Ten Months Old

Oh boy, the countdown to Griffin's first birthday is getting close. A whopping ten months old tomorrow! I honestly do not know where this past month went. His ten month old birthday snuck up on me in a blink of an eye. It's making me sad, and also joyful. Sad, because I know that my maternity leave is slowly coming to an end. And joyful because every month in Griffin's life is to be celebrated.

In terms of milestones, I do not know if I see much difference between last month and this month. Except perhaps he is trying to exert his independance more, and he is very, very clever. His latest antics have shown us that he knows a lot more than we think.

Recent antics to date:
- he loves to crawl down the hallway when we are in the washroom, give us a laugh and big smile and slam the door shut on us. He will then sit directly on the other side of the door, making it very difficult for us to open. Therefore leaving us somewhat trapped inside.
- he thinks it's fun to pull our shorts or underwear off. He has done this to me and to Jonas. He just comes up behind us, uses our legs to stand up, and pulls our shorts down.
- he hides things he covets. I am not sure if this is done purposely or not. A couple days ago, he got a hold of our dental floss case. He was playing with it for a while, and then it somehow disappeared. The same day, I went to put a pair of socks on him, left the room and returned to find only one sock. That same evening, I turned the house upside down to find the dental floss, and the missing sock. Both were nowhere to be found. Today, both of them magically appeared in his hand. We are starting to think he is like a dog with a bone, and hides things he currently cherishes.
- Griffin also likes to pinch people where he probably should not pinch them. Use your imagination.

These few things are funny to read. And I'm sure one day, looking back on this, we will be laughing hysterically. Griffin is such a character now. Since I have nothing to compare it to, I have no idea if his personality is typical of all baby behaviour or not. Before, he was somewhat easygoing. Now, temper tantrums have emerged like there is no tomorrow. And sometimes these temper tantrums are followed by high pitched screaming. Some of the things that Griffin strongly dislikes:
- having his diaper changed. The second I lay him down on his back, he whips himself around, and crawls away from me. Jonas has figured out a way to change his diaper with Griffin crawling away. I have yet to master this technique, but changing diapers has become a two person job.
- he hates getting dressed. You would think we were torturing him! I don't know what it is, but Griffin absolutely hates wearing clothes.
- he has little patience to sit in his car seat for any prolonged period of time. Actually, he has little patience to sit anywhere for any length of time.
- his appetite is finicky. Some days, he feels like eating and some days not.

And while it seems like all I am doing is complaining about him, I take a step back and marvel at everything I love about him.
- I love it when Griffin sticks his little arms up in the air when he wants us to pick him up.
- I love how he stands in his crib to wait for one of us to come in to get him.
- I love how affectionate he is, and how he kisses us so many times during the day.
- I love the smile he has. He smiles at us so often, that I don't think I will ever truly get over it.
- I love how he climbs into my lap sometimes, and is completely contented just hanging out with me.
- I love how he rests his head on my leg when he is feeling particularly mellow.
- I love how he crawls into the kitchen to see what I am doing. He just plops himself down at my feet, will stare up at me with his big brown eyes, and watch what I am doing and hang out.

The days are becoming shorter, and shorter. And I'm starting to become very conscious of this. I have already started the mental preparation for my return to work. I figure I need to start early, because I will be an absolute mess. A saving grace for me is that there is another co-worker in our office who is returning on the same day. Her son is a month younger than Griffin, and both of us have already talked about what our lives will be like.

But until then, no need to dwell just yet. I need to save my strength and energy for my rambunctious Griffin. Dear, sweet baby boy, happy ten months of life.