Martha had a little lamb...

who follows me around - everywhere I go. He wants to keep me in his line of vision. More though, he wants me to be touching him. He will almost crawl over - just to touch me. Mostly, he wants to stand up with my steadying him.
Phin is at the beginning of his toothy grin with just the top of his first too peeking out of his bottom gum. He is getting bigger and taller in every single way. Phin even is finding his own way to entertainment. The childcare provider at church told us how Phin seems to love books. He happened to be the only "baby" in the "baby room" and she watched as he pulled out each book and looked at it. She said she felt like she didn't really so much because he was entertaining himself and was quite content the whole time.
He has a game he likes to play with his daddy. Dan will pile up 7 or 8 wooden blocks and Phin will cruise over and KNOCK THEM DOWN and then crawl away. Dan will set them up again, in a different arrangement and Phin will immediately cruise back over to do another demo. The boys have quite a bit of fun with that game.
The parents as teacher educator was interested as I told her about Phin's social skills. You see, throughout our whole marriage, Dan and I have made a habit of talking in the car. I was telling the educator that when Phin and I are driving around town from place to place, Phin will chat me up. Sure, he's babbling and it doesn't make sense. However, he's talking in an appropriate environment social situation for our family. He will also break in to our conversations with loud babble while we are talking in the living room. It's really quite cute.

Ten months old. I have to say I am not so much happy about it. Every single day I cradle this baby in my arms. I shower him with kisses each time I strap him into his car seat. We sing "This old man" any time he's upset and I hear him cry when he wakes up, when he gets a booboo and when he's hungry. Every other day since we brought him home from the hospital, I have been washing his diapers. Even with all of these things it's really gone way too fast.

Just this afternoon Dan was cuddling Phin up for a nap. Phin's long body fit into the curves of Dan while his little head was tucked down and his eyes were closed. I picked up his big ten month old baby foot and admired it's growth. I looked at his fingernails that need to be cut, yet again. While staring at his big boy eyelashes (like his daddy's) I wondered how it is possible that I lived for so long without this boy. I mean really, I don't know how it's possible. Yes, I jump up in the middle of the night to calm his screams caused by teeth pain. Yes, I chase the dog out of Phin's toys and often take Maggie's toys out of Phin's mouth. Even as a germaphobe, I deal with poop and spit - things I refuse to deal with from my pets. I am always fighting this kid to keep his hands off of my remotes and power supply to the computer. But still, my life has never been so happy and full of meaning. I am very clear about what I am doing right now. It's called "mothering" and I am loving every moment of it.

Happy ten months old Phin! The first ten months have been amazing and I can hardly wait to see where the future takes us. Your father and I are so happy to know you and we can't wait to learn more about you as you grow!