The Reed Read: October 2013

I feel like I wrote the 10 month post yesterday. Erica is growing so fast and despite the fact that she still doesn't sleep, I'm mourning the loss of having a newborn around! This month has marked some huge developmental milestones. Erica is almost walking on her own. She can take 10 or so steps between Daddy and me and occasionally lets go of whatever she is holding and just starts walking. She loves carrying things (squeezy packs, little people animals, scraps of paper, magnets, pretty much whatever she can get her hands on) and marching them over to some other location for mommy to clean up later. Since the kid snacks are right at her level in the pantry, she often grabs my hand, walks to the pantry, picks out a squeezy pack and heads off somewhere to deposit it. Repeat. She walks pushing things sometimes but the distance one can travel in a straight line in this house before running into something is minimal.

Erica is also starting to communicate much more. She has made the distinction between mama and dada and doesn't call Amelia either, although she doesn't have a name for her sister yet. She started saying something that sounds like "moo" when asked what a cow says. It's more of a raspberry ending in "oooo" but she does it consistently! She signs 'all done' and 'more' and has a mystery sign that looks something like "please" (patting her chest with her hand) when she wants something. She goes up to a door and does this sign or over to the fridge. Not exactly sure what she wants, but it's something!

Speaking of wanting things, Erica certainly has a mind of her own now. She throws a fit when she is put down or if I take something away. She especially breaks down when we come inside after playing outside or when I take her away from the door and shut it. She demonstrates her unhappiness with whatever is going on by planting her face on the ground and screaming. I told her no temper tantrums before you're one but she just screamed more. Luckily she gets over it quickly, crawls to mommy, and wants to be picked up.

She is eating all kinds of food now. She loves graham crackers with cream cheese (why wouldn't she?), bananas, rice and beans, yogurt with any fruit mixed in, ice cream (duh), most cereals, pancakes, scrambled eggs, applesauce, muffins, and anything else Amelia has left around for her to find. She is still nursing 3-4 times a day and every few hours at night.

Erica has recently discovered books and loves to flip the pages over and over. This past weekend she spent much of her play time finding a book and holding it out to mommy or daddy as if to say "Please read this to me!" Once that book is done she crawls over to the next one. She prefers books with real baby faces but I think her favorite is still "Meeow and the Little Chairs".

Sleep still eludes us although she has had some 3-4 hour stretches at night. She seems to like sleeping in the pack n play in our closet better than her bed. In her bed, she can roll over, stand up, and scream. In the pack n play, she can just scream. Maybe she prefers having fewer options. She sleeps with a blanket now and it's usually still on her in the pack n play but she throws it off in the crib. I admit I do like the cuddle time in the middle of the night but wish I could switch it to daytime cuddling. I'm one tired momma.

Can't believe she is going to be a year soon!