10 months old

Alex turned 10 months old on July 11. Just when I think a stage can't be any cuter, sweeter or more fun, another one comes. Alex is cruising around anything stable or partially stable. Apparently, she is in her last stage before walking on her own as she walks pushing a wagon and cruises from one thing to the next without stopping. Alex's vocabulary has increased a good bit lately. She says multiple versions of mama (mom, ma, mama, mommy, and the Australian version "mummy"). She also says daddy and dada. Other words include ball, baby, night night (aka..ni ni), ouch (ouw), owl (ouw), yes(yeah), no, and plenty of other babbles. She mimicks everything we do: fake coughs, blows raspberries, fake sneezes, does a funny noise with tongue like us, waves, claps, hides, etc and even attempts to say words we say (i.e. ba for bag, gee for green, etc). We have been working on teaching her some sign language to help our communication. She understands much of it, but only signs back "all done" (or her version of it) right now. Alex still doesn't have visible teeth, but we see two buds on the mid bottom. No teeth has not stopped her from eating anything we give her. Alex eats mostly finger foods right now which has been so much fun to watch her learn and become more independent. Alex has always been active, but this mobile pretoddler must be related to Christopher Columbus. Her explorations have left me laughing, rushing to rescue her, getting on to her, stunned by her intrigue, or helping her learn.

You know you have a mobile pretoddler when:
* the room gets quiet, he or she is either reading books or in the bathroom trying to play in the toilet bowl or roll toilet paper down. (We now have to keep the bathroom doors shut. )
* the word/sign "no" becomes a common word each day. Our current "no" areas are the fireplace, my plants, the tv area, remote controls, our cell phones, the toilets/toilet paper of course, outlets (and any other dangerous places), and our books. That may sound like a lot, but she has plenty of yes areas. [God's Word is true that we are born into sin. I see the innate desire in Alex to "taste the forbidden fruit" as she tests the no areas. Parenting is teaching me so much about God in that He knows what is best for us even if we defy or ignore Him. And when we do disobey, there are consequences that often leave us hurt or scarred. God's perspective keeps the ultimate (longterm) purpose/plan in view and doesn't allow for temporary gratification. Sorry about busting out into a sermon here... I could go on and on, but I'll stop here for now...]
* the kitchen floors have constant milk splatters from drops off the high chair (another no no, but still in progress).
* the floors can look like a toy volcano erupted
* cries emerge because of falls, bumps, etc... (Alex is fearless and tries anything)
* folding clothes takes longer because little hands like to undo neatly folded clothes or scatter the unfolded ones. (Alex is so cute as she just wants to be with me doing whatever I am doing sometimes.)
* the cabinet and drawer latches become mommy proof, too (unloading the dishwasher takes longer now...ha!)
* you lose leaves on your plants no matter how many times "no, get down" is stated.
* batting and chasing a ball can occupy your child for a while.
* little hands grab your legs for you to pick him/her up.
* chasing a crawling toddler or him/her chasing you is so fun
* he or she tackles you with kisses all throughout the day
* I'm sure I could come up with more, but I'm going to share stories instead...

Most intelligent moment so far: Alex started early following our commands (i.e. turn the page, change hands, look at mommy) and has progressed to stand up, walk with the wagon, come here, point to the dog, say baby, etc... Well, her most intelligent response happened when I was cooking dinner and was letting her watch her Praise Baby video (it is often my before dinner default to give me time to focus on dinner...it sometimes works). Well, the video ended and the credits started rolling. Alex grunted/wimpered to let me know. I came in the living room to make sure I understood her grunts. So, I noticed the credits and looked at her as she was crawling to me and I asked "where's the remote?" Since we don't let her have the remotes, I didn't really expect a response; I was just talking to her before I would try to find it myself. Well, my smart lil punkin started crawling away from me towards the couch. I thought she was being cute trying to play chase or something. I followed her and she started batting the corner of the DVD remote (like a cat) from out from under the couch!!!!!! Ok, remember, she didn't look for it first. She was using her memory that she had seen it there and went back to it to bat it out for me. Also, know that the regular TV remote was right by my foot when I asked her that. She ignored that one and went to the correct one. I was so impressed and affirmed her with words and a few more minutes of Praise Baby so I could top off dinner.

Sad, but sweet story: Since Alex is finally showing signs of future teeth, we have noticed some strange things: random fever last week, looser stool, and a little more fussy sometimes. We have chalked most of this up to cutting teeth. Well, two nights ago she shreaked with screams starting at 9:15 pm. They lasted on and off for just over an hour. Was this teeth? tummy ache? gas? nightmare?. ??? We tried soothing her in so many ways: holding, rocking, tylenol, orajel, mylicon, gave water to drink, more holding... Finally, she started calming down so I tried to lay her down again and it started again. So, I let her lay on my chest in the dark on the couch to calm back down. It was soooooo sweet as it reminded me of when she was so little and did that often. She eventually calmed and fell asleep on my chest on the couch. I could have laid there all night. I eventually laid her in her bed. A few cries followed that transfer, but then she was out. I treasure those moments as one day she may be too "big" and not want to cuddle with mommy. I don't have a current pic of me holding Alex on my chest. However, below is us sleeping on the couch when she was 2 weeks old...so sweet!

Walking with Wagon

Trying new things with her hair. Doesn't Alex look like such a little "big" girl in these pics? Gina, I think Alex looks like Sable here. You? Alex "helping" mommy with laundry. a typical show of Alex pulling on my legs rather I am sitting at the table or standing in the kitchen. "Wonder if they see me." Notice the small pieces of bread on Alex's tray. Well, she reached past those to the big piece and took a huge bite out of it. She loves bread, especially this wheat bread from Old Mill Bread Company. Alex loves to feed herself. She's such a big girl! We went swimming at Annabell's neighborhood pool. Annabell is just 2 weeks older than Alex. Alex loved playing with 18 mo old twins, Taryn and Andrew, in their pool as she could climb in and out like them. Alex reached for Gracie as soon as we put them together. The first time I put Alex next to Jacob she kissed him over and over. Eventually, I had to pull her away.