CCB at 10 Months

He has hit double digits in the month-to-month department. Why does this make me so sad?

He is growing up, this boy of mine. He babbles and mimics and feeds himself soft foods or puffs. He plays with Grace and pulls himself up to stand any and everywhere he can.

These are all wonderful things and milestones worth documenting, but they are further proof that he is no longer my little baby. He is turning into a little boy. Aaron always comments how much of a Mama's boy Christian is, I agree with him and make sure to comment back that being a Mama's boy is going to be temporary. One day, Aaron will reign supreme. Christian will want to be around him, learn from him, get the nitty gritty details on how to really be a man. And he'll ask me not to hug him in public or park a few blocks away so he can "cooly" walk into school. I know my heart will sink and my mind will race back to the early days, the ones where he lunged to me no matter who held him, the ones where he would cry and being held close to me was all he wanted. I'll bask in the sweetness of those memories to soothe my aching heart.

I feel those days coming, and that is why these milestones seem so bittersweet. I have tried hard to relish and soak in the sweet moments, but no matter how much I remind myself to pause and take in what I am experiencing, life always seems to get in the way and days and weeks pass all too quickly.

But for now, he is still my boy. He still loves to be snuggled and hugged. I know that he giggles the most when I tickle his neck or his legs. He groans the loudest right before he falls asleep. He eats us out of house and home and gets quite cranky when we don't keep the food coming. He sleeps on his side snuggled up to his blanket. He loves the water and splashes so hard he soaks everyone in sight. And when I feed him a bottle right before bed, his eyelids blink hard and his breathing slows down and no matter how hard he tries his body always gives in to sleep.

One day my heart will ache for these moments. But thankfully that day is not today. Although he doesn't seem little with reaching 10 months, he is still so very little and I get to enjoy these baby days some more.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

--Robert Munsch