saroy

Dear Emma,

You are officially in double digits — 10 months old! And if that’s not enough reason to celebrate, we can all sigh in relief that we survived this huge doozy of a month. But first I’d rather talk about the good things. This month I got to celebrate my first official Mother’s Day as a mom myself, and that’s all thanks to you! It was a very nice day. I did my first triathlon since you were born in the morning, and when I came home you and Daddy were there to greet me and tell me what a good job I did. You and Daddy made me a beautiful photo book filled with all sorts of pictures of you and me that I must’ve looked at a dozen times that day alone. We all went out for a yummy lunch and then Daddy played with you while I took a nap. It was a great day.

Getting ready to eat some BBQ on Mother’s Day

When you are awake, you are a ball of energy, always on the go, always exploring. You still try to put pretty much anything and everything in your mouth, and I kinda wish you’d grow out of that phase sooner than later. But I know it’s just part of figuring out what things are as you scoot from spot to spot. You’ve almost entirely abandoned the arms-and-belly army crawl, since you now can cover any distance just as fast on your hands and knees. You love to stand up, and scoot along the couch and around the coffee table. I often catch myself just watching you and marveling at how much you have learned to do in only a few short months, and how much you are already starting to resemble a little girl instead of a baby.

Mmmm…comb

You are more obvious about your likes and dislikes, and make the most hilarious expressions when you are happy, confused, studious or impatient. You love sitting on daddy’s shoulders and getting to “fly” through the house while laying across my arms. You laugh like crazy when we let you sit on our big bed and then one of us jumps onto it, making you bounce and fall over. Daddy sometimes turns on PBS Kids in the morning and you watch the Cat in the Hat or Super Why with great interest and an occasional arm flap or clap of approval. And when we go out to lunch as a family on the weekends, it’s hard to even feed you since you’re so busy turning your head every which way to take in all that’s going on around you. Frankly, there’s not a whole lot that you aren’t interested in right now — well, except for the fact that after 5 pediatrician visits in 6 weeks, you have developed a strong aversion to the sight of a stethoscope. But who can blame you for that one?

Already learning how to drive

Some of your new skills this month include being able to turn off the light switch in your room when we hold you next to it and opening and closing the door to your room (although you haven’t totally figured out how to get out of the way enough so that when you pull it open, you don’t just pull it into yourself). You also discovered that you can open the kitchen cabinets one day when I was making something and you were crawling around my feet. We managed to hide that kitchen “feature” from you for quite a while, but I guess it’s time to put cabinet latches on a few of those! Your eating is also starting to evolve as we introduce more and more foods and textures. You regularly eat small pieces of fruits, veggies and bread or cereal without us having to mush them up. You got your first taste of meat last weekend (tilapia! yum!) and seemed to like it. I’m a little freaked out about the thought of transitioning away from formula in two months because, oh boy, do you still love your bottles — but you also seem content to eat almost everything else we’ve tried.

Hanging out at PF Chang’s; trying on Mommy’s swim cap

Alas, I can’t write about your 10th month without also lamenting that it was the Month of Never-Ending Sickness. Two ear infections. Hand, foot and mouth disease. A nasty infected rash as a byproduct of that stuff. A minor case of pneumonia just when we thought you’d gotten healthy again. Two rounds of antibiotics to deal with all that, plus a week of inhaler treatment. And then earlier this week you took an accidental tumble at daycare and wound up with a big bump on your nose and a slightly swollen lip. Whew. I’m exhausted all over again just thinking about it. All of my friends with kids warned me that you would get sick at lot during your first year or so of daycare so I knew this was coming to some degree, but May really kicked our butts.

“The Sick Day When You Would Only Sleep If You Were On Us”

Ironically, I think you handled all of the illnesses better than Daddy or me! When you were strapped into the chest x-ray table at the hospital, I cried more than you did. The pneumonia made you appear obviously ill for a whopping total of about 24 hours. You popped out your 5th tooth last week without a fuss, and are working on your 6th. And even though the tumble at daycare scared Dad and me quite a bit, you seemed oblivious when we stopped by to check you out — in fact, you were much more interested in getting back to the kiddie table for snack time. If you could talk, I’m certain you would have said something like “Quit messing with my nose, Mom! It’s fine, and I’m missing out on eating some puffs!”

Whether it’s pneumonia or a unexpected face plant into the carpet, you bounce back. If you can’t pick up that piece of avocado, you keep trying until you get it — or until it’s so squishy that there’s nothing left to pick up, at which point you happily suck it off your fingers. If Dad or I leaves the room without your permission, you immediately crawl right after us and don’t stop until you’re pulling at our pants to stand. Emma, you are determined and you are resilient. Those qualities will take you far and serve you well in your life. I promise to do my best to make sure you never lose them.

Love,
Mama