Crawling

As much as I love Staley's little worm crawl, it makes me happy to say that she has finally figured out how to move using the 'regular' crawl.  However, if she's in a hurry or has a long way to go, the inchworm is back.  We get the best of both worlds:  we can acknowledge that Staley knows how to crawl-crawl, yet still enjoy watching as she worms her way across a room.

Instead of Gifts

On Staley's 10 month and one day birthday, she didn't get gifts.  Instead, she got:

1.  Her 7th tooth (bottom right)
2.  Her crib mattress moved to the lowest setting
3.  Her first big bump/bruise on her head.  Apparently her pop-up toy is more fun to play with than to fall onto.  (She got over it more quickly than I did.)

Gifts would have been better.

Ten Months

The last ten months have just flown by.  Staley is over 18 lbs of pure joy!  She wears her size 3 diapers, her 6-9 and 9-12 month clothes, and her size 2 baby shoes.  We had to move her crib mattress down and baby proof our house.  Staley still (usually) takes 2 naps, eats 3 meals, nurses 4 times, and sleeps about 11 hours at night (8 pm to 7 am). 

Likes:  Staley likes going out--shopping, out to eat, to church, to the library, to the grocery store.  She just loves being around people.  She still plays with her toys, but her current favorite activities are pulling to stand (on anything), walking with her stroller or our hands, and cruising along furniture.  Favorite toys are her activity table, her stroller, and her Noah's Ark (although she still loves cell phones, remotes, and computers as well.)  Her absolute favorite thing to play with right now is books.  Her bath books, her 'So Big' book, and her set of 12 miniture books that come in a box with a handle are top of her list.   Favorite foods include most fruits (except bananas and pumpkin), Cheerios, Puffs, pancakes, grilled cheese, and soup.

Dislikes:  Staley does not like vegetables, cottage cheese, pasta, or eggs.  She can get upset about nap time, and occasionally diaper changes and clothing changes are a bit traumatic.

Skills:  Staley is on the move.  She still inchworm crawls and rolls, but also loves to pull to stand, cruise along furniture, and walk with assistance.  She transitions into and out of sitting like a pro.  Staley has recently learned to point at things with her index finger, and she has several books where she will point out objects (primarily animals.)  She is very proficient at pushing buttons (on toys, cell phones, and remotes.)  She can activate two of the levers on her pop-up toy.  She loves to put things into containers and hand things to people.  Staley has an ever-growing vocabulary of words.  Her two favorite words right now are 'up' and 'book.'  She also says 'daddy', 'mama', 'kitty', 'apple', 'yes', and 'hi' regularly without prompting.  We have also heard her say 'bath', 'nap', 'bug', 'ball', 'bye', 'papa', 'bow', and 'more' in context.  (She's big on the 'b' and 'p' words.)    She still signs 'more' and 'drink.'  Staley also understands so much--too much to even put it all into a blog post!  Some of the highlights:  she 'answers' the questions of 'what does the fish say?', 'what does the snake say?', 'where's your tummy?', 'how big are you?', 'where does a hat go?', 'where's mommy's/daddy's nose?'.  She holds out her hands to clean them after meals, puts away her toys when we sing the 'clean up' song, gives hugs, dances (by bouncing up and down), claps, waves, and gives 'high fives'.  With her Noah's Ark animals, she can correctly identify them most of the time by grabbing the one we ask for and handing it to us.  It's just incredible to me that our tiny, helpless baby was born into the world and 10 months later, she is mobile and talking and truly understanding so much.  What a miracle she is!!!

#1 Fan

Even though Staley wasn't able to stay up for Monday Night Football this week, she still proudly supported her favorite team.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Skills

I wanted Staley to be able to transition into sitting by herself.  I worked with her on transitioning into sitting by herself.  I cheered for when she started transitioning into sitting by herself.  She smiles and claps for herself when she transitions into sitting.  Transitioning into sitting is a good thing...most of the time.  Over the past few days, when Staley wakes up in the morning or from her naps, we will go in her room to find her sitting up in the middle of her crib, smiling at us over the top rail.  It's very cute and she is very pleased with herself.  This morning, I put Staley down for her morning nap.  She cried for a few minutes and then stopped.  However, she hadn't drifted off into peaceful dreamland like I thought, because a few moments later I heard her happily talking to herself.  I looked into her room and she was sitting up in her crib.  I went in, laid her back down, patted her back, and left again.  She cried for a few minutes and then stopped.  Fast asleep?  Nope!  She was sitting up in her crib again.  I tried one more time, although this time she was sitting herself up even before I left the room.  So my little girl got to stay up for another hour before falling asleep while nursing, exhausted from her delayed morning nap.  I guess I just need to explain to Staley that transitioning into sitting is a good thing...but so is napping.

Mommy's Little Bookworm

Staley LOVES her books.  She loves when we read to her, but she also loves to 'read' by herself.  She has lots of fun toys, but she will often disregard the toys around her, look at her books, and sign 'more.'  She reads during play time, reads before naps, reads in the tub, reads at bedtime, reads in the pool, reads in her carseat, reads in her stroller,...  And although I'm not sure what memories I might have lost to make room for all the catchy children's book rhymes in my head, I love that my daughter has found joy in reading.

I love reading with my dad. 

Upside down is not too bad.

I can read books in the water.

Mom can read them to her daugher.

I can read them on the floor.

My cousin Cade will read some more.

Reading is such fun to do.

I bet you can do it too.

Just For You, Mike