10 months and some change

Gigi (derived from Seth's rendition of our little friend Maddie trying to pronounce "Lilly Jo" by saying "Ji Jo") turned 10 months old a couple weeks back. The girl is in full swing I tell you. She's all over the place these days - crawling up the stairs (with someone watching her), cruising along everything, taking a few steps here and there, talking non-stop (especially if we're not paying attention to her!), finding anything on the ground to put in her mouth, getting into Wilbur's dog bowls, standing up chatting in her crib when she should be napping (and chewing on the crib railing. nice.), eating some big people food (when I'm feeling brave), signing 'more' when she wants more food, and giving Seth some lovin' (thanks to Lilly's wonderful caretaker Carol for teaching our non-cuddling daughter this one!)...

Lilly Jo is what I would call a headstrong little girl. Maybe this will change as she grows up, or maybe it won't. But it suits her just fine! We love her spunky and sometimes challenging little personality. When she does something she knows she not supposed to do, she'll hear us say "no no", pause briefly, then go right back to doing it again. She's definitely learning to listen quite well, but she has her 'let-me-see-if-I-can-get-away-with-this-one-more-time' moments. I have to say most times Seth and I would rather laugh than swat her on the leg and tell her 'no' again. She's just so darn cute:)

One thing we've noticed recently is that Lilly Jo is pretty afraid of the vacuum. While we hope she eventually outgrows this fear, it does make for some great cuddle time with Seth while I'm cleaning. She'll sit in his lap and put her head on his shoulder the entire time I'm vacuuming. For a child that doens't cuddle much with anyone, we take this very seriously:) This is quality time! Maybe this means the house will get cleaned more often?

Ah, who am I kidding...I'm about to have a 1 yr old and a newborn.

No way jose.

:)