Ten Months.

– is basically as mobile as it gets without actually walking. He crawls as quickly as the speed of light, pulls up and cruises around while holding on to things.

– is a cautious little guy. I keep trying to get him to walk or stand just holding one of my hands, but he’ll try to sit down instead of doing that. At least he knows his boundaries and limits?

– cannot handle being ‘fenced in.’ If I try to create a baby-safe (not baby-proof) area, he whines and cries until he can roam free. He doesn’t actually get into much trouble roaming and it makes him far happier (ie: easier for me), so I oblige. He’s ten months old and we’ve already given up on the idea of baby-proofing. J-j-jaded.

– can most often be found holding on to the side of his crib and jumping up and down on his mattress after he wakes up. It’s pretty much adorable.

– continues to overlook his toys in favor of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else. Alas.

– is still 50th percentile is height (29 inches) and weight (22 pounds) for his age. After growing so fast and breezing through his outfits, I’m sort of glad that he’s going to be able to wear the same clothes for a while, since we already have SIX boxes of clothes he’s grown out of.

– got a new stroller. Hurrah!

– has his own version of baby signing: when he wants to nurse, he pulls down the front of my shirt or hugs my boobs and buries his face in them. It’s quite charming in public.

– still doesn’t exactly have a schedule.  It’s a day-to-day exploration of how much he’ll want to nap and eat. I am honestly amazed by parents who give their babies three meals a day, nurse them every three hours, and have naps at 10 am and 2 pm. I just…am far too lazy for that. He has a bedtime that we stick to (except if we want to go somewhere at night, which we’ve been doing…most nights lately), so there’s that. Some people might say that I am not giving my child enough structure, but I say I would likely go insane if I had to plan everything around when Gabe is napping or his bedtime, and Gabe needs a sane mother more than he needs a rigid schedule. (I am not saying my way is better, Some People. I am saying it works for me. I feel like I have to clarify myself a lot lately. I don’t think I’m a better person than anyone.  Except maybe Casey Anthony. I encourage you to find out what works for you and do that. We can still be friends. Promise.)  (I was just kidding about Casey Anthony. She might be a better person than me.)

– sleeps through the night most nights (he’d just started to do this last month, but I forgot to tell you.) I never thought I’d get to sleep seven or eight hours a night. HALLELUJAH!

– has been wonderfully affectionate lately, what with the kissing and the cuddling.

– is just FIFTY EIGHT days away from being an entire year old. It’s both insane, exciting, and makes me weepy. No more baby! :(

– made my first ‘mom friend’ at a park. We went out to coffee and baby storytime at the library. I want to blog about making mom friends. Because, dude.

– am really good at saying, “I’ll blog about that,” then failing to. Oops. I currently have half a dozen posts in draft, which I never do.  (I’m more of a blog-and-post-right-now, then a scheduled-post kind of blogger. It’s sort of how I am in everything, actually.)

– bought Gabe’s first birthday present! A set of five wooden toy cars from Etsy. I may not have any birthday party plans, but I have a toy that I know he is going to LOVE and it’s handmade and not plastic and I AM SO EXCITED YAY.

– have been completely swamped (in a wonderful way!) with design work this month. So many blogs, invites, and resumes have been designed! I also have mastered WordPress. Word.

– have officially been living in the same place for more than a year – which I can’t say has happened since…2002. Yes. I have moved my things every single summer since 2002. I’m elated to not have to deal with boxes and U-Hauls and unpacking. We love our apartment and expect to be here for a few more years, until Mike is done with school.

– say, “I need to do yoga” nightly. NIGHTLY. And, yet, I am not really working out. Unless you count some walks and doing The 30 Day Shred…once every 30 days. Ha. Is that not the way it works?

– have had a really full social calendar this summer. It’s wonderful. But also tiring. But mostly wonderful. I have great family and friends. Perhaps we were all hibernating in the winter.

– tried on one of Gabe’s t-shirts last night. Mike dared me to. I have no idea why I’m including this in Gabe’s monthly update, except that it’s a perfect illustration of Mike and I as both parents and spouses. (It fit. But just over my boobs. My wimpy arms even fit through the arm holes. It’s slightly stretched out.)

– have never felt more special than when Gabe said, “Mama,” grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me right on the lips. I love when he calls me Mama.