Living the Dream: 10 months

Whoaaaaa Nelly. Slow down, girl, cause you are really growing in warp speed. I still feel like you are so tiny compared to that big ole brother of yours, but you are learning and becoming such a little person. Seriously, slow down!!!

I have to admit that you were a much tougher baby than Kirby was. I hate to tell you that. You wanted to be held all the time, and you cried a lot. Like a lot. Making you smile or laugh was a major feat. But GIRL now, once you started crawling shortly after nine months, you are almost a totally different baby. I don't know if you are happier now that you can get everywhere you want to go and get to everything you want to put your hands on (or put in your mouth) or what, but wow. You are my happy girl, and I love it!!!! You are still so quiet and sweet and love to snuggle and sit with momma. You are babbling so much more. You smile so much more. And though you don't laugh all the time like your counterpart did when he was your age, when you do laugh, you REALLY laugh. It is the sweetest sound. And I love when you both get going together. I love to pick you up from the Y and hear that you played and giggled instead of being told that you were fussy or tough.

Girlfriend, you have a mouth full of eight teeth, and I'm quite certain that more are on the way.

You went through this crazy stage of waking several times a night and waking for good at 5:30ish. Ummmm, that doesn't fly, girl! Of course, you went through an ear infection and an allergic reaction to penicillin so perhaps I should cut you some slack, but I was tired, and so were you!! I dropped you to one nap a day, and now you are sleeping a good 11-12 hours per night and one good afternoon nap, with an occasional cat nap when we are on the go in the mornings. Muuuuuuuch, better, seeeester!

You love to feed yourself. You are done with tub foods. You will let me spoon-feed you a pouch, but you like to finish it on your own. You twirl your little hands around and around while you're in your chair savoring every last nibble. You dig eating what we are eating, and you protest if we don't provide what we have. You are crazy about a waffle, toast, a peanut butter sandwich, cheese, yogurt, a cracker, and you really loved lentil soup. I hope you continue to be my good eater. Heck, your brother has such a strong hatred for peas, that he doesn't even want to play with pretend peas from his toy food set. Awesome.

You are crawling everywhere, and you prefer to crawl to whatever your brother is playing with and terrorize him. I'll say, No No to you, and you'll turn around and flash your toothy grin. You have tons and tons of your own toys, but you prefer whatever Kirby has his hands on, and well, to be fair, he only prefers what you have your hands on. Girl, you are going to give him a run for his money, aren't you? You love to pull up on everything and stand on your tippy toes. Toes. Perhaps this is the perfect place to add that you still have the tiniest, chubbiest little feet. Tiny. But despite all your desire to crawl around and this major exploration phase, you still love to be held. You are my little snuggler.

You are waving and saying Hi. I'm pretty sure you are saying Baby. You love the 3-month pictures of Kirby at the top of the stairs. We spend a lot of time looking at them, and I tell you it is Baby Kirby. Now we stop at that picture, and you wave your little hand, and I'm quite sure you say, BeeeeBeeee. Nothing cheers you up quite like Momma picking you up. And what always does the trick and makes you stop in your screams is a good verse of Twinkle Twinkle or Happy and you know it. You can clap your hands, and I think you are even stomping your feet. And you love a trip to the grocery store without brother so you can ride in the front.