On Sunday when Elsie turned 10 months old, I had Chris try to help keep E in once place and smile (or simply look in my direction for more than .2 seconds) so I could get some pictures. Yeah, um, didn't really happen. We both agree that taking her monthly pictures has been infinitely more difficult than with Ryann. It is just plain painful. So Elsie, when you're older and you're all pissy because there aren't as many pictures of you? It isn't all because you are the second child. You, my dear, hate hate hate HATE having your picture taken.
According to our scale, little miss 'loves to eat' gained over a pound this last month, and weighs in right at 19 pounds. She can also be called little miss 'hates to lay still', so there was no point in trying to get her length since it would probably be wrong anyway. I'm just going to go with short. She definitely looks a little more round to me this month, and I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that she seriously LOVES to eat, but still loves to nurse just as much. 6-12 month clothes (sometimes 9 month onesies, but definitely NOT 9 month leggings!), size 3 diapers and just barely still size 3 shoes. I think I'm going to tear up a little when her gold See Kai Run shoes don't fit anymore. I love those things, but they aren't instock anymore and I haven't found them any bigger.
Despite still only having two little bottom teeth, Elsie is all about table foods. Girlfriend pitches a giant fit if you try to spoon feed her. Sometimes we can get away with it by giving her a spoon to hold as well, but that only works for so long before she chucks it and smacks yours out of your hand as well. She absolutely LOVES cheese. I'm 95% sure it is her most favorite food. If you plan to give her cheese at a meal, you have to wait until the end, otherwise she won't eat anything else. She is also a huge carnivore. She'd prefer to eat meat over fruit and vegetables. She'd prefer to eat anything over vegetables, but she will eat them if they are offered first and she can't see any of her other favorites. The only food that she hasn't really liked at all was cucumbers. Elsie is also doing really well with a sippy cup and chugs water out of there like a boss.
The great news feeding wise is we haven't had any severe vomiting episodes over the past month. At the beginning of the month we did try to feed her multigrain cheerios, and later that day she threw up a couple of times, but nothing compared to what we witnessed with the infant cereals. So for now we are just steering clear of anything containing oats or rice in any form. Hopefully it is just some sort of intolerance that she'll grow out of, or maybe the cheerio incident was just a fluke, who knows. But she is by no means lacking in food options.
Like I mentioned Elsie pretty much loves to nurse just as much as she always had. She does seem to be able to go four hours between sessions more often, especially if we are out and about and busy. But man, if I'm sitting in one of our typical nursing places, and heaven forbid I have my nursing pillow or nursing cover, she freaks out and is all 'boob in my mouth now oh my gosh you NEVER feed me!' It is pathetic. In general nursing is going great, and I can't believe we've made it over 10 months without really any issue. The only problems I'm having is that E is still super attached to me and I can't be gone for more than a couple hours at a time (especially because I've all out caved and just nurse her to sleep when she needs to sleep), and that she is somewhat, well, aggressive when she is nursing. Like my chest looks like I've been attacked by a deranged cat because she likes to pinch little bits of skin between her fingernails, and I've taken more swift kicks to the jaw than I can count. And if my hair isn't pulled back she is constantly trying to grab it. I tell her no, but she just giggles. So I'm kind of at a loss for what to do there. I guess just suck it up for another two months? The thought of weaning her is quite daunting...
Elsie teased me and for one glorious week slept through the night. As in 10-11.5 hours straight. And she was going to bed slightly later so that meant I truly did not have to get out of bed until 5:30 or 6am. It was AMAZING. Annnd now were back to at least one wake up between 3-5am. Boo. For the most part she goes back to sleep pretty quickly after nursing, but some nights not so much. Like last night of course, when I had gone out and had a few glasses of wine, she opted to be up from 3-5am. Not cool at all little miss.
I'm starting to think we're on the verge of dropping down to just one nap. I know that most kiddos aren't ready until after 12 months of age, but she does surprisingly well staying up until 1pm, especially if she wakes up after 7am. And lately the first nap is tough to make happen, or she'll only sleep for 30 minutes. I'm sure the little cat nap is great for recharging her batteries, but if she can handle not taking the first nap, well, I just think life would be easier. We could get out of the house earlier (uh, maybe, it is us though). Going back to the gym would be more feasible (yay!). Play dates would work out better. I just feel bad dropping it though.
E is getting really good at waving hi and bye. It is too freaking cute. She is also starting to pick up blowing kisses, I think anyway. We'll do it, and she gets excited and kind of sticks out her tongue and puts her finger in her mouth. So, close, right? :o) Elsie also claps almost every time she hears someone say 'yay!' I think she is starting to mimic more and more sounds, and is trying her hand at saying some words. Most often it is 'ki-yee!' when she see the darn cats. I think the cats are her favorite thing in the house (besides food and anything that Ryann is touching). She also seems to try and say duck (we have a million rubber ducks in the bath), and boo. And attempts to make lion and cow noises. Just this morning I pulled up a picture on my phone of Christopher and she started babbling 'da da da' over and over again. I just love to listen to her babble and 'talk'. It is so much fun.
I also absolutely love to watch Elsie dance. Any time she hears music, be it from a stereo or a toy, or sometimes even someone singing, she just has to boogie. If she is sitting she just rocks back and forth. If she is standing she shakes her little bum and bounces her chubby little knees. Sometimes she shakes her head and her hands too. I can't help but giggle.
Gross motor skill wise she is crusing more in the last week or so. She still doesn't transfer from furniture piece to furniture piece as much as Ryann did, but that is totally fine with me. The amount of pulling up and moving around that she does scares the crap out of me enough. She has ZERO interest in actually walking or trying to stand unassisted. The second she catches on to what you're trying to get her to do she lets her legs go all noodley. I'm pretty sure she could stand for a bit, because she has gotten pretty good at going from a standing position to a seated position without holding on to something, but it happens really fast. I'm surprised that she doesn't have more interest in trying to walk because she tries to drag stuff all over the house with her while she is crawling around. And she is always crawling around. Exploring is her favorite. Rarely does she sit still and actually play with something. She'd much rather find what trouble she can get in to.
Pretty much, Elsie is exhausting. She is incredibly cute, which is balanced nicely by her being a huge pain in the butt a lot of the time :o). She throws a fit if the slightest thing isn't going her way, and her favorite move is to hurl her head backwards. It rarely works out for her. If there is something in the room you don't want her to have she is absolutely going for it and will be beyond pissed if she can't have it. Sometimes trying to trade her with acceptable objects and redirection works, but um, usually not so much. She hates having her diaper changed, getting dressed, having her nose or face wiped, strangers getting too close, toys with male voices or low toned animal sounds, and this light up ball toy that Ryann has. Thank goodness balloons are no longer on the list.
Happy 10 months Elsie girl. We love you so much!
