She Says… 10 Months

BOOM! It has been a huge month for you, my little buddy.

The day you turned 10 months, the very tiny tip of your very first tooth poked through your gums. Bottom left. I know, it took FOREVER for you to get it. As I’ve said before, it certainly has not slowed you down in the eating department. And you took the teething pain like a champ! A handful of fussy days and sad nights, but all in all you continue your general “go with the flow” streak. As long as Daddy and I (or your favorite teacher at school) are there to give you a cuddle when you need it, you are good to go. A few days later the second one peeked through. You’re well on your way to having the cutest little pair of pearly whites punctuating your gummy grin.

And grin you do. All day long. Especially when your big brother is goofing off.

Which is all the time.

All of a sudden, your personality exploded right in front of our eyes. You move with purpose now. You have a bubbly, giggly sense of humor. You love to be hugged and kissed, and to hug and kiss right back. You squeeze my shoulder and gently pat my back when I carry you, and sometimes you’ll divebomb my face with your open mouth, gumming and sucking my cheek/chin like a big ol’ sloppy kiss. You are shockingly persistent when you want to grab or touch something and deceptively strong once it is in your grasp. You shout your words (perhaps to get a word in edgewise in our loud family?) and bob your head around to dance whenever music comes on. You make people smile wherever you go.

Owen’s favorite thing to do at the moment is squish or poke your delicious cheeks and say, “Mr. Cheeks! Mr. Face! I love you little Face! I wanna give you a smooch! SMOOCH!”. The other day you were crying in your crib when you woke up (which is rare), and I was busily making your bottle before I came in to get you. Owen danced nervously next to me, telling me to “Hurry, please”. He grabbed the bottle out of my hand as soon as it was ready and dashed into your room. His voice went up 2 octaves and he cooed, “I’m here, my baby. Here’s your bottle. You want this bottle? Here baby. I love you.”.

Gah! The love between you boys is so strong and palpable I could cut it with a knife. You are so lucky to have Owen by your side and he is so lucky to have a sweet, adoring brother like you.

Oh! Another huge development this month is WORDS. Well, you know, baby versions of words. But you are very clearly signing and attempting to say “All done!” (“Ah duh!” while twirling your hands in the air). In fact, I think we’ll count “all done” as your first “word”. You also pointedly say, “Daw!” when Schnitzel walks in the room, and “Baw!” for ball. I may have heard the beginnings of “bottle” (“bah buh”), while your chubby hand did the fist-squeezing sign language last night at bedtime. They aren’t decipherable to anyone but us at this point, but words are definitely on the horizon, my little linguist.

And finally, one of the most momentous milestones is just about here as well. Your first steps. You’ve been cruising for a month or so now, pulling your cute little body up on anything and everything you could reach. Lately you’ve been reaching for things farther and farther away, hanging on to your support with only a finger sometimes. Yesterday at school your teachers said you let go with that finger and took one wobbly step forward before plunking onto your butt and crying because you were so surprised that you were doing it by yourself. I can’t wait to see your skills myself. Doesn’t count ’til Mommy and Daddy see!

Your early walking skills seem to be following right in your brother’s footsteps (pun intended!). A few months ago I would not have guessed that would be the case. You both took such different paths (sitting and crawling at different times, very different body types, different personalities) to end up at the same spot. Remember that, little one. The road to success does not look the same for everyone, and you never know the route someone else is taking. Do not fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, because you are YOU. And do not judge others against your own path, because they are THEM. Just celebrate the successes (yours and others’) and enjoy the ride. The end result isn’t the goal anyway; the “getting there” is.

I love you so much, Emmett-y. Mr. Delicious. Mr. Cheeks. You bring so much joy and happiness and silliness and comfort to our little family. I can’t wait to watch your personality grow and change as the months and years pass.

We adore you.

Love,
Mommy