off and running, of course wanting whatever toys the girls are playing with and it's a riot to watch you all fall over each other to get the toy drum. I love watching you and thinking that these are your first friends and wondering how far we will all go together. Of course, you're almost the only boy in the group, so I expect you'll grow up either pulling on a lot of pigtails or being totally comfortable playing with dolls. Well, come to think of it, you did look lovely in pink the afternoon you borrowed Chloe's sweater because your super responsible mommy forgot to pack a change of clothes for swim class.

"How you doin'?" He's a big hit with the ladies...

In touch with his feminine side, Ethan models the latest in pink crocheted sweaters.

The thing is, little man, no matter where we are or what we're doing, you have the ability to make me smile, laugh and realize that there is nothing in this world more perfect and amazing than knowing that I get this front row seat to watching you grow up. Daddy laughs at me because I take pictures of you almost every day--he jokes that we'll need another house just for the photo albums. But I can't think of another way to capture everything you do and all the happiness you bring to us.