Max at 10 months

We’re into double digits, people – and double trouble, too, because, wow, has this month been craaazy.

At 10 months, Max isn’t able to walk unaided, but he can now walk with the help of any kind of wheeled object/kitchen chair, crawl at the speed of light (Well, that’s what it feels like when you’re chasing him down the hall, anyway…), and last week he also learned how to climb the stairs. Which… yeah. I might need to go and lie down for a few minutes, if that’s OK with you?

What this means for us, of course, is that if we thought last month was tricky in terms of keeping him out of trouble, well, all I can say is that we had NO idea what was about to hit us. NONE. Whatsoever. I remember when Max was still tiny, and needing to be held all the time, I kept telling Terry how much easier things would be when he was a little more mobile, and we’d be able to be hands-free for a few glorious minutes, while he crawled happily around on the floor. Which was cute of me, huh?

The fact is, though, being able to use both of my hands simultaneously has been a cherished dream of mine pretty much since the day Max was born. Seriously, I can’t even imagine the luxury of being able to make a cup of coffee, say, without having to race across the kitchen every few seconds to separate the baby from the Roomba, or frantically try to replace the radiator valve that he’s just ripped off.  (And I’m not saying either of these things have actually happened, you understand… but only because I know I’m not legally obliged to say anything that might later be used in evidence against me, right?) The dream, however, remains unrealised, because, at 10 months, Max needs even closer supervision than ever before, so keen is his instinct for – and interest in – DANGER and exploration:

Yes, he wears that little fox romper a lot – it’s from Baby Gap, as is the little hooded cardigan, and I’m seriously tempted to buy it in every size above his current one, because I can’t stand the thought of him not being able to wear it any more. I mean, SERIOUSLY, people:

So, he’s trouble, basically: and, as adorable as it is to see him exploring the world, and discovering all the wonderful things it holds (Wooden spoons! Remote controls! That pole thing we use to open the hatch to the attic!), I’m going to hold my hands up here and admit that I’ve found this month really, really hard, because he seems to be everywhere all at once, which means that Terry and I have even less time than ever before. I kind of feel like I spend all of my time right now pulling him away from things he wants to touch, or whisking things out of reach at the last second: I constantly seem to be having to tell him not to touch that, or not to go there, and I’m doing it to keep him safe, obviously (I mean, if he was on Molly Weasley’s clock, the ‘Max’ hand would be permanently pointing to ”mortal peril’…) but it all just seems so NEGATIVE, and I hate that the only word he ever seems to hear from us is NO.

But I digress. (And I also exaggerate, obviously. We don’t ONLY say, “no” – we also say things like, “Stop playing with those scissors!” and “Batteries aren’t food!” So it’s a wide variety, really…)

The increased mobility has been  the biggest change this month, but there have been a bunch of other, smaller changes, too, like..

Clapping his  hands

Seriously, though, if there’s anything in this world cuter than a baby clapping his hands, I would very much like to know what it is, because It. Is. Adorable.

Opening and closing doors

He’s still not particularly keen on remaining in his playpen unaccompanied (Although he is getting better at this, to be fair…), but he IS spending a lot of time opening and closing the door of it, so at least that’s something? Ditto the lid to his toy box, and any other door/lid he can get his hands on: fun times!

Spinning the office chair

There is nothing more interesting than my office chair, apparently: last night he spent a good 20 minutes sitting on the floor and making it spin with his hands (While I hovered over him, making sure it didn’t hit him in the face, obviously…), while shrieking with laughter. I’d get him one of his own, but I know that, if I did, he’d still just want to play with mine…

Putting things inside other things

Big love for putting objects inside bags or boxes this month. I’d like to think this means he’s going to enjoy tidying up, but then again, his other hobby is making a mess, so maybe not.

Climbing the stairs

This one is a relatively new development, but it’s endlessly fascinating, apparently, which is why stair gates are the next baby purchase on our list…

He’s also gotten really good at recognising people/objects, and will “point” to various things when asked where they are. This is actually quite hilarious, because he “points” by throwing one arm out in the direction of the person/object he’s been asked to identify, as if to say, “I give yoooouu….. MUMMY!” So cute.

This month also saw a welcome return to sleeping through the night, which has been amazing for us, needless to say.  We still have the occasional night where he’ll decide sleep is for the weak, and randomly stay up all night, but he’s mostly sleeping really well, and now that he’s dropped the midnight feed, and is getting up at a more reasonable time, it’s made a huge difference to our routine. For most of this year, we’ve had an arrangement whereby Terry would stay up to do the last feed of the night (Which would be somewhere between midnight and 1am), and then I’d get up to do the first one of the morning (Any time from 5am on…), and while that worked in terms of allowing us both to get a decent amount of sleep, it was pretty lonely, and made us feel a bit like we were living in different time zones. These days, though, we’re getting up and going to bed at the same time, and eating breakfast together as a family, which is really nice – even on the days when it happens a bit earlier than we’d ideally like!

And so we come to the end of another month with Max. It’s funny: this time last year, I was heading into my final two months of pregnancy, and I’m not really sure why, but, for some reason, my memories of that time are still incredibly vivid – much more so than my memories of things that happened this spring, say – which makes it a little bit surreal to have reached this same time of year again. It honestly feels like just a couple of months ago at most that we were putting the finishing touches to the nursery, and obsessively counting baby kicks, and yet here we are – Max has now experienced all four seasons, and has almost outgrown the “baby” section in some brands, and moved up to “toddler”.

Thankfully, though, we still have two full months to go before his first birthday, and while part of me still constantly wants to yell, “STOP GROWING SO FAST, YOU’RE STILL JUST A BABY!”, I also can’t wait to see him take his first steps, and continue growing into the amazing little person he’s turning out to be. And I think it’s true to say that while pretty much EVERY stage is definitely “the hardest”, every stage so far has also been the very best… and I’m sure the next one will be no exception.