TEN Months Old!

I can't believe Norah is ten months old.

This has been a really exciting month. She is standing with reckless abandon now and can do it without holding on to anything else. Of course, as soon as she realizes she isn't holding on to anything she drops to her knees (think Wil. E. Coyote who can run in mid-air until he realizes there is no ground underneath him and falls down the cavern). She cruises around all the furniture and tries to climb on anything and everything.

Her favorite thing is to pull stuff out. That includes: taking all the toys out of the bucket, all the books out of her basket, all the books off of our bookshelf, all the plastic bowls out of the kitchen cabinet.... you get the idea. She hasn't figured out how to put stuff BACK yet, but I hope that's on the horizon. She can open every cabinet and drawer in the house. She crawls so fast that I actually have to run to catch her. She goes nuts for hide and seek. She thinks if her face is covered she can't be seen and so peek-a-boo has taken on a whole new hilarious level.

She sleeps all the way through the night (as long as she is sleeping with me--hey, I will take it). She is taking a bottle AND formula--hallelujah! She loves to eat and is showing a real preference for certain foods. She absolutely hates cantaloupe and would eat green peas all day, every day if I let her. She has gone from getting 25% of the food in her mouth to getting 75% of the food in her mouth.

BVZ is her favorite person in the entire world and her face lights up like a Christmas tree when she sees him and she wails when he leaves the room. She isn't affected the same when I come and go, but when she is tired, or hungry, or sick, or sad, I am the only one she wants. Her best friend is Loretta and she spends a good part of her day chasing Loretta around. She screams with delight everytime she sees the cat. Loretta lets Norah catch her every once in a while and I think Norah is slowly starting to understand the concept of 'gentle.'

She is obsessed with belly buttons, both hers and ours. BVZ says it is because we read 'The Belly Button Book' every night, but I am not sure about that. She loves being read to and has started turning the pages herself (which means I have to read really fast because she likes to turn the pages really fast). I let her pick which ones she wants to read each night, and she definitely has her favorites. She loves the bathtub and putting her hands in the faucet stream. I think she'll really like to swim.

She loves music and 'dances' when I put certain cd's on. Her favorite toys are her blocks, her stuffed animals, any kind of ball, remote controls, my glasses, and shoelaces. She is thwarted by all of our babyproofing. She loves to play with other kids and can hold her own against the two year olds at music class. She has no fear.

She makes me laugh 100 times a day and I like to think I do the same for her. She's the best girl I could ever have imagined. I couldn't resist including all of the pictures I tried to take of her. I am continually amazed by how funny, sweet and beautiful she is.