Jovie 10 Mo

Lovely Jovie,

We have reached that point- Something about 10 months changes things. You are no longer my little baby. You have opinions and throw fits. You bulldoze with your head. You give real hugs- the heart achingly poignant ones where you bury your face into my shoulder and wrap your arms around my neck. You are not quite a toddler- but you are showing that you have a mind of your own. And you are serious about it.

Oh Jo- do you have an attitude!!! Wow. You can get around well enough with your tripod style crawl, but you would prefer to sit on the floor and note your displeasure. I leave your sight, you cry. No- I believe a better term would be that you HOWL. You could follow me. You know how to crawl, but you prefer to squall.

You not only can crawl, but you are starting to cruise. You stand up great, and then you get stuck and you get very upset. You can't figure out how to get down. You land unceremoniously on your bum and you cry. Apparently, you are somehow incredibly offended. It is cute, but I hope it is a phase.

And speaking of phases... I don't know who I need to talk to- but these teething stuff is CRAP. It sucks for you, it sucks for me, no one gets enough sleep and those damned things still have not come out. I can feel them, but they won't break through. They just tease you and make you want to bite things. IT SUCKS. Things have to change soon- we all need more sleep!

Of course, where sleep is concerned you are stubborn as well. You can be FALLING.OVER.TIRED. and you will still refuse to actually go to sleep. I can rock you and sing you to sleep, lay you down in bed completely out, and then you kick and wiggle and fight until you are awake again.

You have started cruising but are not THAT interested in crawling either. You might stand for a couple of seconds, then land on your bum and cry :( If I perhaps suggest you try crawling again, you throw yourself on the floor and... cry! It seems that you choose to do things your own way (are we seeing a pattern here?) and you prefer to elephant walk or tri-pod style crawl. I have no real way of describing it- But we think it is your stepping stone to walking.

We visited the hospital another time. This time with some other fucking virus that just attacked your lungs, once again. The say was a great deal shorter- and though going to the hospital is very difficult for me... I am so thankful that we live so close to a children's hospital. It makes a difference. Now you are out and we still don't know what is causing this except that your lungs are your Achille's heel. Everyone has their one "chink" in their armor. With your sister, it is her eyes/tearducts. With you it is your lungs... Why can't you girls have issues that don't involve important part of your body? Like- when you get sick your eyelashes fall out... Why does it have to attack such important systems as sight and respiration.

Anyhow- we are on the other side of our hospital stay- they may start to know us by name soon.

I am proud of how brave you are and amazed that you still laugh so heartily. That is my girl. A flash of brown pixie eyes and a wide, impish grin. That is you. And I truly love you.

~Love Mamma