Evelyn is 10 Months Old!

3rd Trip to the Beach

Wow, so I totally missed the 9-month mark with an update on Evelyn.  She has changed so much over the past two months.  She is just a little ball off chubby, tan grins and giggles.

She has one tooth that is almost fully grown on the bottom.  She has two more coming in on the top and one more coming in on the bottom that I can see right now (already broken through the gums but not adding to her smile noticeably yet).

Evelyn eats all kinds of foods.  I have to say that it has been nice not to buy or make any baby food this time.  She loves all finger foods, and tends to get tired of the spoon quickly if we try to feed her applesauce or yogurt.  She mostly eats cheese, beans, strawberries, melons and bananas.  She has also has her first peanut butter and honey sandwiches.  (I know, I know... you're supposed to wait until they are 12 months, but we're just rebels around here.)

Evelyn never took a bottle, and we apparently have just jumped over the whole "sippy cup" phase because she suddenly just started drinking out of the cups with straws that the big kids use.  It's nice to be able to use the same set of cups without anything extra to wash.  She is mostly just drinking water, with a few sips of cow's milk here and there.

Unfortunately, she seems to be losing interest in nursing during the day.  However, she still wakes around 3 or 4 am to nurse, and I will hold onto that for as long as I can.  I'm not ready for her to completely wean just yet.  I was hoping that we would go a lot longer, but I guess she will let me know if that's not for her.

Around 9 months old, she learned to push herself back from her belly to a sitting position.  This seemed to slow down her development toward crawling, because she could roll to where she wanted to be and sit herself up to play with whatever she wanted.

On May 25, she officially started real-deal crawling.  From that day on, she was off... exploring all the rooms and cabinets and toys and electrical cords.  We're much more relaxed about babyproofing this time.  I think we'll give natural selection a bit more of a chance with this one.  ;)  I love seeing her little bottom wagging as she plows across the floor on her next adventure.

Evelyn pulls herself up to her knees and will occasionally pull up to one knee and one foot (kind of like the "one knee" position that guys take to propose).  She doesn't yet pull herself all the way up to standing, though.

She goes to sleep around 7, usually wakes up once to nurse, and then sleeps until 7 or 8 the next morning.  She doesn't get a morning nap (because she is being dragged to the playground or museum or on some excursion with the big kids), but she naps in the afternoons from 1:30ish to 3:30ish.  Now she is sleeping in the nursery where Miles and Vivienne used to sleep.  It still seems strange to me to see just one crib in that room.

Evelyn has the deepest brown eyes and beautiful olive skin.  She is very easy to coax a smile or giggle from.  She hardly ever cries or fusses, though she does whine and wimper when she's really tired or hungry.  She is our little Mellow Yellow.  Her hair has gotten lighter with the sun, though it's still a medium to dark brown, and it's starting to grow a lot longer in the back.  I see some fun braids in her future.

I can't believe our baby girl is almost to her first birthday.