10 months!

Dear E,
You are 10 months old!! You are in the double digits. Only a couple of more months for me to call you my baby. You just get more and more fun with each month that passes. You make your dad and I laugh every day!

You took your first steps without falling this month!! Your first step was on June 9 and then you walked about 5 feet on June 24! Now you will walk small distances and get braver by the day! You still crawl everywhere but I don't know how much longer that will last. You are getting better at standing for longer periods and even play with toys while standing by yourself now. You are such a mover and still don't stay still for very long. I think that is definitely your personality though and I can't wait to see how it evolves as you get older. You definitely test your limits and I have to tell you "no" with unsafe things often during the day. Lately you are even going to something you know you shouldn't touch and look at me and then reach for it. Oh goodness my sassy girl!

You love to dance!!! You will dance with or without music and it is so cute. Sometimes you will be sitting on the floor and you will shake and rock your body back and forth and then look at me and wait for me or daddy to do it back. You think that is so funny and this will continue for a couple of rounds before you go off to do something else. You still love your books and like to open and close them all the time. Reading books to you is one of the only things that keeps you still for a few minutes =) You love to take all your books out of your basket. Favorite toys this month: shape bucket with the shape blocks, anything that you can push in front of you, dragon ball pop up toy, and the laundry basket. Oh you love that laundry basket. You love taking clothes out of it, you love pushing it across the floor, and you love riding in it. We pretend it's a train and you have so much fun! You still love Lucye. I don't think you could ever get tired of her. You think she is so funny and you love to "chase" her. You love your baths and cry when we take you out of them. You still play peek a boo with me and now you try to cover me back up after I say "boo!"

We tried a lot of new foods this month. You also started finger foods (besides puffs) this month! Finger foods were a big hit with you. You love to feed yourself! You would prefer finger foods over some of the purees and the oatmeal I give you in the mornings.  We introduced you to chicken and turkey. You LOVE chicken.  Love it! If I could just give you chicken for your entire meal, you would be happy. You pick out all the chicken on your tray and then will eat the rest of whatever we have given you. Other new foods: pasta, quinoa, nectarines, cherries, and blueberries. You are getting really good with your pincer grasp. So good at it that you will pick crumbs off the floor. Somehow you manage to find the one thing that the vacuum didn't pick up =). You still have NO teeth my cute little toothless 10 month old!! You have definitely found your voice this month. You do lots of excited screams and babble a lot. Lots of ma, ba, da, ga, and ssss. We think that you may have said your first word on June 16 - "mama" but we aren't for sure because you don't do it all the time. You definitely understand a lot. You will clap when I sing "if you are happy and you know it". You can wave hi and bye to people and give high fives too. You come to us when we ask you.  You do not like it when we tell you "no."

Separation anxiety is in full force this month. It is breaking our hearts. You especially don't like it if mommy leaves you especially in new places. I got called back to the nursery for the first time. They said that you kept crawling towards the door anytime they put you down. So sad. You and I just hung out in the cry room, and you ate puffs while I listened to the sermon from there.

Cute things that you are doing this month:
- You have a fake cough. If you hear us cough, you will make a fake cough sound. So funny!
- You also will laugh if we have laughed at something.
- If I'm in the kitchen, you will come pull up on my legs and put your body and head in between my two legs. Then I will have to walk somewhere else like the sink and you will just walk along with me with your head poking out between my legs.
- You do a cute scrunchy face when you get excited or think something is funny.

Firsts this month:
- First Father's Day

- First move from a house

You are napping 2-3 times a day. I think you are trying to transition to two naps but you aren't napping very long. You have definitely been resisting your naps this month. I am hoping it's just a phase.  You go to bed between 7-7:30 and now will wake up around 6:30. There have a been a couple of days where you slept almost until 7. You are eating every 3- 3 1/2 hours and have a dropped a feeding so now you are nursing 5 times a day. You eat 3 solid meals. We don't have official stats this month but I'm guessing you are at least 20 pounds. You wear 9 month clothing and can fit into some 12 month clothes as well.

We love you E. Looking forward to this next month!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy