Sunday, August 1, 2010

10 months and counting

Maddie just turned 10 months old and I am in disbelief (or denial) that in a mere 8 1/2 weeks, our baby (BABY) girl will be turning a year old. But I know it's happening, because she is becoming more and more toddler-ish with each passing day. She will not tolerate "no" for an answer and she will scream in protest when she doesn't get her way. It's a good thing that she is still easily distracted, but I can already see a most opinionated streak in her. Good God, she might just take after her mama and then karma will set in and I will really be paying my dues.

A couple of days ago, we were all sitting in the living room playing and I made a comment to Mark that if Maddie starts walking when Jacob walked (at 11 months), then she will be walking in just a few short weeks. I said that it was hard to believe because I didn't feel as though she was ready for that yet. Maddie happened to be standing there holding onto the ottoman and, as if she heard me and wanted to prove me wrong, she literally turned her body, let go of the ottoman, and took 2 steps toward Daddy. Now, she fell into his arms and her balance was way off, but I could swear the child heard me and, if she could talk, she would have said "Oh yeah? Watch this!" Amazing. So, maybe now I believe she'll be walking around the same time Jacob did. I will say this much. She is much more curious and much less fearful than Jacob ever was. She really could care less if she lets go, stumbles a bit, and falls flat on her face. I love that.

At 10 months, she now has 3 teeth with the other top one ready to pop through at any minute. She's less and less interested in her bottles and more and more interested in only foods that she can feed herself. She's a big fan of crackers of any kind, but give the kid some avocado and she'll spit it right back out at you. She's still babbling "dadadada" and even sometimes "jajajajajas" and I've heard some "mamamamamas" a couple of times. She crawls way more than I remember Jacob ever crawling and she can pull herself up onto anything and cruise. She's a big fan of opening and closing our cabinets in our living room but I'm always on top of her when she does it because I just know one day she's going to smash her little fingers. About a week ago, she discovered she could climb stairs. Have I mentioned that I never want stairs in my house again?

She is becoming a really great sleeper (thank you lord!) She goes to bed around 6:30/7 pm and sleeps until 6:30 am. She sometimes wakes at 5:45 am but will happily talk and crawl/cruise around her crib until 6:30 or so. She typically goes down for her morning nap around 9:30 and will sleep about an hour to an hour and a half. Her afternoon nap is less consistent but it usually starts around 2 pm and lasts at least an hour as well. On good days, she will sleep until 4 pm. She's not so great at independent play, but she's getting much better, especially if Jacob is in the room. The problem is now she is moving, so we really can't take our eyes off of her!

She still LOVES her Daddy more than anyone in the world. If Daddy walks in the room, she will literally jump out of my arms and start "oh-oh-ohing" with her arms outstretched toward him until he picks her up. If she hears his voice in another room, she will immediately book it in that direction which makes it difficult when he is at home working in his office! She has crawled to his office doors countless times and whined for him to come out. I have to admit, my feelings are hurt at times, but it is pretty darn cute that she has such an infatuation with him. And Daddy eats it up which makes the two of them even closer. Thankfully, when we are out and about without Daddy, she won't let anyone hold her but me, so I do believe she loves her mama too. :)

Finally, as much as I love her beautiful long, naturally hi and low lighted hair, it has become a particular mess in the last month as she will NOT keep a clip or bow in it, so her hair inevitably falls into her eyes at all times. And, as she continues to self feed on crackers and pretzels and yogurt melts and more, her hands always become a mess of slobber and food which somehow make their way into her hair (as she tries to pull our her bow, no doubt) so her hair, by the end of the day is a mess. Capital M-E-S-S. And NO DAD, we will NOT be cutting bangs.

Check out our 10 month old and her mess for hair.







2 comments:

Lindsay said...

Oh boy. Maddie sounds spunky! I love it! I can't wait until you guys are back in CA.

Unknown said...

I love all of her hair! When did Maddie start crawling?