10-month letter

Dear Mateo,

(Mama) You are 10 months old! It's always a bit surreal to have you turn over another month and this month seems even more that way. When we were out walking the other day, we passed a house where a tiny baby was wailing away and being walked and bounced by her grandmother. I thought about when you were that small and realized that it really was just a few months ago. In the beginning, it seems like the time goes so slowly...and even up until about six months it still seemed a little like that...but now the days just fly by.


I thought I'd start by listing some of your recent nicknames. It's a long list. I think it's quite funny that we liked your name partially because it has so much nickname potential and yet when we tend to use your full name when we use it at all! I have come up with a prodigious list of pet names to call you and am always making up new ones. Here's what we call you these days:

Mateo
Te-te
Mateito
Beba
Beba ballena
Beba ballena bear
Mr. Bear
Mr. Baby
Mr. Milky
Milkmaster of the universe
Chub-chub
Chunky monkey
Tweety bird
Crankypants (when appropriate)
Sweetie pie
Little love
Bebito
Calabaza

I always think that when you're older and we say your full name to get your attention, you won't have any idea who we're talking about!


(Mommy) This summer I've enjoyed being around with you during the day and getting to see you grow and change. You are learning to walk while holding only one hand, and can sometimes take a few steps that way. You are quite the two handed walker. You love it when we play patty cake, although you still need us to move your hands through the movements. You also love the itsy bitsy spider song and say, say oh playmate (a hand clapping song we both learned in Brownies). Anything involving hand movement is interesting and fun to you.


Speaking of your own hand movements, it seemed like for a day maybe you were starting to wave, but then that went away. You can, though, feed yourself cheerios, more cheerios and more cheerios. Actually, frequently that is the only thing you are interested in eating, but other times you enjoy a healthy variety of foods.

(Mama) Yes, food has been a major theme of this month. We've talked about it quite a bit on this blog. It's the whole push-pull between you learning to have some independence and control by feeding yourself and us making sure you're getting enough to eat while you acquire the fine motor control you need to get the food in your mouth! You have recently discovered a new favorite food item: cream cheese. You like it mainly if I am eating a bagel and I scrape all the cream cheese off the top and give it to you.

This morning, while I was talking on the phone to my friend, Catherine, you ate an entire bagel-top worth of cream cheese and then gobbled up a second helping. Sometimes you just love to eat and will open your mouth over and over again. Other times, you make horrible faces and just don't want anything. It will be interesting to see how this is going in a few months! Hopefully we'll look back and realize that we were just learning and pretty soon we all got the hang of it. We've also decided to start giving you some formula during the day as a supplement to solids and breastfeeding. You love it and guzzle it down with your meals, even if your meals are just Cheerios and nothing else!

I guess I should give you a little report on your sleeping. It's actually going quite well. Bedtimes are still somewhat tough, but I'm starting to expect that bedtime is just going to be challenging for us and it's really not so bad. You get yourself to sleep almost every night and you sleep soundly after you conk out. You've been waking up around 11 pm to have some milk and then usually around 4 or 4:30 am before you get up for the day around 6 am. Now that I'm very used to getting up in the night, I enjoy our nighttime cuddle times and often snooze with you, in our big comfy chair, after you fall asleep nursing. I think we'll know when the right time to give up the night feedings is. In fact, I hope that you'll just decide on your own at some point! For now, Mommy gets up with you nearly every morning, like the saint that she is, so that I can catch up on my zzzzzs.


You went through a brief period of separation anxiety early on in the month but now you're back to your old social self. We had a yard sale with some neighbors today and you charmed several generations of women who were helping run the yard sale. People always compliment you on your beautiful eyes and your general friendly nature. Of course, we're glad that other people think you're as fabulous as we do :)


You're also learning how to play with other babies. We've had several play dates recently with other little people and you always look like you're having a great time. You love to crawl around, grabbing for their toys and tumbling around with them like you're both little puppies. I just love watching you interact with other kids. It's also quite fun to watch you play with your toys. These days, right on schedule, you are into everything. You roam the house looking for things to pull out and push over and climb into. Your curiosity and inquisitiveness are helping you learn all about this world we live in.


Mateo, one of my favorite things recently has been bringing you into bed for a few minutes right after you wake up. You're usually so happy to see me and Mommy and you roll around and babble and play to your heart's content. It's a great way to start the day. And it's one of the best parts about you being this age. You just love to be with us - and we love to be with you! We're so lucky.


We love you, calabazito.


Besos y abrazos,
Mama y Mommy