Dear Sweet Evie,
I have had these photos on my camera and my phone full of notes since you turned ten months old almost two weeks ago. You are learning and growing and changing at lightning speed that it’s hard to keep up with each new milestone!
You are crawling all over the house, exploring everything from the insides of the kitchen cupboards and pantry shelves to the toy boxes and art supplies. You can’t keep your hands out of Lucy’s water bowl and appear at my feet as soon as you hear the refrigerator door open. You pull out the drawer below the stove and attempt to stand on it, and you have figured out how to climb over Nora’s PB chair that I previously used to block the bedroom door. You are constantly trying to climb the stairs and crawl into Sam’s room. And you laugh when I tell you, “no.”
Sometimes I’m able to distract you with refrigerator magnets, magnetic blocks, or duplos. However, the big kids are quick to pick you up and move you across the room if you come towards one of their creations. You love the play kitchen and Nora’s dollhouse. You open and close books, push cars across the floor, throw balls, and ring the bells hanging from the back door. And you like to drop things into boxes, which is very helpful during cleanup time.
You wave good-bye to Daddy in the morning and give high-fives to Sam. You pet Lucy and poke her wet nose. You scream when Nora hugs you too tightly, which is almost always. And you drop your binky in your bed when I ask you to.
You love walks to and from preschool, and you are quite content during long car rides. However, if you’re not contained to the stroller or the car seat, you are incapable of being still. I have chased you across the playground and the soccer field and the waiting room of Nora’s gym.
You love swinging and hanging upside down, and dancing with Mommy. In fact, if you hear music playing, you quickly crawl over to me, climb onto my leg, and bounce until I pick you up and we dance around the room.
You are becoming very good at communicating with sounds and body language. You point and grunt to show me things, and you yell and bang your hands on the high chair tray for more food. You ask questions by changing the intonation of your voice, and sometimes you wheeze like an old man (which the kids think is hilarious). You nod your head “yes” and shake your head “no,” and sometimes they’re even used in context. Also, you have started to say “mamamamama!” Of course, now you say it all the time and use it to compete with Sam and Nora for my attention.
You are still a very good eater, despite still just having two little teeth on the bottom. You eat a whole banana for breakfast every morning, plus whatever we’re having. Lunch always consists of meat, a fruit, and a vegetable. And dinner is a deconstructed version of what’s on our plates. Favorite foods are steamed carrots, roasted sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries, taco meat, pizza, and pasta. I keep a stash of applesauce pouches, crackers, puffs, and fig bars in the diaper bag. And you love, love to chug your water.
I nurse you four times per day, though you are very distracted if we’re not sitting in the quiet bedroom.
You are still uncomfortable with “strangers.” I put that in quotation marks because our family members are not strangers, but you just don’t see them often enough to know them yet. Your lower lip trembles and you cling tightly to me if someone tries to take you out of my arms. I know this stage will soon pass, and so I’m savoring every extra snuggle I can get.
We finally moved you into Nora’s bedroom this month! And sleep has drastically improved. The first night you whimpered off and on from 3am until 6am. (Nora was in Sam’s room so you didn’t wake either of them.) The second night Nora asked to sleep in her bed, so we gave it a whirl, and you slept until 6am! We all love the new accommodations and the new routine.
Some nights you go to bed before the big kids, around 7:15pm. And other nights, you join them for books, and I lay you down closer to 7:45pm. You love when Nora lights up the room with stars from her butterfly light, and you almost always “talk” to her before you fall asleep. If we try to sneak Nora into the room after you’re already in bed, you often roll over, grab the railings of your crib, and smile at us. You also get upset if Nora leaves the room after the lights go out.
You still wake up between 5:30am and 6:30am when I take you out of your crib and bring you upstairs to nurse you. Fortunately, you will often lay in your pack’n’play in our bedroom for another hour or so until the big kids get up at 7am.
I love the little curls at the back of your neck, how you hold onto my finger while you’re nursing, the way you squeeze my arm when you’re tired, and how you sing yourself to sleep. I love how you squint your eyes to make us laugh and how your smile lights up your whole round face. We just adore you, sweetheart!