10 months old

Happy birthday Lucia. You've moved into double digits, 10 months old. Today was a great birthday where we again sang you your birthday song and started the day with smiles and many kisses. You took several micro naps today and in between we played outside in the sunshine and went to the park with your friend Lilly. It was so fun to watch you play today. I know they say that babies only engage in parallel play until 2 years old but you reached out to Lilly and gave her a hug and kiss so I think you were happy to see her and truly wanted to play 'with' her.

You are a lover (but also a fighter, but we'll get to that in a moment) and are getting more social each day with your silly grin and laugh. You are less shy and smile and flirt with both strangers and friends. It brightens our day as well as theirs. You've learned to hug and kiss and love to touch other peoples faces when you greet them.

In this last month you've learned to crawl faster, cruise around furniture more and engage in free standing each day when you stand unaided. You are still very wobbly when you walk while holding our hands but you enjoy it more than you did last month. Your energy level is still very high and we're working on being gentle but you just get so excited you can't help yourself and whack both the kids at daycare and your parents frequently. We regularly get some story of you hitting Marcus over the head with a toy, strangling Howard or going toe to toe with Faye. You do it because you're happy to see them but if we don't teach you gentle soon I think we'll be getting some notes from parents and teachers.

You love to eat and are exploring new tastes. Your new love is avocado but I think macaroni and cheese is a close second. The look on your face after the first bite was priceless! I wish I had taken a picture. You still love vegetables and can eat a whole banana in one sitting. Mmnnn good! And you now have eight teeth, four on top and four on bottom. It looks like two more are coming in top though soon making it an even 10! So many people say to me that you have more teeth than any baby they've met and then you crack your tooth grin to show them off.

And this month you've found your voice. You now speak often and loud and we love your voice.

We love you sweet girl....happy, happy birthday.