What ten months means to me, an essay by Adam Malek Ali

It means being able to say dada and mama.
It means being able to pull myself up onto the couch.
It means I love all animals and want to stop to watch them all, but especially dogs.
It means being able to eat all sorts of things, even wontons and chicken soup.
It means sleeping through the night.
It means going to music class and loving it.
It means crawling all over and even climbing up a flight of stairs.
It means loving books and reading, especially Goodnight Gorilla and Brown Bear.
It means pointing at what I want until my servants (aka my parents) retrieve it for me.
It means being able to take off my own pants when I’m supposed to be napping.
It means being able to play on the playground with the older kids finally.
It means seeing new things every day that I have to play with, from watermelons to electrical wires.
It means having enough hair that my mom finally gets to use a brush on my head.
It means loving my new friend, Raki the Raccoon.