Double digits! (10)

Well, at this rate, I will be posting months 11 and 12 sometime close to her 16th birthday. At any rate, we've made it One.More.Month. Inching ever-closer to that First Birthday and I truly can't believe it. I know everyone always says that but, also, it's THE TRUTH.

My monthly picture-taking skills are not improving, nor is the subject any more likely to cooperate. I tried to capture a picture before we left on vacation and this was the best of the bunch.

And, the real 10 month picture on September 1st:

And, outtakes ...

Last month brought so many changes - truly, something new almost everyday. Georgia officially dropped her third nap (sad!), so bedtime is really ideally 6:20pm, though that never happens, of course. She is eating All Of The Food. Mostly finger foods, but still tolerates purees - really, anything she can get in her mouth. This week I realized that I made the first meal that we all ate together as prepared - not sorting out bits for Georgia or Ellen. It was nice. Hectic, of course, but nice.

I found her one morning sitting up in bed, then she showed me she can push up from laying on the floor to sit by herself. And, two days later ...

Clapping!

And Crawling!

Poor Erik was sick and quarantined and had to see it on Instagram. She is really very fast now and still sneaks up on me as it's taken me awhile to come around to the idea of TWO mobile children. She never did that plank thing that Ellen did when she was learning to crawl, but she is starting to do it a bit now that she is considering pulling up on things.

She can turn pages in a book, but really her favorite activity is taking small things out of bigger things and putting them back again (books in a box, doggies in a house, little fish in a bigger fish, eggs in a basket ...). She also loves to roll a ball back and forth on the ground. She flaps her arms and legs so fast when she is excited - it's like she is going to lift off! (Just a picture of family room destruction, Georgia-style)

A week after the crawling, that first tooth FINALLY erupted. And, now the second tooth this week, which seemed a lot more painful for her. :(

She sleeps like a champ and love, love, loves bath time and splashing. Turns out, though, doesn't love splashing in the ocean so much. (More on our trip to Florida to come - I'm still recovering). She has started giving hugs when asked and I think is starting to sign "more" and "all done" a little bit, or at least seems to have a smidge of recognition when I do it. Still not very verbal - her latest mode of communication is shrieking, which isn't all that pleasant.

The best thing, though, is how much Georgia and Ellen really enjoy being together. I love to see how happy they are to see the other and Ellen is such a good playmate, which is incredibly helpful to me. I feel that some growing pains are on the horizon as Georgia becomes more and more mobile, so I'm enjoying the (relative) peace while it lasts.

This last picture was just tonight and is one of my new favorites. Ellen was throwing the ball back and forth and pretending to be a dog and chasing it and Georgia was doing her little giggle, which we hardly ever hear. You can see her looking at Ellen, like, I'm ready! More! Really happy moment at the end of the first Tailgating Saturday of the year ...