10 Months!

Eliza, you are TEN months old!

• You are SO SMART.  I say this all the time, but only because it is so true.  I can tell that you understand us when we talk to you, and it surprises me every time -- the other day we were at the grocery store and you were sitting in the cart.  I gave you a tub of cottage cheese and I said "Eliza can you beat on the drum?" and YOU DID!  You've had lots of practice drumming at home on the drum that Kim gave you, but it still surprised me when you did it on cue!  You also understand lots of other words and phrases.

• You have lots of tricks and skills now - you've been waving since you were about 6 months old, so of course you still do that, and you can do "so big!", and play peek-a-boo with us.  And of course you LOVE to clap.  Whenever you hear someone say "yay!" or "good job!", you start to clap.  It's so cute. You know signs for "all done", "more" (although this one often looks like clapping) and "milk".  You have also invented your own sign that means "kitty".  No one is quite sure where you came up with it, but you do it every time you see one of your kitties (or Grandma and Grandpa's kitty).  You point at things now, and can easily spot birds in the sky or squirrels on the ground.  You love pointing things out to us.  Oh, and dancing!  You "butt dance", and OMG it is adorable.  I have to get a video of it.  You rock your little bum on the floor when you hear music - are you going to be a dancer??

• You are very verbal.  Although, when lots of people are around, sometimes you get very quiet.  But at home you are a talker!  You say lots of sounds - "da", "ba", "ma", "ga", and recently you've added "va".  "Dada" is still your favorite word.  You say it when you see yourself in the mirror and when you see a picture of yourself - and you also say it when you see your dada, or a picture of someone in your family... so we think it has many meanings!  

• You have gotten very fast at crawling this month, so you are a busy busy girl!  This means that mama is also busy ;o)  You pull yourself up on everything now, and are just starting to walk around the furniture.  This morning you side-stepped around the coffee table to get to the coasters (one of your favorite toys).  You are so curious, you want to know about everything in the house -- what's in that room?  what's that on the floor?  where did the kitty go?  can I pull myself up on this? 

• You've learned some new "mouth tricks" - you like to move your tongue around in your mouth to make different sounds.  It's so cute.  You still blow raspberries of course, that's been an Eliza classic since you were about 5 months old!

• You are learning to give hugs, which is oh so sweet!  When I say "Eliza, can I have a hug?", you (usually) put your head down on my shoulder.  It melts my heart.  Your Grandma and dada taught you that one.  I've been working on teaching you to blow kisses.

• Eliza, you are my big girl!  You are starting to really look like a toddler now.  We all think you are cuter than ever, of course.  You are wearing primarily 12-18 month clothing now, though a few 9 month outfits still fit.  Your one-size diapers are as big as they can go, so we're wondering how long they will fit you!  I think your little buddha belly and your thighs will shrink somewhat once you start to walk, so I bet they will fit for a while.

• What else?  You are still napping twice a day, but you will NOT nap for your Grandma and Grandpa when they watch you while mama goes to school.  You refuse - too much playing to be done I guess!  But, you have such a happy temperament that even without a nap, you are a sweet pleasant little girl.  

We are so lucky to have you in our lives, Eliza.  You make every day brighter and happier.  I love you so very much.  I still catch myself looking at you in absolute wonder some days -- how did I get so lucky?  After so much heartache, here you are.  It's amazing.

Happy 10 months, baby girl!