Sidra,
It's been too long since the last post. You have changed a lot in the last couple of months. I've kind of been waiting until you are walking to do the next post, so now is the time. I debated for a while about what "walking" means. I think you have reached the standard now. I wondered if we should say you were walking when you could take a couple of steps from one of us to the other. Or a couple of steps between the table and the couch. I decided that wasn't really walking because you could probably take one step and catch yourself to cross those small divides. I also wondered if the standard should be that you would walk anywhere you wanted to go untethered by any support. I decided that that was too strong of a standard. So, where you are now is that you often decide on your own that you will take a few unsupported steps to go six feet or so, or with encouragement from your parents walk from one of us to the other when we are six to eight feet away. We have video to prove that. However, you also often choose to get places by crawling if it is a long way, or take a couple steps upright and then sit down and crawl the rest of the way.
So, let the record show that you are a walker at about 10½ months of age. I guess that makes you slightly advanced in that skill. You are daily making progress in other areas, too. We've been showing you sign language both ourselves and by a video for a long time, and you haven't really done any signs back to us yet. Although, you have waved to us once and a while recently. I guess that is a sort of a sign, but not any of the 'official' ones we've been trying to teach you. We've tried to teach you to put the ring on the peg, put the balls back in the right slot, turn the right button to make the little man pop up, put the triangle in the right hole, etc. You are showing some signs that you are catching on to a lot of those things, too.
You also have made music by blowing the recorder and hitting the piano keys. You still are trying to play the harmonica like a kazoo, by humming into it but that is closer than you were a month ago. You have sucked water from a straw but you are more likely to blow bubbles with it than use it for drinking.
And you have teeth! You have two little ones poking out on the bottom front that we see all the time and the top front ones are just breaking through. You really don't like to have them brushed, though. You're going to have to get over that. At your last checkup you were 18 pounds 4 ounces. You sure seem like more than that, wearing out my arms when I am carrying you. Your weight was under the average for your age at that time but you still have plenty of baby fat, chubby cheeks, and a big tummy so we aren't worried that you're too thin.
Now I'm your dad and I think you're just the prettiest girl on the planet but I am still amazed at how you charm other people. People who've never met you are constantly approaching us and saying how cute you are. I suppose that happens to a lot of parents of kids your age, but it seems like a high percentage of people are taken by you.
The pictures in this post are as follows: 1) your mom took this one of your bubble bath in the kitchen sink. 2) Your mom took this also, you showing off your hairdo and tongue tricks that your dad can't do. 3) This one was taken by Nancy at the Community center, showing the ends of the age spectrum each with their own walking assistance. 4) Well, you are a ham and apparently you like to bathe. 5) We took this today of you walking across the kitchen.
It's hard to keep up with all your accomplishments. You do something new everyday. That's why this is such a special time. Not that we will regret any of our time with you. But right now your changes are rapid and we've got to pay close attention or we will miss something.
Love, aba
