Sophia is 10 Months Old!

Really? You're kidding! Another month has gone by? Oh, please just SLOW DOWN!

Miss Sophia turned 10 months old on Saturday! In case you thought I overlooked that, the answer is NO. :) I simply didn't have much of an opportunity for a photo shoot on Saturday (or Sunday - bad mommy) and so my post had to wait until Monday when I made a point to snap a few new ones of our happy girl. (Thank you, Cora, for the cute shirt!)

There are actually several new milestones to report this month:

1) Shortly after turning 9 months, Sophia started clapping her hands on request. It's so cute and she's clearly very pleased by our reaction. I'll sing patty-cake or clap my hands and she likes to mimic.

2) As you've seen in a previous post, Sophie loves to practice walking now behind the push/ride toy. At first it would get away from her a little quickly and she'd fall to her knees while still holding on. But she gained control in no time and, by the cheese-ball smile on her face, I'm pretty sure she's proud of herself. 3) You may also remember the picture of her climbing on the night stand in her room on Valentine's Day. Sophie loves to climb. She tries to climb out of her bath tub often. She's climbed out of her car seat (sitting in the house, on the floor - NOT in the car - LOL) when daddy left her unbuckled during drop off at the babysitter's. Our babysitter, Lisa, said she even climbed out of the exersaucer once! Apparently the setting was too low and our little monkey wanted to move. And just this past weekend while the kids and I were in the kitchen and Craig was upstairs, Will opened the door and headed up to see his dad. Sophie followed right behind him and, for the first time ever, attempted to climb the stairs. "Attempted" is an understatement. She made it halfway up with me right behind her, before I scooped her up when she started to slip a little from her jammies. Little monkey has to keep up with her brother!

4) She doesn't have quite the patience for books that Will did at an early age, but we're working on it and she likes to pull them off the shelf and chew on them.

5) I've always said our little explorer doesn't like to sit because then she's not moving. That's still mostly true, but she has started moving from a crawl to sit on her bottom for short stretches to study something she's found. It's so much easier to get her picture when she sits still! But that's still not that often.

6) Both of Sophie's top front teeth broke through on Valentine's weekend. Since then she's been biting everything lately! Not so much people and not really even me when nursing (thank you God!) but she'll bite her burp cloth, her sleeve, her toys, even her finger(s). Ouch! While nursing, she doesn't actually bite, but I can feel the top teeth pressing down just from her latch, so I'll try to adjust her or stop her if it does get uncomfortable. I'll take her off and say "no" and she just gets this huge grin on her face like she thinks I'm totally kidding and this is the funniest thing ever. Stinker. I do worry that she'll be a biter when she's older.

7) Sophia has certainly been recognizing her loved ones for awhile now, but it's becoming a lot more apparent that she enjoys seeing her family and friends. I just love it that she gets to see and play with her cousins, Mya and Stella, every day at the babysitters. You can tell they are really enjoying each other's company because they light up with a smile and lots of arm flapping and babbling whenever they see each other. You should have seen them at Kelly's shower on Sunday - it was adorable.

I also love the smile and excitement I get when I pick her up from the babysitters in the evenings. She loves to see me and I love to see her. When we're around other people and someone wants to hold her, it often depends on her mood, but she tends to prefer being in mommy's arms. I hear people saying that she's a mommy's girl like it's a bad thing and I think "give her a break!" She's a baby! Aren't her parents supposed to be her favorite people in the world? And wouldn't you find it a little more disturbing if she preferred others over her parents? When babies are experiencing separation anxiety (which occurs to some degree in ALL babies) it is not best to try to take them from mom and not let them see her in an effort to encourage "out of sight, out of mind". That will only teach them to be more fearful of people and cling even tighter their safety net (mom). Instead, warm up to baby first by chatting with them while still in mom's arms and then see if they'll come to you. If they turn away, respect that and try again later. Sophie is far more timid around others than Will ever was, but that's not something to label her with as a flaw. She just needs more time to warm up to you. And besides, when I think of how long it took me to earn her complete trust as a colicky newborn... well, I feel I've earned the position of being her "favorite".

8) My sister and I just had a conversation about baby babbles and whether or not you can count them as "first words". I said I don't count them until they say them with purpose. Sophie loves to say "dada" and "mama" (mostly dada), but I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize that that's us. However, it is funny how many things she'll "say" that must just be pure coincidence. Like I swear she's said things that really do sound like "thanks", "dog", "cool", "yes", etc. at the most appropriate times where Craig and I will just look at each other and go "did she really just say thanks"? Haha. For example, this morning when she was finishing up nursing and she pulled off to smile at me, I asked her "are you done?" She immediately said "ya"! LOL One last super cute thing she's said: while on the changing table last night, she dropped her toy onto the floor and I said "Uh-oh!" Right away she tried to mimic me by saying "uh-uh!" and smiling. She's loved repeating that back to me several times when I say it to her. :)

Okay, just a couple more pictures. This one was Craig's attempt to turn her into a tomboy. She's ready for a basketball game, dad!

Here's a funny one that Craig snapped while I was helping Will on the potty in the bathroom. Sophie apparently didn't want to be left out!

And I saved the best for last! This is possibly the cutest face I've ever seen. I LOVE it!!! (And she's even biting her finger like I mentioned.)

Thanks for another great month, baby girl! Please feel free to draaaaaaggg out the next two. ;) I'm not ready for you to be ONE!