10 Months!

The exponential growth and development of babies is austounding.  Every day Monica demonstrates how far she can go (literally- just check out our babies gates and rearranging/moving items to escape her ever reaching grasp).  She crawls and climbs everywhere and is not afraid to climb up stairs or strollers or anything she can.  She doesn't get that she's not still surrounded by a even level on all sides.  I'm quite the psychic when it comes to anticipating falls.  She is so silly: loves to laugh and play peek-a-boo.  She still wrinkles her nose to laugh or disgust.  She likes to clap and dance (bopping up and down with her hands waving in the air).  She points to things and grunts (a cute grunt of course).  She still selectively waves and blows kisses.  She babbles all the time, making all the sounds of words (most of the time dada), but I'm not sure if I can officially call her first real word.  I think she's got mama and dada and hi, but it's inconsistent.  She'll hug anything soft.  She even tried to hug her buddy Ethan (who pushed her away).  :o)

She doesn't really like to go to strangers and prefers to stay in mom or dad's arms when out and about.  Sometimes she still plays the clingy game at home, but she's usually fine to hang out if I need to run to another room.  She can be pretty whiney at times, which I figure is just pay back.  The mother's curse starts right away I guess.  But most of the time she is fine with being along for the ride and will grace people she meets with a smile or a wave. 

Whiny face, I think I'm going to be seeing this for the next 18 years.

Broccolli . . . yum.

She has six teeth now!  She also had her first blood-drawing injury when she slipped trying to stand up and bit her lip.  She cried like a champ, but was over it in about 2 minutes and went on her merry way.  She is starting to feed herself some finger foods (cut up soft fruit, cheese, steamed veggies, bread and shredded meat).  This is nice because it keeps her occupied for a while so I can actually eat in between giving her bites of her mush.

She's still tall and skinny according to the comparison stats at the doc's (84% for height and 8% for weight), but I'm convinced she just works off her calories with all her business.  Chasing her around and moving things she shows me I forgot to baby proof will hopefully help me burn some extra calories as well. :o)

She has become super helpful with the laundry and dishes, unfolding the folded and emptying the dishwasher (whether clean or dirty).  I just let her "help" and say thank you.  Heaven forbid I crush her desire to do chores!  She's also obsessed with the bathrooms and getting into the refrigerator.  She moves like a bolt of lightening every time there's a chance to get at either.

Parenting thing I've been pondering throughout month nine:
We teach babies to give high fives and then have to stop them from hitting other things (like my face).  Perhaps we'll skip teaching high fives to any future children.


We sure love our fast growing baby girl!