10 months old

Sweet baby girl, you are now 10 months old and such a delight! I think the best words for this last month are "curious and busy." You are our little explorer. You now know every square inch of the house you are allowed in (and maybe a few inches where we try to keep you out of too.) You have taken off - at the beginning of the month you were taking a few steps and now you are walking in circles and on grass. You love to giggle, pet and play fetch with Ella, haul stuff from one room to the next, climb steps, play peek-a-boo, put magnets off and on the fridge - mostly off, dance to our cell phone music and say ahhh in every intonation possible. You say mama every now and then and imitate ba's, da's, ga's, pup and other sounds. You have started to feed yourself small pieces of fruit, meat and cheese and delight in throwing some to Ella as well. We are trying to teach you this isn't a good idea, but it is sure cute. Your sleeping schedule has improved nicely - after a bit of sleep training you are now sleeping from around 8-9 to 5-6. Some nights you need a cuddle around 3 and put back to sleep and some nights you are able to sleep all night long. Now that you are teething again, sleep is a bit more difficult, but we will make it through. Naps are still a struggle, but we aren't giving up! One day you were so tired you fell asleep eating.
New foods this month include peaches, steak, cheese, whole wheat bread, cottage cheese, ricotta, lemon (which you loved sucking on), cantaloupe, buckwheat, triticale, and rye. You pretty much love everything we give you except for pears.

The beginning of the month we took an airplane and had a good time in Washington with friends. We celebrated M's arrival, honored G's birthday, visited beautiful gardens, had nice meals and played with friends at the W's. You even got to see a grizzly bear! One night you were not very tired and mom let you pull everything out of the suitcase on to the bed. Oh, what a mess!!!

A few days ago you saw your first 4th of July fireworks show. As tradition would have it, we went to North Shore Park for a bit and then had a nice picnic dinner at Grandma and Papa's. Right as dinner ended, the rain began dumping, caused flooding and made the city postpone the fireworks until the next night. So the next night we went to the golf course and played with the cousins and watched the fireworks from the grass. You watched for a bit and then started crawling around - must keep busy!
You also met your great great Uncle Emil from Canada. He is our last connection to our Grandma Grace Cross - who we gave you the name Keanna, which means gracious in Hawaiian. He reminded Mom so much of her dear Grandma and had fun story's about them growing up together.

Momma having fun with your hair - a little birthday wish for Tosh's Mohawk Birthday Party!
We love you Autumn Bear and can't wait to explore and learn about the world with you!
Love,
Daddy and Mommy