The Real McCoys: Kate is 10 months old!!

Ahhh, ten months sounds soo old and it is so hard to believe my little baby is already there. It is kind of fitting though, because, to me, Kate is beginning to seem more like a toddler and not so much a baby. We have had a great month. After traveling all of June, we have been enjoying our time here in the 'Cuse. Kate continues to be her happy, goofy self. She is so much more active this month, crawling and getting into everything. She is a super fast crawler, sometimes I can't believe that she gets to where she is in the time that she does. She still loves the dogs, especially Emily. I think they are developing a special relationship, Emily often knows that Kate is up from a nap a few minutes before I even hear her and runs up the stairs to find her. Sometimes we think that Kate believes she is a dog, her new favorite thing is to pretend to "sleep" on their beds or in Baxter's cage. She also pretends to eat from their bowls and loves their toys. She loves all animals in general, and has taken a special liking to ducks. She likes to see them down at the lake on our runs, and is even attempting to "quack". Here's a run down of what else is new this month:

- Talking! She is not talking yet, but does try to say a few things and is definitely starting to use them in context. Funnily enough they all sound the same: "dada" - daddy, "da" - dog, and "dat" - duck. It took me awhile to realize that she was differentiating and not saying the same thing. If you listen clearly, you can really tell the difference though! She also barks after saying "da" and says what sounds like "hi dada" when Kevin comes home. I cannot get her to say "mama", or to even try - she says "da!" back to me and giggles as if she is mocking me. She is also signing "more" and "all done" ... but is stubborn about it. If she knows that you already know what she wants, she WILL NOT sign but gets pissed instead. She also waves hi and bye and gives kisses.

- New interests: other than the dog cages and beds I've already mentioned, Kate has developed an interest in screws, knobs and buttons. She analyzes any little thing, on her stroller, on the furniture and on toys. She has always liked balls, but she now REALLY likes to play fetch with herself (throw the ball then crawl after it repeatedly). She loves to dismantle the pantry, and sometimes that is the only way I can get dinner cooked - she takes a special interest in tea bags of all things. She also has started noticing air planes in the sky and loves to point at them, she will even look up even if we are in the house and she can hear one.

- New foods: Kate now eats what we eat for dinner and it is so nice! She is still a great eater, but is not consistent, sometimes she is really picky and other times she will eat whatever is in front of her. She loves fruit, yogurt, pasta, cheese, waffles, sweet potatoes and eggs, oh and ice cream! Somehow she always gets ice cream when Kevin's parents are visiting! We have also started giving her whole milk with meals, which she loves. I am hoping it will make the transition to whole milk easier if she is used to it.

- She pulls up - especially to get the dogs, but does not have much interest in walking at all. She is very content to just crawl where she needs to go.

Kate is still a great sleeper most of the time, although we have had a few nights here and there of her getting up a couple of times. I think it may be a bit of 9 month sleep regression, but it's no where near as terrible as the 4 month regression was! She has been going to bed later, which is awesome for our schedule/life style. She usually goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 and gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 (sometimes 8 and if I'm lucky that will fall on my day off!) She takes two naps, around 9 and around 2, both of which are about 2 hrs. She is nursing 4 times a day - 7, 12, 4 and 8.

And finally, our 10 month photo shoot.

Are we doing this again mom?