“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and all science.” ~ Albert Einstein

To see a time lapse video of Alyssa’s growing belly click here.

Dear Asher,

Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity shows that time is not absolute as it is dependent on the speed of the observer. Today you turned 10 months and though Einstein was talking about particles moving faster than the speed of light, he may as well have been talking about parents’ perception of time as observers of baby development. Asher, our perception of time these past ten months has been faster than any other point in our lives and though we are occupying the same rock in the eternal space-time continuum, our universe has forever changed. Time passes quicker for anyone who is engaged in the task before him and having the joy of spending 24 hours a day together for the first 10 months of your life, your mom and I have been fully engaged in your development. Below is a list of what has kept us so engaged since we hit the road four months ago.

Things we loved during your 6th month of life

October 11-November 11
– your conversations with your dad back and forth with increasing volume
– your difficulty transitioning to city life from the camp after 3.5 months in the north
– your first tooth appearing, having everyone feel it and you not being fussy or bothered by it (middle bottom one on the right – just shy of 6.5 months)
– both bottom teeth poking through gums which we could only see with a large Duchenne smile
– our family showers where you are held up so the water splashes your back and you giggle
– your talking with syllables repeated over and over “babababa” and a few “mamama”
– your fascination with animals (dogs, cats and roosters)
– how we do all diaper changes to animal noises (“a cow says moo, a duck says quack quack, etc”) to keep you content
– your love of peek-a-boo and your ability to start playing and initiating it yourself by hiding your face and then reappearing especially while using the shower curtain
– your interest in beginning solid homemade food like oatmeal, hemp hearts, banana (your favourite), apple sauce, tomato, sweet potato, lentils, squash, avocado, cantaloupe, orange, rice, potato (not a fan of carrots or broccoli yet but will still eat them with a face)
– your amazing ability to fly on planes without any problems
– your ability to pull yourself up on people or things (first time without help on the ferry to Utila)
– your love of swimming without your floatie – you prefer to be in the water to splash and hold yourself in the standing position on the ladder
– watching you lick your lips during a swim in the ocean
– having you naturally get into a routine on the island of a morning and afternoon nap for 1.5-2 hours each
-your ability to hold your pee during naps (go to bed naked with no accidents)
– your giant smile when hearing us sing while brushing our teeth “when you wake up in the morning….you brush your teeth….”

Things we loved during your 7^th month of life
Nov 11 – Dec 11
-your beginning to clap during the song “If You’re happy and you know it!”
-your wobbly legs as you walk while holding our hands
-how you get into the crawling position but then just freeze
-your love of eating breakfast naked and then playing and wearing orange and banana peels
-how you eat everything we have (smoothie with a straw, protein powder drink, etc) and will eat anything I chew up for you (soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, currants, raisins, etc)
-how you started using the hand sign “milk” about 20% of the time and have begun to use it to signify hunger of any kind and a sign for “more” when eating bananas or other foods
-how you stick one finger in your mouth beside those adorable front two teeth
-how you love having your teeth brushed while we sing the toothbrush song since you have some bad morning breath
-how you pull yourself up on everything
-watching your concentration and focus while you attempt to practice your fine motor skills (picking up pieces of fruit or bread)
-your love of watching children play
-your new sign of passing gas which lets us know you need to have a BM
-using your dad’s arm hair as a sensory table

Things we loved during your 8^th month of life
Dec 11-Jan 11
-your first tooth on the upper gums (a lateral incisor – not in the middle) and your nickname “white fang”
-top two middle teeth coming in at the same time (so now 5 teeth total)
-your first attempts to crawl (often with a couple movements forward then a lunge onto the belly)
-progression to true successful crawling
-your desire to walk everywhere because it is faster – more steady on your legs now and attempting little jogs while holding Mom or Dad’s hands
-your ability to pull yourself up on anything
-you can clack your tongue and mimic kissing noises
-you scrunch your face and breathe in and out real quick through your nose to indicate frustration or just to play a joke and have us copy you
-you love to walk through Mom or Dad’s legs
-your ability to feed yourself which is just beginning (how you pick up a piece of food, and smash your whole hand against your face to hopefully get the tiny food piece in your mouth)
-your fascination with anything on the ground – particularly little insects – that you always attempt to pick up and often can get perfectly into your mouth despite your developing pincer grasp!
-your sleeping on the bed by yourself in Omoa, Honduras for naps during the day
-your love of biking
-your eye colour which has officially changed to brown – with a hint of green
-your fascination with pointing to all the eyes and mouths of characters in books
-your love of playing with doors and brooms

Things we loved during your 9^th month of life
Jan 11-Feb 11
-your “high one” – placing your index finger in the air to have someone else touch the tip of their index finger to yours (not quite a high five)
– your standing up from sitting unassisted
-your ability to remain standing without help only when you are intensely focused on something else – a toy, book, etc
-your love of holding someone’s hands and standing up and then immediately dropping down into a deep squat whenever anyone says “up, down, up, down” (you go back and forth repeatedly)
-your LOVE of playing tag or hide-and-go-seek and being chased in the house, causing you to run away quickly and screech in delight (you also love finding people who are hiding and you remember where a person previously hid as you go directly there to check again)
-your ability to find your belly button
-how you began waving goodbye to people, but most often to your pee/poo being flushed down the toilet!
-how you started using the ‘milk sign’ to indicate goodbye, milk, and all done, leaving us to figure out what you wish to communicate but you are understanding that moving your hands can communicate your needs to others
-how you communicate ‘all done’ when finished eating a meal in your chair
-your need to walk and run EVERYWHERE
-your desire to begin holding a spoon or fork and bring it to your lips/mouth to feed yourself
-how when you see Mom or Dad drinking from a cup, you want to try. You take a sip and always come away from the cup with a huge smile and scrunched face and liquid running down your chin
-how you love to now kick a ball on the ground and throw a ball (to have Dad pick it back up while we are walking and give it back to you to throw again and again).
-as you throw a ball, you raise both hands in the air and do about 5 arm flaps and leg kicks (in the carrier) after releasing the ball
-how you open up cupboards and clear off all of the shelves
-when you hear clapping after a performance, you stop everything you are doing and clap along
-your love of papaya and grapefruit!
-how you copy us when we say “aahhhhh” and we make a perfect major triad while we brush your teeth
-how you understand cause and effect, up/down, in/out, open/closed
-how you now pretend to give a “high one” so that you can grab Dad’s finger, then hold a tune which pulses while Dad shakes his finger loose

Asher, our warper of time, today is a special day because you have now spent just as much time outside the womb as you did inside, and though you have sped up the pace of time significantly for us, it is only because we are having so much fun.