Ten months…

Dear Noah,

Last week you turned 10 months old. Every month I say this but I can`t believe you are 10 months already!!! You are almost a “toddler” and less than 2 months now from your 1st birthday. You have been on the outside now longer than you were on the inside and it definitely feels that way- it feels as if you have been in our lives for so long.

The past couple of days saw you take your first couple of unaided steps- you were already 10 months old. You took your first unaided step at 10 months3 days old (Friday  22nd October) and have since taken a couple more. The most steps you have taken without falling over is 2 but mainly you tend to fall more than you actual manage to walk. Of course with this new found skill you now have many bruises to show for it- in particular a small cut under your right eye from where you fell and hit your head on the table that holds the tv. This resulted in many tears until you saw daddy and then, well, all was right with the world again it seemed. Daddy did see you take a couple of unaided steps over this past weekend as well and he was well impressed with your skills and is already talking about when you can start playing soccer.

You still love to read and be read to. The other day I caught you “reading” one of your books by yourself- as in you were sitting on the floor, chatting to yourself, pausing, flipping the page and then continuing to chat- it was then I realized you were pretending to read the book. I wish I had caught it on video.

We decided on a theme for your first birthday party and the theme is “The very hungry caterpillar” since you do love the book and I had seen a couple of cute parties online that used the same theme. All of your invitations are done and we are in the process of handing them out. You are going to celebrate with Alex once we get back from Australia- you guys are a month apart and recently when you were playing together you had a lot of fun. You are definitely starting to be more interested in other kids and “playing” so to speak.

Your favourite books over the past month have been these…

You love to point out any “balls” you see in the books especially the spot one and playing with balls is definitely your favourite activity- you will happily play “fetch” by yourself with your soft soccer ball or other plastic ball and it is so funny to watch you try and get them back when they end up in hard to reach places. You haven`t realized that your head does not fit under the sofa, the tv table or under the rack that holds the rice cooker, microwave etc…

While you are still working on the walking thing you have the climbing thing down pat. The other day you climbed out of your highchair onto the dining room table. You have also managed to climb up onto the sofa by yourself by piling up some books to give you a bit of a lift. Oh, and the tv area- yeah, you love to climb up there. It is funny because I have so many similar photos of myself at about the same age climbing into and onto hard to reach places- i guess you got the “monkey” genes from me. (Although i have heard stories of daddy climbing up book shelves when he was a bub!)

October is Halloween and while we don`t tend to celebrate the tradition in Australia it is gaining a lot of popularity in Japan and this past month you went to not one but TWO Halloween parties. I wasn`t so keen on “buying” you a costume that you could only wear once so instead we bought some little puppy ears and I painted your face and you were a puppy dog. I thought you turned out pretty cute but perhaps I am biased. This photo was taken before baby sign Halloween party but you wore a similar costume for Chiba Peanuts playgroup party as well.

Being a cute puppy tired you out…

You are still eating really well but getting a lot more picky about what you want to eat. That said, you will still eat all of what I feed you on a spoon BUT you often need something that you can feed yourself at the same time. Take this morning- I was feeding you porridge and fruit and had every intention of giving you half a piece of my vegemite and toast but it wasn`t even buttered yet and you just kept batting away the porridge until I did the toast and gave you half a piece that you could hold yourself and munch on WHILE I continued to feed you porridge. Some of your meals now you feed yourself entirely- one day last week you had chicken and apple meatballs broken into quarters, some tortilla with hummus, some lightly boiled carrot sticks and some blueberries. All of which I just put on your highchair plate and you ate yourself. I tend to have to give you some finger food every meal in order to get you to eat your pasta or risotto/rice dish or cous cous dish which has all your veggies/meat in it. As for eating with your own spoon- it is definitely a bit hit and miss.

Drinking milk has also become something you want to do by yourself- I had tried since you were put onto the bottle in Australia in August to get you to drink your bottle by yourself but up until a few weeks ago you were not really interested. Now trying to get you to drink a bottle while holding you is near impossible. Instead you like to lie on the floor, drink it all and then throw it across the room when you are done. I guess this is you showing your independence.

You are also going through a severe biting stage- I am hoping that some mummy friends can help me out with this because honestly, daddy and I do not know what to do. You will bite me upwards of 10 times a day- not little bites either. Giant bites that are leaving me with bruises all over my arms and sometimes legs and nothing I do will stop you. Yelling “No” and sitting you on the ground away from me does not work you still just think it is funny. Batting your hand and saying “no biting” doesn`t work and other approaches haven`t worked either. You think it is funny when I yell “Ouch” and shout “no” at you. The other day I counted and you bit me 27 times in one day. You also bite daddy but not as much as me and you even gave Benay a couple of bites the other day. Luckily you are yet to bite another child but I dread the day that happens.

You tend to give a cheeky grin, much like this one, after you have bitten someone.

Or like this one

I was never one of those mothers that thought “My child will never watch tv” before you were born but had every intention of limiting your tv watching but the truth is it makes you so happy. If I say “Wiggles” you clap and smile- that is how much you love to watch them. You also try to pull the box off the shelf that has your dvd`s in them. I still try to only put one on a day, usually while I am making dinner but if you watch another time then I sit on the floor with you and chat about what is happening and even sing along with the wiggles or Elmo (you like Elmo too ). Now, when there is music on one of you dvds you will stand up, hold onto the shelf and dance a little. Watching you wiggle your bum back and forth has to got to be one of the cutest things ever.

Time is flying by and you are going to be one before I know it. We leave for Australia in just over 2 weeks so your 11 month and 12 month birthdays will both be in Australia. I am sure that by next month you will have the walking thing down pat too since you are already taking the occasional unaided step. Lets try to keep the bruises to a minimum though shall we?

Love mama

ps: Noah, have you seen our shamoji (big rice spoon that sits with the rice cooker) as it is MISSING again. Oh and the rice cooker is open AGAIN. That was you, wasn`t it?

pps: For records sake, it seems your milk allergy is clearing up. So yes, you will be able to eat cheese. In fact you had your first little piece early last week and I think you are already a cheese convert.

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