We have arrived at the double digits, Lily is 10 months! I remember turning 10 years old and being able to finally use all my fingers on both hands to display my age when asked and that felt awesome, so this month is a special one for sure. Nope, Lily is no longer my sweet little lap baby, she is fully on the move and has zero time for sitting still (I may have said this last month and I definitely believed it, but movement has taken on a new meaning this month). The few times I am actually able to sit still and reflect, it truly blows my mind how fast she has grown and developed. I continue to be amazed by life.
This month has been incredible and FUN. I, however, am probably more tired now than even in those early days when we first brought Lily home from the hospital. It’s probably the combination of her needing to constantly move, me needing to let her explore but trailing right behind her and trying my hardest to even let her fall sometimes, in addition to her new (not) sleeping pattern for the past month. She wants to look, touch, lick, talk to, jump on, crawl up, tap with her hands, kick with her feet, everything within her sight (which according to the books, and my Optometrist, she has better vision than I). Basically that means she wants to get into everything. It’s incredible to watch but also difficult at times to determine what should be ‘out of bounds’ without hampering any development. It’s funny though. By the time I get her to bed around 6:30pm every day, I am exhausted, yet often find myself looking at all of her pictures on the computer until I get too tired and need sleep myself. When she first started sleeping through the night, I remember Jake and I used to stare at her monitor and want to wake her up so badly to play.
This is such a sweet thing. Lily has started to pat my back when she gets tired, when she gets hurt or sometimes just when she wants to be held and cuddled. Of course since she was brand new, we’ve always had moments of holding her close, talking softly to her and lovingly patting her back. Now she returns the gesture, a pat on my back and soft ‘baa baa baa’s or maa maa maa’s, and it just melts me.
She has started displaying affection in other ways as well. Despite my many attempts to teach her the tenderness of a loving, gentle kiss, she’s convinced the way to do it is to bite… though she does mean it in the most loving way (at least that’s what her mum is convincing herself of). It’s funny how she treats different stuffed animals. With Doctor Dancer, she shakes him up and down, up and down repeatedly. Then with her fingers she pokes very specific parts of his face. With Dragon, she gives him enormous hugs. He is very soft and fluffy and she hugs his neck tight and gently wiggles back and forth, clutching him. And with Baby, (she loves her baby) Lily holds Baby by the hands and bites her cheeks, forehead and mouth.
She obviously has learned who is who by now and routinely treats them all as she sees fit. In the mornings I lay down her polka dotted quilt. She loves seeing it up in the air, only to come down slowly and softly onto the ground (and I love doing this, as it reminds me of my childhood and being tucked into bed with the sheet soaring above my body and then being gently pulled down from my face. In the mornings, I open the pages to all the day’s books so that they stand up and she can see the cover from her crawl position. Then all of her stuffed animals line up against the couch. First I start out by my asking her, “where is Dragon, where is Doctor Dancer, where is Baby,” and so on, pausing each time in between friends so that she can provide the appropriate affection. Whenever it’s Baby’s turn, her eyes light up and she gets the “quite pleased” look on her smiley pursed lips. (then she licks them and prepares for Baby’s ‘kiss’)
I ate probably 4 ounces of mashed broccoli & peas and probably about 2 ounces of brown rice cereal with banana yesterday, Lily’s lunch. With all the crawling, standing up, bouncing, talking, pulling, pushing, biting, hugging, falling down to do in one day, there’s hardly time to eat food… or so apparently Lily believes. Some days it’s nearly impossible to get her to eat her meals and sometimes the only way to get her excited enough to actually indulge is to see her ole Momma eat as well. And no, Momma eating her yummy bagel with cream cheese and capers and tomatoes and onion won’t do, Momma must eat mashed something off Lily’s spoon. But heck, of all the things I’ve been more than willing and happy to do for that kid, I believe eating Lily mush is completely doable. Thankfully we are getting better at giving her a taste of whatever we’re eating. I learned a few weeks back that she loves Salmon in beurre blanc sauce, along with roasted broccoli.
Lily has learned a few more new tricks. She can now wiggle her own toes (sort of) and the few times she’s actually nailed that effort, she was floored! She shakes her head no if she doesn’t want something (And yes, she still thinks momma saying, ‘no’ is funny. Initially it was hilarious and adorable but I suppose we may need to address this at some point. Damn.). She knows to turn around on the couch and go feet first to land on the ground. She’s tried a few times to let go of the couch or my hands and stand on her own, only to fall a few milliseconds after. She definitely has an opinion of her own and picks which books she wants read by patting them when given a selection (Hand Hand Fingers Thumb has by far been her favorite). She has a HUGE newfound love for balloons and balls. Bachan just got her a dinosaur walking toy and watching her walk with it for the past few days has been one of the most fun things I’ve experienced since becoming mum. She is usually always in my arms or at my feet or within inches from me, so when I see her walking on her own, using her push toy 10 feet away from me, I see a little girl beginning to grow up. I took a zillion pictures of this feat today and as I viewed them (of course immediately after she went down for the night, it brought tears to my eyes) She’s growing up and I am proud of her little self.
There’s so much that’s changed over the past 10 months and when we finally do get a little quiet time to sit and reflect, our minds are blown. Jake shared with me a few nights back before we closed our eyes to sleep that we’re lucky to be alive to experience all of this. I agree and we are lucky to have given life. Lily teaches us every day to stop, reflect, “smell the roses” or rather giggle at the sun shining through the maple leaves, ritually shout out to the neighbor’s dark purple tulips as we check the mail every day. Pink flowers seem to be her favorite and she’s not shy about it either. On our daily walks, we pass a house with gigantic pink Rhododendronsin the yard and she makes all these excited, gaspy noises and then giggles. She’s intrigued by the evergreens right now, the tips of the branches are bright green with new growth. The wind solemns her and the sound of chirping birds makes her curious. She wants to see, smell, touch everything that is beautiful. I hope she has this much zest for life always. And even some things that aren’t so beautiful, a couple of twigs on the ground, a pile of dirt, some ants carrying a dead ant away, she appreciates. I hope she does this always.
Here’s to another month with you, sweet love. Your hugs and pats and giggles and smiles please me beyond word. I love you, happy 10 months, Pea!
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