Lily's Pad: 10 Months Old

Dear Lily,
It's hard for me to believe that today you are 10 months old! There are just two short months left of your first year! I just know it's going to fly by.
These past two months you have grown so much! On May 27th you had your 9 month doctor visit. You weighed 17 lbs and 8 oz! That's my big girl! Your height was 28 1/4 inches, but Mommy thinks that the measurement was off, and you are longer. You out grew a lot of your pants in your ninth month because you are so tall!
You've developed so much in these past 2 months Lily! You're really becoming your own little person! You like to stare at people with your big blue eyes, and really take every little detail in. You also can be a hard crowd to entertain! You really make people work to get a smile. While we are making a fool of ourselves trying to make you laugh, you will just stare with this dead pan look on your face. That look always makes me smile, because I know you must be laughing on the inside at all the ridiculous things we do! You've also developed a sense of humor this month. You like to imitate us when we laugh! It's so funny when you do this because your little laugh sounds so fake! It makes me laugh all the harder, which in turn, makes you laugh more!
In your eighth month you learned how to stand on your own, without holding onto anything for support. You stood alone for first time on April 23rd, and haven't looked back since! You also learned how to push yourself up without using anything to pull up on! This past month you've gotten really good at both. I often will find you standing in the middle of the room clapping now. You are always so proud of yourself for standing...and so am I! Now you are well on your way to walking! You have taken a few half steps, before deciding that it would be easier to crawl to the desired destination. In this last month you also really took off with cruising! You learned that you needed to move your front foot first, so you wouldn't step on it with your hind foot! Once you learned that little trick, there was no stopping you!
I think the funnest thing you have mastered this past month is the game of peek-a-boo! You love to play this game with us! Most mornings you will pull the blanket up over your head to hide, then reappear only after we've asked " where's Lily?". You always have the biggest grin on your face when we exclaim "there she is!". I love when you only half hide your face, and I can see that big sneaky grin! It's like you are saying "You can't see me, but I can see you!". That cracks me up every time! It also is so funny when you "hide" by putting something (usually a onesie) on your head! It doesn't cover you face at all, but you still go on playing the game as normal! Sometimes you even try to hide under a toy! You're a very silly girl!
You are doing so great with food this month! We've really started to move you on to finger foods. You love to have tastes of what we are eating! We even ordered you your first meal off a kids menu the other day in Salem! You were brought a huge plate of Mac and cheese! You did pretty well with it. I think you really liked eating food like Mommy and Daddy, because you refused to eat any of your jar food that day! Your favorite big girl food is ice cream though! On our way home from South Carolina you had your first baby cone all to your self. You loved taking big bites, and even ate some of the cone! Of course you were a huge mess by the end of the cone!

You've become quite attached to Mommy this past month. You love to cuddle with me all the time now, and get very upset when I leave the room! That makes it had to do things around the house sometimes, but I love that you love me so much! Of course it's a whole other story if it's you leaving the room to explore! You will leave the room, but always turn back around to make sure I'm still there before going forward!
I'm so amazed every day at how much you've grown and learned in the past two months! Just the other day I witnessed you using a box as a step to get to a higher shelf of books, so you could pull them all down! I can't believe you are using problem solving skills already! I can't wait to see what the next 2 month hold for us! I know you'll be walking soon...and maybe you'll say your first word too? But don't grow up to quickly on me Lily, ok? You'll always be my baby! Mommy and Daddy love you so much! Happy 10 months!

Love,
Mommy

I never had the time to write out a 9 month post because we were getting ready to go on vacation. Here are a couple of Lily's nine month pictures: