It’s finally here – folks, we are now officially in the double digits! Little Deer is a whopping 10 months old, and though I am in disbelief every month, this month I feel especially nostalgic. She is taking off and every day looking more and more like a toddler than a baby. From understanding a few words, to cruising around on her walker and throwing her first mini-tantrums… it’s been a full month for sure. Though I feel busier than ever, I am so enjoying these moments and seeing her grow. I cannot believe we are just two short months away from the big ONE. Wowsers!

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Development

Walking (assisted): We got her a walker and she has just taken off! She crawls right over to it, pulls herself up, and makes her way down the hallway. Just like that. A few mornings ago she walked clear from the living room down the hall to her bedroom. She looked back at me once, laughed, and then kept going. She is definitely on her way!

Pointing: When LD sees something new, or something she’d like to have, she now points and says “buh” or “duh” repeatedly. This can be a toy across the room, a bird outside, her blankey, food… she knows what she wants and she can now let you know.

Understanding words: This has been the first month that I am now positive she’s understanding a few words. It blows my mind! I can ask her “where’s dada?” and she looks right at Mr. Deer. If I ask her “where’s the birdie? Where’s Sam?” she’ll look over at Sam our parrot sitting in his cage. And when she’s getting into something naughty, I can say “uh oh – no” and she’ll stop what she’s doing and look back at me. We’re still working on her understanding “mama” but since I’m always with her, she never really has to look for me. Such a stinker! I’m predicting her first word will be dada; I can’t wait for that moment!

Exploring: Lately LD is getting into everything. She pulls books off the bookshelves, tupperware out of the kitchen drawers, finds our remote controls under the ottoman… truly, nothing is safe! It’s so fun to watch her explore new things. I now purposefully put her little toys and such around the room so she can crawl around and find them all. Her favorite thing right now is to open the entertainment center door, grab a toy, and crawl inside.

Hanging out in her entertainment center hideout

Eating

The first half of the month Little Deer was a voracious eater. I don’t know where all that food was going, but she was eating a ton! In the last week or so though, she’s suddenly become a lot pickier. She’s developed this fun new skill where if she decides if doesn’t like what she’s eating, she just opens her mouth and lets the food fall out. That makes for a lot of wasted food and a big mess! Overall though, she’s still doing great with eating and trying new foods. Some foods I’m sure she’ll like, she’ll snub, while others that I think may be a little strange for her, she’ll devour. Like broiled broccoli — she scarfed that right down! She’s also been enjoying meat, like chicken, sausage, and beef. And goodness help the person who stands between her and her scrambled eggs in the morning; she loves them! Nursing is still going well too, nothing new to report there. She’s still nursing about five times during the day, and once or twice at night.

I think the bunny’s trying to copy her cool hair

Sleeping

Naps have been going great. We are officially down to two naps all the time now, and it is so nice. I love that we get more time to hangout and go places before we need to get back for naptime. Her first nap is always just 30 minutes long, but the second one is longer. She still always wakes at the 30-minute mark, but is usually able to get back to sleep after a few minutes for another 30-60 minutes of sleep. Finally, a bit of a break in my day! I’ve started putting stuffed animals in her crib for naps and I think that’s helped a bit. She likes playing with them while she’s trying to fall asleep. Since I watch her on our video monitor, I feel safe doing this. I also lengthened our nap routine so she has a little more time to wind-down. I think this has helped a too and I wish I had thought of it sooner.

Nighttime is (as always) up in the air. She was doing great with sleeping from about 7:00 PM – 7:00 AM with one wakeup to nurse around 5:00 AM. We’ve had a couple of visitors over the last few weeks, and though her routine hasn’t changed, she’s been waking up more in the middle of the night. I’m pretty sure she was just excited about having a new face around and her little brain was busy keeping her awake. Since then though, she’s still waking up out of habit. My dad is coming to visit in a few days, so I think we’re waiting until after he comes to work on it. For now we’ll get by with the two nightly wake ups, but hopefully we’ll get back down to one again soon!

She’s been loving wearing her new winter hat around the house 

Fun & Firsts

Clapping: I’m not sure why, but I haven’t been a big clapper. While my mom was here visiting, she started clapping when Little Deer was playing with her xylophone. Oh my goodness, LD got so excited! Every time she struck a note we clapped, and she just laughed and smiled, looking so proud of herself. Now whenever she does something good (tries a bite of food, crawls over to us when we ask, ect.) we clap for her.

Rasberries: She’s been trying for so long to blow raspberries, and about a week ago she finally got it! Now when she takes a sip of water out of her cup, she’ll blow a raspberry (and spit water all over me, nice!). It’s super cute and fun.

Peekaboo: She’s enjoyed peekaboo for a long time now, but she just figured out how to play it herself. She’ll lift up her dress, a blanket, the shower curtain… anything to cover her face, then she’ll lower it back down and giggle. She gets so excited about it that she’ll do it really fast, sometimes I don’t even have time to say “Peekaboo!”

Tantrums: Well it’s finally begun, LD knows when she doesn’t want to do something, and she sure lets you know! When you lay her on her back to change her she screams and tries with all her might to flip back over. She’s also figured out the limp-noodle trick. If you try and pick her up and she doesn’t want to go, or if I try and nurse her but she wants to play, she just arches backward and goes limp and cries. It’s so naughty but so funny at the same time. I’m sure it won’t be funny once she’s bigger though, but for now it cracks me up.

Swim lessons: This month we began taking some baby swim lessons. Little Deer has done great! It’s a pretty relaxed class. We mainly sing songs and play around in the water. I wanted to take this class so LD would get a little more comfortable with getting her face wet (she melts down in the tub if her face gets wet normally) and so far I think it’s helping. Mr. Deer had a day off a week ago and got to come to class and swim with us too which was very fun.

Pumpkin Patch: We took LD out to Earthbound Farms in Carmel and had fun afternoon walking around the gardens and looking at all the different pumpkins. Turns out she was not a fan of the pumpkins though, so we didn’t get too many cute pumpkin pictures. What a stinker! Afterwards we went to another little place next to the farm that had a petting zoo and more fall festivities. She loved looking at all the animals from atop Mr. Deer’s shoulders. Though there were tears, it was definitely a fun afternoon!

What we’ve learned

I think this month I’ve learned to just cherish these moments with Little Deer. She won’t be this small forever, and with each new skill she learns, I realize that she’s getting farther away from being my sweet baby and closer towards becoming a toddler. She’s definitely a stubborn and independent little thing, so I’ve got to get in all the baby snuggles now while I can. Soon, she’ll be walking and talking, singing and jumping. I am so excited to see the little girl that she will become, but I know I’ll look back and think about this time I’m in right now and miss it. I love being Little Deer’s mom and feel extremely blessed. Though there are challenges every step of the way, this adventure known as motherhood is pretty darn awesome.

So that is that, we are offically in the double digits and cruising on to the big first birthday! Goodbye 10 months, hello 11 months!