Ten Months

Today my little Bridgie Bear is ten months old. I think back to what I was doing this time last year and it’s just incomprehensible that this much time has past this quickly. Wow. This time last year I didn’t even know her, didn’t even know what gender she was and now I can’t even imagine life without her.

Bridget is so big, or at least she thinks she is. I’d say walking is not very far off, if she could just remember to keep her feet flat rather than stand on tip-toe. I catch her standing on her own for longer and longer every day. She can even stand on her own and clap her hands without falling over. I have not seen her get to a standing position from a seated one, and I don’t know if that step is required before the walking starts or not. She really likes the walk behind toy we got her, although until she was at my brother’s house last weekend for Lilly’s first birthday, she never thought to walk behind it. Maybe Lilly showed her how it was done but now at home, when you put Bridget behind that thing, she takes off. I of course walk behind her on my knees and hold it steady so she doesn’t take a header but she is pushing and walking to keep up.

The other day she was in her play pen hanging out and we looked over at her to see her pulling herself up like she was doing a chin-up, no feet on the floor. Then she used her feet to try to climb up the side. I have a feeling I’m going to need to put that crib tent in her bed to keep her contained.  So far she doesn’t have the strength to get herself over the side of it or her crib but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

And yes, we do use the play pen. We don’t leave her in it all day or anything, but without it, we’d be lost. I honestly don’t think there is any amount of baby-proofing we could do that would keep this girl from putting herself in harm’s way. At least not that would allow us to actually live in the house. So yes, she gets put down in the play pen when we need to have both hands free and can’t keep our eyes on her at all times. Also, I think containing her for a bit is good, because it keeps her from burning off every single calorie she ingests. And sitting in the play pen is the only way this child would sit on her bottom and play with a book or some blocks or a stuffed animal. Because if there is room to move, she is going to move.

Bridget is such a happy baby! I love that she wakes up every morning babbling to herself in her crib, just happy as a lark. I go in every morning and am usually greeted by her standing up and smiling at me, and banging her hand on her crib rail in excitement, as if to say, “Hey! It’s you! I’m so glad you’re here!” When I pick her up, she pats me on the shoulder in such a sweet little way. I don’t know if it is but I choose to view that as affection for me. She laughs easily and often. She has the sweetest little voice and nothing makes me happier than to hear her squeal with delight.

Sleep is generally good, but the last few nights, she has had episodes of crying for no reason we can determine. It’s either teeth or gas, we think. So we treat both and snuggle her for a bit and so far <knock on wood> she goes back to bed pretty easily. Bridget is still working on that first bottom tooth. It’s now clearly visible on the gum, but it doesn’t really stick up yet. I don’t know exactly how far up out of the gum it has to be before it stops hurting, but apparently we aren’t there yet.

Bridget is a really good eater these days. She never wakes up crying to be fed in the mornings. But no matter how long you take greeting her and playing with her before getting down to the business of feeding. she is fine until you lay her down on the changing table to get a fresh diaper. Then she gets really annoyed and wants that bottle NOW! As far as solids go, she likes everything we’ve given her so far. I haven’t seen her refuse anything at all. She eats a staple of deli turkey or chicken, ground beef, cheese, eggs (our doctor said since there is no family history of food allergies we could give her scrambled egg, and she’s fine),  peas, rice, corn, green beans, yogurt, baby goldfish crackers (they make them in a wee size for little ones!), rice cakes (thanks to Shelly and Peanut) fruit, potato, pasta…. the list goes on. Eating out with her is very easy because she is so willing to eat anything we put in front of her. Hamburger? Ok. Chicken breast? Ok.  We are having another spoon standoff.  I still feed her either yogurt with cereal and fruit in it (comes that way from the grocery store) or I mix baby cereal with baby food fruit. The doctor told us we could abandon the cereal but the nurse said she needs it so we are going to keep giving it to her as long as she’ll take it. But she really enjoys feeding herself and is starting to make more and more determined grabs for the spoon. I am not one of those moms who won’t let her do it because she’ll make a mess because, who cares? Messes clean up. But the fact is that she can’t physically maneuver the spoon into her mouth with the contents intact so she’d never eat anything if I let her try. And it’s important that she gets that stuff at least (very high calorie and high nutrition) so I have to play keep-away with the spoon. We’re having mashed potatoes for dinner tonight so I’ll probably let her try that with a spoon and see how she does.  I do sort of wonder if we are offering her enough food, if my worry over her choking is keeping me from giving her things she should eat.

What is really freaking my brain at this moment is how close to being a year old she is. I just can’t understand how it’s all going by so fast.

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