10 months!

Our little Elna did it again.  She grew another month older.  This month seemed to go especially fast because we spent half of it in Fairfield.  She is a special little girl full of energy and a thrill for life. 

So far this has been the hardest month to get a picture of her sitting where I wanted her to sit (next to the pillow and in such a way that when the year is up and I compare all of the monthly pictures it will be easy to see how she has changed from month to month.)  She would not sit still!

Elna reading her recent favorite book, Marianna May and Nursey by Tomie DePaola

At 10 months, Elna:

-loves books!  She says “buh buh buh” over and over again whenever she sees one.  Funny story: when we visited my parents she took naps in my dad’s study where there are thousands of books.  My mom walked by the room when she was supposed to be sleeping and all she heard was Elna going “buh buh buh” over and over again.  She’s never seen so many books!  Her favorite books are: Marianna May and Nursey, On The Day You Were Born, and A Baby Is Born.

-loves baths even more!  We have finally started doing a pretty predictable bedtime routine with Elna.  After dinner she takes a bath, so when she thinks she is done with dinner she starts saying “bah bah bah bah” as much as she can possibly can.  It’s darling!

-loves climbing stairs!  We don’t have stairs at our house, but my parents do.  She bee-lined for them any chance that she could while we were in Fairfield.

-will eat almost anything: oatmeal and applesauce, bananas, tomato soup with quinoa, creamy enchiladas, quinoa and gravy, crackers, teething biscuits, polenta and spaghetti sauce, corn chowder, and broccoli cheese soup—basically she wants to eat anything I am eating. 

-has 4 teeth now.  Her top teeth finally came through!

-throws a pretty amazing tantrum. 

-can recognize herself, me, and Brian in pictures.

-when asked “how big is Elna?” she will put her hands high above her head when we say, “so big!”

-is sleeping 7 pm – 7 am almost every night.  I wake up usually one time to stick her pacifier back in (yes, I need to wean her from it, but I’m not ready to), but I never feed her before 7 a.m. now.  Hallelujah!

-is stingy with her kisses to us, but will kiss her baby doll all the time.  It’s cute—she pretty much just sucks her doll’s face.

-still hates to lay down for her diaper changes.  It’s a feat!

-has a fresh new haircut.  I cut it a few days ago while I was home while my mom entertained Elna enough to keep her still. 

The next six pictures show a persistent progression of her trying to get her books:

A determined little one!

I’m so glad when Daddy comes home.

We can hardly wait each day until Brian walks through the door.  Elna gets so excited!  The other day I said “Daddy” and Elna whipped her little head around so fast towards the door that Brian walks through at the end of the day.  Oh, the disappointment!  Tax season is a hard few months for us.  I just miss Brian and Elna is lucky to see Brian before she goes to bed.  And Brian misses his girls too.  These pictures were taken the other night when Brian got home. 

Their nightly ritual always includes a little airplane—Elna loves flying in her daddy’s arms.  She squeals in delight!

And a shot of Elna in one of her favorite spots in the house—our shower.

9 months.

Wow!  9 months just seems so old to me.  She’s well on her way to being a year old!

At 9 months, Elna:

-is crawling everywhere—and fast!  She loves to try to open cracked doors (that she used to ignore), so I have to be better about shutting doors completely to rooms that I don’t want her in (like the bathroom…which happens to be her favorite.)

-likes to try to crawl off our bed when we set her there.  Within a second of being placed in the middle of the bed she bee-lines it to the edge.  We always catch her right as she crawls off.  She’s fearless.

-has stood a few times without holding on to anything, but pretty briefly and always next to something sturdy.

-was sick a lot of this last month.  It was not fun, but I think she’s mostly better.  We are still recovering from messed up sleep patterns. 

-is a vacuum!  She will put anything and everything in her mouth.  She prefers paper and bark (from fireplace wood)

-is still nursing 4-5 times a day/night. 

-when she thinks she is about to nurse she will spit out her paci in preparation. 

-loves eating solids too—oatmeal with applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash, tomato soup, and anything else we are eating that she can eat too.

-hates diaper changes.

-loves watching/listening to the washer/dryer.

-loves baths and showers.

-babbles all day long—when she really gets going it’s hilarious to listen to and to watch.  She really gets into it.

-makes a “p” sound for things starting with the letter “b”—like book.  When I ask if she wants to read a book she starts saying “puh.”  Or if we are near her book case she says “puh.”  It’s adorable. 

-says “hi.”  (I think?)

-loves dogs and is not at all afraid of them.  Dogs have gotten close enough to lick her and maybe even have, but she doesn’t seem to mind.  She just laughs.  That’s amazing to me.  I mind if a dog is close enough to lick me.  And so does Brian I think.  I don’t know where she got this gene.

-thinks I am a jungle gym and loves playing on the ground while I am on my back and she is on my knees in the air.  We do some fun tricks.

-is probably going to say “dada” pretty soon.  She can say those sounds pretty well, but hasn’t said them with definitive purpose yet.  She LOVES her daddy!  We get so excited for him to come home every night.  When she sees him come in her body tenses with excitement and starts shaking a little bit. 

It was hard to choose between all of these pictures, so I mostly didn’t choose and just included most of them.  Her smile is a little bit deceiving.  I was making her laugh, but underneath that laugh is a very tired, slightly cranky girl.  Poor thing.

One of Elna’s favorite things is being chased (or chasing us) around her rocker.  She laughs really hard every time she thinks we’re about to get her. 

At 9 months, Elna weighs 21.8 lbs. (88%) is 28 3/4 in. tall (86%) with a head circumference of 45 cm (76%).   The doctor says she is advanced in her skills and behavior.  We’d have to agree! 

February.

Getting ready to go on a walk—one of the few times I exercised in February…yeah, I need a little work on my goals.  Those eyes again!

At the auto show—checking out a car with her daddy (and Chris in the back seat)

I’m pretty sure she could win an award for being the ragamuffin of all ragamuffins.  The following pictures prove this:

Brian’s Uncle David has been in town for several weeks.  He bought this fun car for Elna.  She loves it!

SO in love with this picture of Elna—that’s the smile I get to see all day!

Our little scavenger—look at how intent she is on whatever little piece of something she found on the floor (and will soon be putting in her mouth)