Ten Months!

Dear Sunshine Baby,

Last Friday, while we were on vacation you turned 10 months old. How can it be? You are such a little girl now. Each day you are becoming less and less of a baby and more and more of a little girl. And I’m loving it. You are so fun. You’re personality, attitude, temper, stubborn nature, and humour shines all the time. You are really learning how to communicate, how to be funny, and how to be a little stinker.

You have started to look so different this month. Your hair is getting thicker, longer and lighter. The best part of the month was when I was able to start putting your hair in pigtails. And, girlfriend, your skin is SO tan. I don’t think it’s fair. I slather you up with SPF 60 sunscreen and you are still more tan than I. Here’s how you’ve looked this month:

You are fitting well into most 9 and 12 month clothes. I’m guessing you’re sitting somewhere between 18.5-19 pounds. You wear size 3 or 4 diapers and are still wearing size medium cloth diaper covers.

This month you’ve started pointing at everything and have just recently started pairing the point with “dis” “dis” “dis”. You are also saying Da-Da a lot and I think you’re starting to connect the word to your Daddy. You still say Nika (Ka) quite a bit and sometimes say Hi. You love to wave and give (slobbery) kisses. The other day, I told you to blow kisses and you just puckered your lips and said Mmmm.

For a while at the beginning of this month, you got really sucky for your Mama and sometimes, Daddy couldn’t even take you. That seems to have died down now, and you will generally be happy with anyone – just as long as they are doing what you want them to do.

You love to walk around holding onto our hands. A few months ago we put bets on when you’d start walking and I have to admit – we thought we’d have a walker by now. But that’s okay … take your time, little lady. Sometimes you get brave and will walk holding onto only one hand but you’re usually looking for something to grab with your empty hand. You’ve started to stand unassisted, and it will last anywhere from 10-30 seconds … until you realize you aren’t holding onto anything and then you go kaboom.

This month has been an adventure in new foods. Aside from nuts, chocolate and seafood – you eat everything that we eat. You love pancakes, eggs, spaghetti, lasagna, perogies, mango, peaches, cherries, strawberries and raspberries (only if I let you have it whole), and much much more. You are in the midst of a real, “let me do it myself” stage when it comes to eating and rarely let me feed anything to you. You nurse 4-5 times a day and usually eat 3 solid meals, and a snack here or there. Sometimes you want no food and all milk and some days you want all food and no milk. If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that there’s no making you eat what/when you don’t want to eat.

For the most part, you have started sleeping quite a bit better over the past month. We’ve had a number of 12+ hour nights which make your Mama very very happy. You’re still napping twice a day, usually for 1.5-2 hours each. You go to bed around 7-7:30 and we usually start our day anywhere between 6:45-8am. You cut your 7th tooth (3rd bottom tooth) the day before you turned 10 months old. You had a rough couple weeks with your teeth so I am hoping there are a few more shortly behind it to explain the extent of your pain. It’s sometimes hard to tell when you have a new tooth coming in because you don’t let me look or feel inside your mouth very easily, at all.

We’ve spent a lot of time at the pool, with your cousins, walking, and out at the garden. You traveled up north to the Vine family reunion and did wonderfully in the car and at the camp. You didn’t sleep great there, but the rest was awesome. You also went to the zoo to celebrate Little H’s birthday and took a trip to Ottawa. You’ve been a busy girl! You are also a busy girl at home – you get into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. The kitchen cupboards are your newest favourite.

Evalyn, your Daddy and I are enjoying you oh so much. You are the very best part of us. We love you to the moon and back.

Mama