Dear Nolan: 10 months

Dear Nolan,

Last week you turned 10 months old.  I catch glimpses of the two of us in the mirror these days and it always startles me at just how BIG you look.  Long, you look so long; your legs stretching below my hips.  You look kind of like a Little Boy and nothing like a Baby.  Oh sweet child, why did you have to go and grow so quickly? Why do these days have to fly by at the speed of light?  It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we were rushing to the hospital, so excited to finally get to meet you.  And here I am, ordering decorations and thank-you gifts for your 1^st Birthday party, which is right around the corner. 

This has been one of my favorite months with you as we’ve seen your personality emerge. It was during this month that you became One Of Them. Up until this point I’ve felt like we’ve had 2 little boys and a baby.  Oh, hohoho, that is no longer.  Three boys.  We have three boys.  I know we’ve got a ways to go before you’re completely interacting and playing with your big brothers, but this month it started. Your bedroom is a frequent play area for the three of you; you got some building blocks for Christmas and your brothers like to build towers and you like to knock down towers (they like to knock them down too, but you usually beat them to it, which commences the “he’s just a baby” talk). I had a discussion a couple of months ago with someone that also has three boys close in age – he was telling me that the oldest two wrestle, fight, play hard constantly and that the third just kind of hangs back and stays out of it.  I remember nodding my head and telling him, yes, I could see this with ours.  Hahaha, that was a funny statement, and so entirely WRONG!  You suddenly have an opinion – a very strong opinion.  The other day Hutton was playing with a toy hammer in your room and put it down to pick up his board and nail, when he came back you had taken the hammer.  “That’s my hammer” he said to you as he took it out of your hands. He didn’t even have it all the way out when you started squawking; you were so mad at him.  I looked at Hutt and said – he’s mad at you for taking that hammer!  He nicely gave it back to you but you were going to let him know the injustice of it all.  Hutt looked up to me with doe eyes and said “I gave it back and he’s still mad!” Oh yes, Baby Boy, you’re in the midst of it all now.

This month you have perfected the cruising along furniture and the window sill, you can now climb stairs (quite quickly I might add – we don’t have accessible stairs for you so when you Daddy told me you were doing them at Busha’s I thought, hmmm….I set you down by the basement stairs and you didn’t even look back, climbed them all in 30 seconds flat) and have started to stand for short periods of time.  But my most favorite thing you started this month is the clapping.  Oh boy, I forgot how adorable it is to watch a baby clap.  It does not matter what kind of mood I am in, the second you start I can’t help but smile and say Yay! as I clap along with you.  You clap everywhere, in the highchair, playing of the floor, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT – and yes, even in the middle of the night it is cute.

This has been an interesting month with you regarding food and eating.  I distinctly remember the difficulties I had nursing with both of your brothers around the 9-month age – they were constantly distracted and it was so frustrating. I was anticipating this with you but it never happened.  Oddly enough, our difficulties have been more with my supply and your impatience.  Combine that with your refusal to eat purees in the beginning part of the month and I was worried you weren’t getting enough calories.  I remember dramatically putting your bowl and spoon down after another dinner you refused to eat and telling your Dad, I don’t know what to do with him!  I noticed, however, that you would eat puffs all night long so I’m not sure why it took me so long to figure out what was going on, but, well, it did: you were ready for table food.  And so we went from a limited number of purees to adding new items at every meal – chicken and turkey are your favorite but you also like kiwi, oranges, and bread. Oh and guess what?  As soon as we started giving you finger foods you started eating your purees again.  In addition to your table food, new food this month included cauliflower, potatoes, asparagus, apples, and pears.  And it seems all of this has paid off as today we unofficially weighed you at home and you came in over 18 pounds – over a pound more than last month.

At 10 months you love playing in the curtains, banging on glass (patio doors, windows, and the shower door are your favorite), petting the dog and pulling on electrical cords.  You’re not a fan of sitting still during diaper or clothing changes, eating green vegetables, or being pulled away from those electrical cords.  You are still wearing size 3 diapers (size 2 in cloth) and 6-9 month clothes but pulling out the 12-month tote is on the to-do list.  You sleep in your crib until about 1 or 2 am and then you join us for the remainder of the night. Oh, and this month you went from two teeth to six teeth seemingly overnight (four middle uppers all came at once).  And you are a total Mama’s Boy.  I’m okay with that last one.  I’m so looking forward to this next month with you, Baby Boy.

I love you,

Mama