Busy Bodied 10 month old

Guest post by Mommy:

Wow. What a difference this last month has made. Iva feels so much less a baby and way more a toddler. I am chasing her everywhere. Nothing in my house is off limits and between her teeth and WALKING, she's just grown up!

That's right, I said walking. She loves to tootle around with her walker and goes FAST, but she also took her first steps on Sep 6th. I'm actually guessing she took steps before then but I had never seen her or caught her in the act. Iva has grasped the concept since she was like six months old that being a big girl was a good thing. If you told her she was big big big, she would break into a huge smile and try whatever it was again. She's been able to go from standing to sitting with a nice slow controlled squat for quite some time, but in the last five days she's mastered standing alone indefinitely and she even went from sitting to standing with no help. She's still very unstable on her feet, but she LOVES to practice walking.

That's the best video I could get. She has that gift all babies are born with to instantly be unable to walk when a camera is present. 

What else about her...no distinct words yet. She vocalizes with screeches and distinct cries when she wants something and she clearly understands us so maybe I should focus on helping her talk and she would blossom. We have actually started watching our beloved Signing Time videos with more regularity and she has really perked up at those. I'm hoping she gets the hang of signing soon! This is what happens every time I turn it on lately. 

I swear she has started nursing MORE frequently. She prefers to sleep with someone at night and if it's me, she would prefer to just be latched on all night. Kinda frustrating, but apparently not enough for me to kick her out. 

One adorable thing about her is that she loves to snuggle and rub her head into you. Sometimes quite forcefully. It's like she is trying to make us into one person or brain. Some of my favorite moments with her come in the morning when we are slowly waking up in bed and we snuggle and wrestle and just kind of coo at each other. She mostly wakes up with a smile so it's quite pleasant.

And she wouldn't be one of mine if she didn't love the water! She will float around for what feels like an hour in the pool in her float and she loves to splash. She's trying to swim on her own though and likes to stand up in the shallow end and fall onto her tush taking her face under water. 

I can't fully wrap my brain around having a one year old in just two months. WHAT?! No. I have a baby. Time is just picking up speed with this one. Better go snuggle her.