Ten Months Old!

Dear Dorothy,

You're ten months old, now! How did that happen?

We had a busy month, again. We seem to have nothing but busy months, lately. It's nice to be going so many places and doing so many things, but it makes keeping up with my blog nearly impossible. We were out of town when you turned nine months old, and we were out of town again when you turned ten months old.

Here are a few of the things we did this month:

We stopped by Vermont on our way home from the YARR camping trip, and got to visit with your cousins there (and bonus Grandma, who was also visiting for N's birthday!)



We attended the wedding of two friends.



Trips to the shore, Sesame Place, and the zoo.



A visit from Grandma for Valerie's birthday, and a trip to Walton, NY to visit Great-Grandmom and Great-Granddad for the county fair. I'm worn out, too!



This was a big month for you developmentally, too. You can stand unassisted, now, and you cruise all over the place. You'll even push things around while walking behind them, and I'm starting to brace myself for you walking. You love to climb: stairs, the back of the couch, chairs, into boxes, you name it, you'll try to climb it.



Your vocabulary has increased a lot this month, too. You consistently (and appropriately) use the signs for nurse (milk), more, and all done. You've started branching out and using those signs for other situations, like telling me you are "all done" being in a swing, or that you want "more" when you want to steal my food. You also started waving "hi" this month, and wave excitedly at other people and at photographs of people on Mommy's computer. You're speaking a lot more, now, too. You consistently say, "Mama", "Daddy", "Hi", "all done" or "done", "yeah", and "yum". You have also said "up", "ducky", "ouch", and "om nom nom" a few times. I think you are also trying to say your sister's name, as I have heard you say, "Va" several times. You've called the bed and a ball both "ba" and I wonder how many almost words you have that I have missed. You babble constantly, and seem confident that your words and gestures have meaning, and I think a lot more of them do than I give you credit for. You're a pretty smart cookie.



Another big development this month has been in your ability to show affection. If I sit down near you, you crawl up onto my lap, and when I pick you up, you wrap your arms around me in a big hug. It's the best feeling ever.



You cut your third tooth on August 11, and tooth #4 seems to be giving you the hardest time of them all. It hasn't cut through yet, but it seems to bother you more than any of the others. It's also the one directly underneath your cleft lip, and I wonder if the gum is extra thick there or something. You love food, and you eat everything we put in front of you with near desperation, and lots of things we don't put in front of you, too. Changing your diaper is like a treasure hunt.

You spent a week or so of this month sick, which was no fun at all. You also developed a powerful Mama-attachment, especially when you are tired, which has made it difficult for me to do things like put your sister to bed and go to the bathroom. I can sometimes get things done around the house by strapping you onto my back, but your affinity for pulling hair makes this a painful option. Usually, you leave my hair alone if I put it in a tight bun, but you are starting to learn how to pull my bun apart, too. If your sister and I both end up bald, it will be because you pulled all of our hair out.



Hair-pulling, clinginess, teething, nap strikes, and illness notwithstanding, you're still an overall happy baby. When Valerie pretends to be a baby, she crawls around giggling and squealing delightedly, because that's what she sees you doing, and as far as she knows, that's what babies do. I love you, my crawling, giggling, squealing, happy baby.



Love,
Mama.