10 months. Just wild that we find ourselves here already. I feel like I’ve known you forever yet like you were just brand new! This month was lot of firsts for you… makes my head spin how much you learn is such a short amount of time. Crazy! This month you crawled, you stood, you celebrated your first Father’s Day with Daddy, attended your first pool party and felt grass for the first time as you took in your first Latin Jazz concert in the park. You are such a plump dumpling of a human and it is SO satisfying to squeeze on your lil’ legs and feet… I cannot understate this. You are blossoming into such a Daddy’s girl… he is where you want to be! You are with him 4 days a week while I work (and with Grandma Connie for 2 of those days) and you LOVE Daddy daycare. On the one hand, it’s so sweet to witness your bond and how safe and sure you feel with him, on the other hand it makes me sad when you pull away toward him and I wish I could explain to you that I would love to be the one with you always, but mamma brings home the health insurance. I’ve come used to it, but just know that you will always be the apple of my eye, even when I’m away at work. The favorite part of my day is still coming home to you, your smile and your laugh. Your laughter is strong and sure, and so very delicious to those of us who witness it, but your side-eye game is strong. You don’t so much have “stranger danger” feels as much as you have “stranger assessment” feels. That assessment process means you will stare anybody down, unsmiling and unbothered, no matter how high pitched the baby talk and compliments being thrown your way... It’s pretty funny to witness. In contrast to the joy I feel at watching you grow and learn, it’s is a strange time in the U S of A for mothers whose children are taken from there as they come here for better lives… I hope it’s a short footnote in our history books, but for now, they’ve separated families at the border who come here illegally with no plan it seems on how to re-unite them. 9 months is the age of the youngest child immigrant detainee at a facility in New York, and the same age as you were this month my love. I would move mountains for you. I’ve listened in horror, I’ve cried, I’ve called my representatives in support of keeping families together and have donated money and yet feel so damn useless in this. So I cuddle you, my little nugget extra hard and hope that somehow we all find our humanity in this. I hope you are surrounded with love and joy for a long time mi amor and that the sharp edges of this world don’t make your radar. You are lucky already and SO very loved my sweet. Happy 10 months!