Happy 10 month birthday sweet girl! You’re in bed asleep right now, worn out after a fun day. The weather today was perfect – bright blue skies almost as blue as your eyes, with a warm sun but a cool breeze to keep you comfortable. We strolled around the neighborhood, played on the swings in Daffin Park, and went down to Riverstreet to watch the ships come in. On a day like today, it was impossible to stay indoors, and we all had fun.
What a big month it has been for you! In the last four weeks you have visited two oceans at two opposite edges of our big continent. They couldn’t have seemed more different to you.
Tybee beach, on a day when the sun was warm and the sand was obviously tasty:

Manzanita beach, on a cool day with a very chilly wind, where we didn’t even unwrap you long enough to put you down on the sand:

Brrrr! Although, you were a happy baby both times. In fact, you stay pretty happy as long as you have a full belly, some fun people around, and lots of things to pull up on. You LOVE pulling up, and sitting down, and pulling up, and sitting down. You’ve started walking from one piece of furniture to the next while holidng on – almost always with a hand on something, but considering letting go. Tonight, you were standing up and holding on to your Daddy’s legs, when for a brief moment, you decided to let go. You quickly plopped onto your behind, but I have a feeling you’ll try this again soon. And often.
Because you’re increasingly mobile, I wondered how our plane trip to Portland was going to go. How would you handle having to hang out in a relatively small space for 5 hours? Miss Babycakes, you amazed me. Not only did you not cry, you entertained the people around you when you weren’t sleeping. You loved standing up on my lap and grinning at the passengers behind us. And I could hear them oooing and aaahing over you. Here’s a pic your Daddy took of you hanging out while we were in flight.

You even entertained us in the car on our various trips around Oregon, jabbering at us and making the craziest faces. I swear I wasn’t punching you in this photo, but it kind of looks that way. You are adorable.

Sometimes, the faces you make are a bit more serious. This next picture made us laugh too because you and Jason are wearing the same very serious look.

Your buddy Jason was kind enough to send me a video clip that, I must admit, I have watched several times a day since it arrived in my inbox. He captured it in the Oregon Coast Aquarium, where we stumbled upon the Crab Dance. Do you think you had fun? I do.

At Anna and Jason’s house, one of your favorite things to do was to play with their alphabet refrigerator magnets. You’d pull them off the fridge, put them back again, or crawl around the house with a random letter in your mouth. I grew concerned when I saw you with this one though, afraid it was your first real episode of rebellion against the political ideals of your parents:

I felt better when I realized the “W” in your mouth could also be an “M.” I don’t know what political statement that might have been – perhaps it was just an M in your mouth.

Little girl, you really do seem to change a little bit every day. Whenever we’re out and about, people always stop to tell me what a beautiful, sweet daughter I have. Increasingly, they also tell me how quickly you’ll grow up. At the grocery store the other day, an older gentleman stopped me in the produce section to remark about your cuteness, and he told me, “You need to be sure to put a brick on her head.”
I was about to tell him, “Sir, that may have been an acceptable form of discipline in your generation, however…” But he followed up by adding, “because they grow up so fast.”
Wednesday, I found out that in just a week and a half, you’ll be moving up to the next class at baby school along with several of your other classmates. It’s not an “infant room,” and that freaks me out a little bit! But what I find most shocking is that there are no cribs. The babies still take naps, but on floor mats! That sounds like such a big girl thing to do! And are they nuts? You are a much better napper than you used to be, but I still couldn’t imagine saying, “Hey Camille, it’s 11:30. Go lie down on that mat over there and go to sleep.” I’m curious to see how this will pan out.
I’ll be a little sad when you move to the next room (they call it the “waddler room,” because you’re not quite toddling, but you’re starting to get your legs in motion and you’re too big to be with all the younger babies.) But I’ll be excited too. It’s fun to watch you grow and learn, and each new step is a new adventure. I’m looking forward to the adventures we’ll have tomorrow. Sleep well, sweet angel! Mama loves you very much.