Bellebration – 10 months!

Dear Belle,

Today you turned 10 months old.

Something magical happened this month – you started walking! It started with a step here and there. Then one day you took 4 steps in a row. Another day you walked from mommy to daddy. And then another day, you took about 10 steps. We are so proud of you!

You are fearless. You fall, get back up, and try again. A fall here and there doesn’t stop you.

You still speed crawl when you want to get places fast, but more and more you are choosing to stay upright and walk to where you want to go.

You are now fully sleeping through the night, and falling asleep on your own. I can kiss you goodnight at about 8:30, you hug your Mickey or Minnie, and fall fast asleep. At around 6 am you wake up hungry for breastmilk, refreshed after a long nights’ sleep. Then at around 6:30 Nathan wakes up and you play with him for a while hour until daddy wakes up. You love having that time just with your brother.

This month you went to your baby play group every Friday and you are starting to get to know the other babies. You love your class and have so much fun playing with others.

You said your first clear word – GENTLE. We were at the RIE class, and you were trying to poke another babys’ eye. The teacher said, “Gentle Belle,”, so you repeated, Gentle. All of the moms heard you, gasped, and cheered for you. We were all amazed to hear you say such words at such a young age! You have many other words – mama, baba, dada, teta, tete, luca, nata, tata – and you love to make lots of other random sounds.

I love that you wake up so happy in the morning. You call me – MAMA – and you babble until I get you out of your crib and into bed with me. It’s the happiest way to wake up I’ve ever experienced.

You’ve also learned so many new games! Patty Cake, Tope Tope Tum, the raspberry game, the “I’m going to get you game”, and many more. I can teach you a game and you pick it up so quickly!

You love to feed yourself and are starting to get angry when I try to feed you with a spoon. If I cut up the food and put it on your tray you will eat all your food by yourself.

You are so much fun to spend time with. You are funny, determined, independent, yet LOVE being with people. I can watch you play and be mesmerized with how inventive and creative you are, how smart, you courageous.

I am so proud of you my Belle, you are one amazing little girl.