The Jesters: Ten Months!

Look who's finally on the move!!

Hallie learned to crawl this month and is having the time of her life! Her first time to really crawl is pictured below. Dan had his iPhone out of reach, and she had to have it. She crawled forward about 4 "steps" to get to it!

There's just something about those electronic devices. We are all like moths to the flame.

She is really fighting her diaper changes now that she can crawl. We'll lay her down to change her, and she'll try to roll over and crawl away. If that doesn't work, she makes the diaper change as difficult as possible for us with double leg kicks and rolling from side to side.

Making a getaway from her diaper change! She's not very fast yet, but we know that'll change soon!

Since she's reached the crawling milestone, our lives have become more interesting as we watch her discover all the things she can access now.

Like toys that we used to keep out of reach

And hardware for our house repairs

She is trying so hard to pull up. We have to watch what we put on our coffee table.

She hasn't made it to a standing position yet, and usually ends up falling on her back when she tries to pull up. It's very upsetting.

We have a few safe zones to contain her when we need to give our attention elsewhere.

We were given an inflatable pool that we've filled with baby toys. She tries to get out, but can't get her bottom and legs over the side of the pool. When she's well-fed and not sleepy, she'll play here for 15-20 minutes.

And we have the jumper that she's really too big for now. She'll last 5-10 minutes in this before she wants out. But it works for a quick bathroom break!

This girl has abs of steel under that round tummy! She sits like this - balanced on her tailbone with her legs in the air - for incredible lengths of time. Just to show off, she'll bang both her heels simultaneously on the floor as hard as she can, while still holding the pose. We have all tried to do it with her, and we can't hold a candle to her core strength. Also, she poops while sitting in this pose every single day. I don't know how it is even possible, but I'm not willing to try it to find out.

Hallie has 5 teeth now! Two on the bottom and three on the top. This was the only way I could get her to show those top teeth when they first came in.

Emma and I got a kick out of dressing Hallie up one day. She had no idea what was going on.

But it was fun!

This girl is a great eater! She loves almost everything we give her and isn't picky about purees vs finger foods. In a typical day, she will eat Cheerios, soft fruit cut into pieces (grapes are her favorite so far), scrambled eggs, crackers, and a variety of pureed baby foods - meat, vegetables, fruit, and grains. She absolutely loves pizza night because we give her a crust to gnaw on, which keeps her busy for a half an hour.

When she's really tired, she won't want anything to eat and will only settle down when we give her a bottle of milk. She's been more challenging to get to sleep recently, and already seems to need just one good nap a day, as long as she can sleep for at least an hour and a half. If she only gets a short nap, she'll sometimes take a second nap later in the afternoon. She used to always fall asleep in our arms as soon as her tummy was full of milk for naps and bedtime, but recently we've had to put her in bed awake and let her cry it out before she goes to sleep. She doesn't seem to be very stubborn, because the longest she's cried is a couple of minutes before she gives up and falls asleep.

In addition to clapping, she's learned to wave hello and goodbye. She's not immediately friendly to strangers when we're out, but if they pay attention to her long enough, she warms up to them. She'll say "buh-buh" (bye-bye) sometimes and when it's time for bed, she'll say "na-na" (night-night). She's got Dada and Nana down pat and every now and then will say Mama. She's very talkative and loves to converse in baby babble. She loves to look at dogs and birds outside, but hasn't named them yet.

She also loves the water! I wish we could let her splash in the bath every day, but we are so busy giving Emma her post-surgery baths, we only put Hallie in the tub when she stinks.