10 Months

Alaina keeps growing up.  She is already ten months old!

 

Her hair has suddenly started growing really fast and she has quite the little swoop of hair across the front.  She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and mostly size 2 shoes.  When she wears shoes!  She is about 17 pounds.  She is small like Justin!  (Given all the doctors and weigh-ins she had to endure for her surgery, I have no idea what she weighs anymore!  The hospital uses kgs and I have no ability to convert instantaneously to lbs.)  She eats most everything I make.  She even likes green vegetables, unlike her brothers!  She is starting to make sounds that a mother can make out to be the beginnings of "mama".  I have been doing a lot of coaching.  She is my last chance for "mama" to be her first word!  She is pulling up and cruising but she won't let go and try to take a step. 

Her greatest skill is clearing everything off any horizontal surface she can reach.  She loves the table with books at Justin's therapy.  It's just her height.  She reaches out and with one swipe she clears half the table.  A moment to reposition and she takes the other half.  The other kids at therapy see all the books on the floor and they are quick to pick them up and put them back on the table.  Ready for another pass!

Alaina's other great skill is vacuuming.  She can pick every tiny little speck off the floor, making it spotless.  I know kids are supposed to eat their pound of dirt without any terribly ill effects.  I think she is well on her way.  When Travis was little he went through a book-eating phase and I had to take away all his board books.  Alaina is definitely his sister.  She ate the paper off these spice bottles and whatever else she can find.

Like library books. She got about 2 or 3 before we caught her. Then she went after Justin's Veggie Tales books. He wasn't pleased. She had this whole part of the page wadded up in her mouth.  She has a big mouth!  We definitely have to keep an eye on her.  She is pretty sneaky!