Happy 10 Month Birthiversary

***The most noticeable new thing this month, because she does it so much, is how Magnolia spends most of her time pointing at things. The most frequently pointed at object is a light; it doesn't matter if it is on or off. She doesn't really want the object most of the time so we just name whatever she is pointing at and move on to the next thing. Our day goes something like this: "Light!Christmas tree! Doggy! Oh, another light! Teddy Bear! More lights!"

***Magnolia still gives great kisses, when she wants to. This month she added our dogs, Otis and Trudy to her list of recipients. They are usually very patient with her. She has also begun to gently pet them--mostly Otis...Trudy is very protective of her but keeps her distance from those unpredictable hands; Otis will take any loving. It's all great big sister training.

***Well, it's official--Magnolia has said her first words. At the beginning of the month we began to decipher a slight difference between her "mamas." There were definite times that "Mama" referred to Shannon and another common mama sound morphed into more of a "meh." This means milk and she will often combine it with the sign for milk. The third mama sound she makes was for more. This one has recently been replaced by just making a short, loud, distressed sound. The real shocker came upon Brian's arrival home from work one day. Like usual, I would ask her, "Who is here?" and as Brian came into sight Brian and I both said and signed "Papa." Then Magnolia said it, which was a huge surprise because she doesn't really babble any p sounds. She has only done it a couple of times, but it is always clear that she understands its connection to Brian.

***We have had to start using the words "no touch" more and more as Maggie becomes increasingly mobile. One of the most common reminders is the dog food bowl. Sometimes she will be crawling around near the dog food (or something else she has been recently told not to touch) and she will pause near it and shake her head no as if to remind herself not to touch it! Sometimes when she crawls across Brian's studio, which is usually covered in shredded dog toys, she shakes her head the entire time!

***While trying to free our car from our icy-slushy driveway, Magnolia clearly used the sign for eat over and over. This was one of the first unsolicited signs she has used. All we had ready at that time was a bottle, which she hungrily drank down. Also, about 2/3 of the way through she started holding the bottle for herself--another first!

Sidenote: notice in this picture she actually got a taste of frosting this month!

***Our happy girl continues to love people and enjoy life. Almost without fail when music starts, either from one of her many musical toys or a jingle on the radio, she will start dancing, which mostly consists of bouncing up and down, and every once in awhile swaying side to side. A few times this month she also sang along to Christmas music in her sweet Magnolia babble.

***The big parenting adjustment for us this month was dealing with a pregnant mama. My body decided breastfeeding+pregnancy+working was not going to happen and it stopped producing enough milk for Magnolia. So earlier than we would have liked, we switched completely over to formula. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be as I watched my little girl gulp down way more milk than I had been able to give her. I'm betting her weight will be back up at our next appointment. Bottle-feeding has also allowed me to have one less thing to wake me up in the middle of the night so I am getting more sleep and feeling more rested. Most nights Maggie is making it 10 hours, then taking a little milk before bedding down for another couple hours. Lastly, Brian has been a real trooper, and become our sewage specialist. We decided to do cloth diapers--which we don't regret--but my early pregnancy nausea has prevented me from doing much of the diaper cleaning. He has also had to put up with some strange dinner combinations as we try to find foods that I feel like eating--veggie burger, shrimp, and pancakes, mmmm.

Coming next month... First Steps? Over Christmas Magnolia started standing on her own for longer and longer periods of time. Her "cruising" around the furniture and assistd walking have also become more frequent and than her "drop and crawl" tactic.