Pets and life of the mom of a 10 month old

Here in Medford you cannot have chickens. Which is a shame because we bought a chicken coop from Craigslist the first week we moved in and which seems silly in retrospect. But now I have a purpose and mission in life and I have already started hounding the animal control officer :)

I do have a few pets besides Lucy, Lola, and Ruben. They live in the basement. They eat my scraps along with wet newspaper. They are slimy. They make dirt. Are you jealous yet? They are red wiggler worms, and they also make babies. I am thinking of expanding from one plastic bin to two. I gave some baby worms as pets to the daughter of my visiting teacher in a glass jar with a bit of lettuce for them to eat. I don't think the mom was thrilled (but the girl was) and I don't think the worms survived long.

College books and stuffed animals no longer!!

Black gold is what they call this (the dirt part, not the soaked phone book).

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What does my life look like as a mom of an almost 10 month old?
I know every 10 month old is not the same, but this is what I have found it is like to be the mom of a 10 month old:
 - Her schedule is pretty set. Wakes up at 6 am, nurses, eats breakfast, naps from 9-10, eats a snack, eats lunch at noonish, nap from 1-2ish, wakes up, has a snack, we might go somewhere, dinner at 6, get ready for bed which is at 7:00-7:30. Putting her down is so easy now. Like butter on warm bread, as they say.
 - She is curious about everything she can or cannot get her hands on.
 - She is still not crawling but a pretty efficient scooter and can get halfway to the bathroom in the time it takes me to make a quick visit.
 - She is very interested in where I am and generally wants to be there, too. Me going to the bathroom is sometimes enough to cause much sadness. Separation anxiety?
 - It is hard to get anything done. She may play by herself for five minutes or so but after that scoots over to where I am and expects to be picked up/read to, etc. If I ignore or delay that request, crying often ensues. I have found that if I want to prepare food beyond just heating it up, it has to happen when she is asleep. I am starting to experiment with letting her be frustrated a little bit. Sometimes she will cry some and then be ok staying on the floor. Sometimes she will not be ok staying on the floor. It is a work in progress.
 - It can be hard to plan when and how to get out of the house. The best time period we have is after her afternoon nap/snack when we actually have a couple hours without having to rush home to get to the next nap.
 - Some days I have help from another adult (Alex) but most days I don't. We are happy just to see him awake for a few minutes some days.
 - It has been hard to go to evening church events because I either am home by myself or the rare nights that Alex is home and actually could stay with the baby, I feel that I should spend the time with him.

Most days I am content and grateful. I won't say that I don't miss the freedom I had before having a child, because I do. A 10 month old is so much easier than a newborn in so many ways, but it can actually be harder to get out of the house now that she can't fall asleep just anywhere. 9 am church is proving to be hard because the early nap gets delayed or thrown out the window.

I am going to be watching a 15 month old starting this week for 1-2 afternoons per week as part of a babysitting swap. It will be interesting to see what the dynamic is between the two and if it will actually be easier to step away for a few minutes if they are at the point of entertaining each other.

There are so many special, wonderful, perfect moments of the day. When I am mindful and open to my daughter and whatever is going on, trying to bring kindness and compassion for myself and for Cecily to our interactions, and non judgmental of whatever situation I find myself in, there is so so much to be grateful for. So many moments of watching my daughter grow before my eyes, seeing her laugh and smile, and just enjoying the energy and experience of a little girl. It really is wonderful.