Month Ten

Dear Maia,

Today you turn ten months old, and I must say, I would keep you at this age forever.  You, right now, are more perfect than you’ve ever been, more loving, more playful, and more interactive; our days are filled with smiles and laughter.

The big news this month is that you’ve mastered the art of walking.

You love to walk, and we love to watch you walk.  You are so steady on your feet that it looks like you’ve been walking for a heck of a lot longer than you have.  And it was funny, Maia, how you suddenly decided — just like I knew you would! — to start walking one day.  I went to work and you were cruising along holding on to furniture; I came home, you walked over to greet me, and that was that.  You were walking.

This has lead to a whole new way of living for us, because now you follow us (me) everywhere, and you are FAST.  You are REALLY, REALLY speedy. I literally have to speed up a bit if I’m trying to get into the washroom without you, because you are right at my heels.  Then I close the door in your face and you scream bloody murder while beating on the door and honestly, all I can think is this is gonna get so much worse once she learns how to use the doorknob. Sometimes I just bring you in with me and put you in the bathtub, where you eat the loofah or chew on your favourite thing, Daddy’s tube of toothpaste.  It’s better than constantly wrestling the toilet brush away from you or rerolling up the toilet paper after you unravel it with a glee that I thought was only reserved for lolcats.

You like the bathtub a lot better when there’s water in it, though.

You see, you’ve also learned how to splash, which is, as we all know, pretty awesome.  You splosh, splash, splish and make a mess and have a grand old time, all while your poor Mommy or Daddy try to wash your hair without getting suds in your eyes from all the wiggling you’re doing.

Lately you are really trying to talk.  I can tell when you’re babbling — mamamama — and when you’re genuinely trying to call for me — mmmuh MUH — and it’s really awesome that you’re exploring language.  We often ask you to say “Dada” to which you grin slyly and reply “Mmmuh MUH!”  Keep it up, baby girl.  It’s hilarious.

Along with this learning to speak thing, you’re also clearly learning to listen.  Your favourite word right now is “nice”.  It’s what we say when you touch the dogs gently, and you smile widely, your dimple deepens, and you squeal with delight because you are being “nice to puppies”.  You often flail your arms in excitement, which scares the dog away and somewhat defeats the purpose, but you are also learning how to be quick, and you will try to snatch at a retreating paw.

Your least favourite word is “no”.  Oh.  My.  God.  You hate being told no.  We’re only using it when we need to — NO, you cannot pull the wires.  NO, you cannot open the gate to the kitchen — but you react as if this is the most infuriating thing you have ever heard, the most irrational and stupid, and then you start with the wailing and screaming and your face goes totally red as you glare with dark, anger-filled eyes at whichever one of us has dared to tell you no.  Maia, I must admit, I have a hard time not laughing when you do this.  Seriously?  You want to throw a temper tantrum at me because I won’t let you give yourself electric shock?  Well, go right ahead then.

Fortunately, you haven’t learned how to say “no” yet (I dread the day you do) but, you do mimic our fake coughing.  This is something your daddy found out when he was making funny noises at you and you started to repeat them back, and it’s completely hilarious.  You are so proud of yourself as you make these fake little hacking and coughing noises from the back of your throat, and we try to keep up with you, but we end up laughing too.  Oh, speaking of, you’re learning to fake laugh.  That’s also hilarious.

The one thing about this month that has sucked is your sleeping “pattern”.  I use the word “pattern” because while you do have a fairly regular bedtime and wake-up time, the time in between them is completely erratic.  Will you wake up three times or five?  Will you sleep in your crib or will one of us have to take you into the nursery to snuggle?  And in line with this, your nap schedule is fairly irregular too.  It seems like whenever I’m at work, you nap for two hours around noon, but when I’m home you might sleep for an hour anytime between 10 and 3, and then you’re done for the day.  Maia, I don’t know if you know this, but according to the book I received from the author herself (Ann Douglas, you rock), only 11% of babies your age take only one nap per day.  And that’s fine, if you want to continue being extraordinary, but for the love of all that is holy, that nap needs to be longer than one hour or you are pretty much a disaster by the end of the day.

Really, though, crappy sleep isn’t too much of an issue when you are so damned charming and loving the rest of the time.  Lately, you really enjoy being read to, and you will sit with me while I read the same book to you three times, then carry it over to your Daddy, hold it out to him, and squeal with delight as he reads to you again.  It’s awesome.  I mean, it makes me realize that we probably need to get you a few more books, but still, it’s totally awesome.

Not that I’m dropping any hints as to what you might be getting for your first Christmas or whatever.  You are just going to have to wait and see!

All our love,
Mama & Dada

Tagged as: family, love, marriage, motherhood, parenting