10 Months

Dear Blythe,

Today you turned 10 months old.  Which seems just amazing to me, that you are in the “double digits” already.  Those hours, days and weeks that seemed to last forever are long gone.  Ma’Maw told me that as a parent of small children, the days will last forever and the years will fly by in an instant.  I know she was trying to console me when times were tough and remind me to enjoy the moment, and I’m glad she did.

You were suddenly, violently ill today.  You threw up for the first time ever, while you were eating lunch, and I thought you were choking (although, choking on pureed soup?  Pretty hard to do.) and just as I prepared to give you the baby-heimlich, SPEW, there it all went, out of your nose and everything.  I was so scared seeing you like that, my hands didn’t stop shaking for at least an hour.  But you happily enjoyed your bath and didn’t bat an eye.  Not even when you pooped through your pants 3 times (twice before I finally realized that dressing you in white today was not the best idea) and had an equal number of baths today.  I’m so lucky that you are such a happy baby – not even the stomach flu can keep you down.

Last night you figured out how to clap for the first time.  Of course I busted out the video camera.  You have been clapping all day, and get so excited when we clap with you.  Daddy says you must be right handed, since you pretty much hold your left hand still and do all the clapping-motions with your right hand.  I say, you are pretty smart!  Because coordinating two moving hands is quite a bit tougher than just one.

You are so nosy curious, and are content to explore the things around you for what seems like an hour at a time.  You are also (so far) very good at listening when I tell you “No.”.  Sometimes you test me, to see if I’m watching.  You’ll go over to something you know you’re not allowed to play with (like the trim between the wood and tile floor), look intently at it, look at me, then smile.  I give you “the look” and a gentle, “No, Blythe” and you’ll just mosey on, to find something else.  You pull yourself up on just about anything these days, and I think you’ll be trying that first step pretty soon.
            
My life is so much richer with you in it – harder, yes, but that isn’t your fault.  When it’s just you and me, life is EASY, which is why I find it so hard to believe I never got anything done when Alison was your age.  You are everything I ever could have hoped for, all those months we wished for you, and then some.

Here I am, one year ago, anxiously awaiting your arrival:



All my love,
Mama