ten months.

My sweet little baby is ten months old today. The last month has brought so many new and exciting things. Iris has learned to clap her hands and to wave bye-bye! She stands herself up gracefully, even using a wall to brace herself. She regularly walks around while holding onto the furniture and in the last few days, she has started standing unassisted. Well, until she realizes she's not holding on to anything, gets unnerved and carefully lowers herself to the floor.

She stands herself up to dance to all sorts of music. She knows where "on top" of her head is and even "on top" of Mama's or Dada's head! She holds objects out to show us, and has started giving them to us to look at. We respond "thank you very much!" and she beams. She knows that standing up in the bath means bath-time is over. We watch the water go down the drain as she sits in my lap, wrapped in a towel.

Reading is still one of her favorite activities. During the day, she will often pick up a book and hold it out to me, beckoning me to read. She sits in my lap, leaning against my arm. Sometimes the pictures excite her so much she will slap her hand to them with an exclamation of surprise. When we say "the end!" she yells sharply in protest.

She has finally sprouted more hair and has about 6 teeth now, with more coming in! She has had little tastes of rice pudding, peaches, lemonade and yogurt - all were met with a cold reception. She still nurses voraciously while laying, sitting, leaning, standing and climbing! She mimics actions like blowing raspberries and has started feeding us (I found this out when I gave her a french fry to explore, knowing she wouldn't eat it herself.) She says Mama and Dada very clearly, she claps while I sing "Patty Cake" and to music! She has taken to whining for me and fake-crying to get my attention, it's pretty cute! She will sometimes whine most pathetically as she crawls towards me, which usually means she wants milk or cuddles.

This morning, she started learning the concept of "sneaking." I sternly say her name when she starts doing something she knows she's not supposed to (like heading over to play with Daddy's computer) and she stops, sits and turns to look at me. I redirect her to to her toys and she plays until she thinks I'm not looking. Then she slo-o-owly inches over to the computer, watching to see if I notice! 

Literally every day is something new. Last night, she started licking things - the first choice item was the bottom of my sandal - delicious! Even as I wrote this she put a wooden block inside her Daddy's slipper, tipped it down towards the toe and thus discovered "inside". I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up.