Dear Addison - 10 Months

Dear Addison,

I think that I would like to pause time this month. You are at such an awesome age and I fear that the next few months will zoom by with a more mobile you.

This month you learnt how to get around the room. I'm not saying crawling because you are still a while away from that, but you can commando crawl around by using your forearms to pull yourself along. It has helped a bit of the frustration noises you have been making but they are still happenning because you want to be standing up most of the time, which you still need a helping hand with. You are getting pretty close to pulling yourself up though and you are getting more and more confident stepping around furniture. I think in a month or two you will have caught up to your little friends, some of whom are walking already! I am enjoying the restricted movement in a sense, because it is not too crazy yet.

 
You have 8 teeth now and it is mentioned in everyone's comments when they see you. You have also started chomping on the length of your fingers so those molars of yours are probably getting ready to make an appearance soon. You are a pretty good teether I think. There is a lot of drool so the bibs are out in force. You also seem to wake up about 30min after we put you to bed with such a sad cry so we give you teething powder and sometimes Pamol and you generally go back down without a fuss.

You have started biting a little bit, you got me pretty good on the cheek the other day when I thought I was getting a kiss. You suddenly bit down hard and clamped on and I couldn't get you off. There were a few tears from me then and an invisible bruise. You have also bitten me while feeding a few times which ends in yelping and you end up in tears. We are looking at slowly weaning you around the 1 year mark so not too much longer but I will miss it.

You have started to copy sounds and mimic our mouth movements. You try to say 'beep' and 'ball' but both end up being 'buh'. You can identify 'Dad-dy' and 'Mam-a'. Killer is 'La' and Banana is 'nananana!'

You are now a pro at waving goodbye but you need to master the eye contact that goes with it.

Your newest trick is turning the pages of a book. We read Hairy McLary - the touch and feel version - and I zoom through it trying to keep up with you turning the pages, stopping at the last page to feel the scratchy velcro tongue of Scarface Claw (the toughest tom in town). Touch and feel books are the only books you seem to be interested in, but we can wrangle you into listening while you brush your teeth.

You love music and enjoy toys that bang, rattle or shake. Balls are a hit and so are bubbles. Everything still goes in your mouth so we have to be careful what ends up on the floor, you are quite partial to bits of last nights dinner we didn't sweep up. You also love the mirror and play games with us when we hide from you.

You are starting to transition to one nap per day (nooooooooooo) especially if we head out in the morning. This was kickstarted by the demolition of the house next door. It was so loud and house-shaky that you couldn't sleep during the day for the few days there was work going on - and fair enough too! We have since had other road works and the concrete cutter is not your favourite.

You went swimming this month for the first time! Nana and Koro were here for a visit and we went over to one of the indoor pools. You loved it! there was no apprehension and you enjoyed being swum around. You liked being on your tummy in the water but not being tilted onto your back. Aunty Jane is coming next week and we will go swimming again with her.

Your cousin arrived two weeks ago, he is beautiful and you were quite excited to see him at the hospital, you leaned over his bassinet and smiled as you tried to touch him. I can't wait until you can both play together.

You are beautiful Addison, you make people smile and draw them to you. I love you to bits.

xx Mum