A Perfect Ten!

Happy ten months, Clara!

You're a real hoot these days. You've become quite proficient at crawling, pulling up to standing, and getting folks' attention.

The crawling is really funny, but I can see already that you're going to be a handful. You get this really determined look and start heading somewhere and nothing's gonna stop you. Well, nothing except me picking you up. Molly's a suitably worried big sister, though, so maybe she'll be able to keep you in line. The other day when I asked her to keep an eye on you while I met with the roof engineer she just laid on top of you to keep you in place. And she has a growing mental list of all the things you can and can't have and is really good at making sure you don't touch the things that are off-limits for you.

You're also really starting to communicate. Back in May you started with the clapping. Then there was the waving. Then you started blowing kisses to the teachers at Via Nova. Yesterday you very clearly signed "cat", for Angus the kitty cat whom you adore (Angus is Oscar's cat, he's visiting us while Oscar & family travel the world for a few weeks).

Your sounds are becoming more like words, too. You almost said "kitty cat" when you signed it, and you've almost said "bye-bye" a couple of times while waving bye to someone. And I might be able to say you said "hi", except it's really an almost also. Zach likes to say he doesn't believe in "first words". I don't totally disagree with that - talking is such a continuum. But there are moments when you realize something was done very clearly and that sticks in your mind.

Anyhow, you've also been getting four (!) teeth on top, all at once. I have somewhat mixed feelings about how much Tylenol we've been giving you. It's not that we actually give you large quantities, or frequent doses. It's just that tonight was the first night in a while that you've gone to sleep without Tylenol. There was a while there where you would only sleep with the Tylenol and then you'd only sleep for four hours. (We'll see how tonight goes, but so far so good, right?) On the one hand, that worries me, but on the other hand I think, well, if you're in pain, why not give you something to make it better? And you were clearly in pain. There were four swollen, purple welts on your upper gums!

Alright, super crawler. Here's to watching you crawl after your big sister as fast as you can! You get a perfect ten, even if they don't give out perfect tens in gymnastics anymore. :)