SLOANE AT TEN MONTHS

When you are raising a baby, the nature of it is such that the current moment consumes you so that it is difficult to grasp what it might be like even just a few months down the road. So when parents who have gone before me told me things like, ‘the first few months will go by SO fast’, you can understand that concept with your mind, but it isn’t until you are at the other end of those first few months that you are like, ‘HOLY MOLY. That went by fast.” – and then are quick to disperse that tidbit to other parents who are in that stage, even while knowing that they won’t know until they know. Another thing that several parents told me is that the age of 9 and 10 months start getting really fun and get increasingly better each month. I remember grasping to try to imagine what that might be like, but now that I’m in it, I wholeheartedly agree. These days, Sloane keeps K. and I laughing and fascinated at all the new things that she is learning and doing.

She is getting to be quite the walker. She is all over the place and she is getting quick, too. When she is trying to walk especially fast, her legs get a little bow-legged and off she goes. She often imitates our facial expressions – making ‘O’ faces, wide-mouthed faces, and blowing air right back in my face when I blow on hers. She eats like a champ; it seems like her appetite for food has vastly increased in this past month, and she is eating all sorts of fruits, vegetables, tofu, beans, and meats... like a big human!

I love watching how she discovers things. It really makes me look at regular everyday objects in a new way. Watching her as she looks, really looks, at an object - turning it over in her hand so that she can see every side and aspect of it – is one of my favorite things.

One other change is how she clings to me more. Perhaps this is her figuring out where her home base is, as she ventures further and further out into the world. She definitely recognizes me and K. as her people, which is good, and I love how she comes tottering over to me with a smile when she needs a rest or a reassuring hug. It also means that she whines more to be picked up and sometimes has more stranger aversion, which is new, but she is figuring out her perimeters. She also does this thing with Rusty where she starts walking over to him really quickly and excitedly, but if he starts running in her direction, she immediately turns around and comes back to home base (me). She also automatically wraps her arms around my leg if there is a loud noise or she gets surprised. It feels good to be somebody’s home base.

....another balloon??

TWO balloons!