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At ten months: What to expect

This post was lying in my offline folder for months. I am publishing this although my baby has just crossed the one year mark...and the wonders never cease!

So at ten months, what's new?
  1. The need to constantly monitor - babies exploring the world around them will put just about anything into their mouths.. I have rescued hapless insects, slippers, used-diapers....heck even the bathroom floor from my curious baby's mouth.
  2. Unconditional love - love that is undiluted by even an ounce of selfishness. Love that is demonstrated by the brightest smile when I enter home from work and a heart wrenching crumpled face when I exit.
  3. Tricky meal planning - babies are fast developing their tastes in food (and an opinion) so it has to be tasty. But we don't know their allergies, so one food at a time. They are developing teeth but only a few. So the food must include something they can bite but not require to chew. Seasonal fruits but please nothing tangy. Dal but no tadka, Rice but not the long grained variety. Purée the veggies but leave it sort of chunky.....you get the drift?
  4. Feeding - my baby now clutches the bottle and gulps her milk. But when it comes to solids - she has me crawling under tables, squatting on the kitchen floor, singing and dancing  to get her to eat. 
  5. Cramped space on the bed: It's funny how this itsy bitsy being has two adults clinging to their respective sides. She tosses and turns and curls up into a tiny ball only to then stretch out diagonally at the foot of the bed. And she will wail in her sleep if her prowling foot is obstructed by (Gasp!) the pillow under my head.
  6. A LOT of little accidents. My baby has started to take support of objects around her to stand up and take a few staggering steps before plonking on her bums. While in the first few months we were ultra-careful and the one time our baby fell off the bed, we were guilt and panic stricken, now we are resigned to her falling all the time, Sometimes rolling off the bed or the sofa (sometimes she squirms right out of our arms), other times face down or on her back. She looks at us for our reaction - once we noticed that she seemed to cry only if we panicked, we learnt to hold our composure. Oh! be still my beating heart as this little one then smiles bravely at me and gets back on her little limbs. ❤️❤️❤️
  7. Getting a restless and active baby clothed requires enormous energy. Up until now my baby would subject herself to the rigmarole rather docilely. Now I need to hold her squirming body with one hand and struggle with her resisting limbs with the other. Winter has fast set on in Delhi. I have to put layers and layers of thermal and woollens on her. It takes me a full 30 minutes to get the protesting young lady ready in the mornings. And in all this time she is like a slippery eel trying to escape and crawling off to the far reaches of the bed. 

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