Independence

Its a fact of life that children grow and become more independent. Is that a good thing? Yes. Is that also a bad thing well my answer to that is also yes. After waiting many many years to become a parent I'm enjoying watching my son grow and change and learn to do things on his own. Noah being more independent gives me more time to do things for myself so that's nice right because who doesn't want to be able to sit and eat a meal once in a while. But its also hard because he's been with us for 10 months and to me a 10 month old still needs his mommy to do a lot of things which he did in the beginning. The time of his life that I missed seems to be high lighted by how fast he's growing now.
Typically when we were out some where Noah had two options

1. sit in the stroller/ shopping cart depending on where we were or

2. be carried by mommy or daddy

Recently we have added an option #3 He can get down and walk holding our hand. We are working on this and definitely haven't perfected it yet. He sometimes will see something that excites him and he pulls free to go and examine it. When this happens he immediately gets put back to option 1 or 2. These are his only options we will not use a child leash/harness call it what you will. Now just to clarify I'm not trying to cause a debate because like the whole co sleep or don't co sleep issue if you do it and it works for your family then bravo have at it. We have discussed it and its not for us case closed.
Option 3 is a great in comparison to option 2. When we were handed a 20lb baby in Ethiopia it was hard..10lbs later I have built up some strength but it's still very tiring to carry him everywhere. Which brings me to the realization that as much as I love holding him he's growing up and I need to embrace that and give him some freedom. The holding and cuddling can still be done at home in the rocking chair or on the couch.
And with that growing up Noah is starting to learn to drink from a cup.

Aren't these cute. They came in a pack of 4. Two of each color. Until he gets the hang of it he only gets a little bit of water at a time and typically only in the kitchen so its easy clean up when he spills which he does because he doesn't understand the concept of drinking and then tipping the cup back down again. He's used to sippy or straw cups.

Take your independence son but please take it slowly know that momma is here watching you learn to fly and trying not to cry as a little bit of my heart breaks and soars with you all at the same time.