Erin Loves Brad: Letter to my Little Bear

Dear wee Bearsy Bear,

In an effort to write your 10 month letter before you're halfway to 11 months old, I've steeled myself to face the fact that yet another month has zoomed by, and it's time once again to think back over our past month.

You have been a busy Bear. December always brings so much excitement, and there was no shortage of excitement for you. Right after we got back from Thanksgiving with Gran, Grandpa, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Rachael in Tennessee, I took you in for your 9-month doctor's appointment. You decided not to show your doctor all of your tricks (even though I begged you to), but you did put on about half a pound since your 6-month visit. Good girl! Your head is still measuring big, but it has sort of become your trademark, so we're all cool with it. At the end of your visit, you did something I'd never seen you do before, and while it was funny at the time, I really really beg of you not to make it a habit as you grow. You had just gotten two shots, and I stood you up on the exam table to pull up your britches. As I was doing this, you looked squarely at the doctor, and in very indistinct baby language, told her EXACTLY what you thought of her shoving needles in her leg. You furrowed your brow and gesticulated and everything. She snickered a little and said, "Well, look at you...you're not going to have any trouble standing up for yourself."

It WAS funny at the time, but it most certainly won't be tolerated when you're a teenager, Missy.

You still don't have much hair, but what you do have is getting a taddy bit longer and ever-so-slightly darker. It's very cute. You even have a microscopic version of bedhead when you wake up. We admire it every morning because we're weird like that (don't roll your eyes...you share DNA with us, so it's only a matter of time for you, too). Also...you still have no teeth. Don't look at me- I have no idea how this works. Despite your lack of teeth, you're eating like a champ. You can eat just about anything if it's small/soft enough. You started eating turkey last month (you know, at Thanksgiving), but this month, you've also had ham and a few bites of lamb (out of my gyro...you are SO lucky I was feeling generous). You'll still eat pretty much any vegetable, minus green beans and apparently, asparagus (that's ok...I'm not really much of a fan, either. At least you tried it.).

You still refuse to crawl. Absolutely refuse. Nothing can tempt you, either. We can literally put your favorite things (i.e. my phone or the remote) out of reach, and you still won't move. You cry and cry and roll onto your back. You will have none of it, you little stinker. I asked your doctor about it, and she said that we can just stop trying to get you to crawl and work on standing/pulling up instead.

Our quality of life got infinitely better. Gee whiz.

Thanks to our southerly trips for Thanksgiving and Christmas, you have been on 4 airplanes in the past month, and have visited or touched down in 5 states (Massachusetts, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama). You are a well-traveled baby. You are a great flyer, and everybody loves you. I hope you can keep this up as you get older. I've grown rather accustomed to being hailed as an awesome mom (even though I have absolutely nothing to do with it).

You grab your toes all the time, laugh a lot, jabber like it's your job, and sleep like a pro. You like all of your grandparents' pets (Sadie, Ted, Bingley, Robey, and Gracey), and you've decided that Christmas is your thing. Clapping is one of your most favorite things to do, and zippers, zipper pulls, and tags (like on clothing or stuffed animals) are some of your favorite things to discover and play with. You still adore your books (we couldn't be prouder!) and are proving to be quite the little extrovert. Thanks to Nana, you are one of the best-dressed babies in all the land. I have to say...I do enjoy playing dress up with you. You're a really good sport. Thanks for that!

We love you more than a hobbit loves second breakfast. And more than Dobby loves socks. And more than Puddleglum loves complaining.

Basically, we love you the most ever in the world. We're so glad you're ours!