Big Girl Milestones

Ada will be 10 months old this weekend!!! I cannot believe it. Here is what she's been up to for the past few weeks:

Milestone #1: Sleeping in her big girl crib! We have had so many sleep issues throughout the school year, I never thought this day would come! We have trouble getting her to sleep (she fights it like a total champ), we have trouble getting her to stay asleep (I feel like there was always something, teething, ear infections, bad days at daycare and wanting her Mommy, etc.) But she's doing a lot better in the crib- I'm sure it's much more comfortable than the pac-n-play that she'd been in in our room. DUH Mom and Dad- shoulda thought of that sooner. She's still not the Queen of Slumber- she's still been waking up at 1 and 3am.

But we're working on it. 1 o'clock we *try* to pat her back to sleep (sometimes its just too exhausting), 3 o'clock I go ahead and nurse her. Dr. Sears says pick 7 hours (for a breastfed

baby) that you want to not nurse- so I've been going 8pm-3am. Hopefully as she eats more and more and more solids, that will lengthen! :) I'll also probably bump those hours to 10pm-5am once school starts, since I get up at 5 anyway during the

year.

Here is a reenactment that Ada and I created to give you an idea of how much we love waking up in our big girl crib! (Thanks for the crib, Pop and Honey! And thanks for actually putting her in it, Grandma and Grandpa!)

Milestone #2: Big Girl Carseat! Ada was getting a little long for her baby carseat. So I went ahead and got "The Big Girl Seat" before we're paying wazoos for daycare again in a few weeks. Well, she loved it so much when I put her in it just to test the strap adjusments, etc that we went ahead and installed it. She loves being able to look out the window, see herself better in the mirror, and recline in the pretty, comfortable seat cover (I would hope it's comfortable and pretty- it's Britax's "Couture" collection!). Here she is, excited to go for a car ride!

This is a pic I snapped at a red light from her mirror- she's totally relaxed, and holding Boy Toy! :)

Milestone #3: A blooming love of books. I've read to Ada from the day we brought her home from the hospital. At about 6 months, however, she began "exerting her independence"- aka grabbing any book that came into sight to chew to pieces. Recently she's coming back around and taking an interest in these "toys with pictures and words!" She loves to play in her room, pulling books off of her bookshelf (thanks for the library, MiMi!), opening and closing pages, and feeling the books with textures. Below she is reading her all time favorite book, "Little Feet Like." She will even rub the pages with her feet instead of her hands! It's really, really cute. I'll try to catch it on video for another blog! :)

Reading "Little Feet Like." Picking out which book I want to read next.

Milestone #4: The beginnings of words. "Mama" and "Dada" have been definite fixtures in Ada's vocabulary from about 7 months old. Then, about 2 weeks ago, came "Yum Yum" and "Uh Oh!" And now, Ada is officially trying her hardest to pronounce words like "dog," "bath," "tub," and "duck." It. Is. SO. Darn. CUTE! And you can't coax her to say any of it- its all on her terms, her time, her choice. Note to self: get a video of this.