OK, maybe that’s pushing it.  Mia Lynn is now entering 10 months and 3 weeks.  So much has been happening lately it is hard to capture it in words, but hopefully the regular photo posting give y’all some inkling of her progress.

Last week we had another doc visit and vaccine.  Our petite one weighs in at 16 pounds, 12 ounces – still much less than Zoe, our large-boned cat.  (I can hear you snickering).  Mia is about 28 inches.  I say “about” because she’s somewhat like trying to measure an octopus.  Small but growing and is exactly on target with her development. 

And speaking of development…wow!  Since our last post Mia has sprouted 6 teeth, eats just about anything we put in front of her (including pickles and lemon wedges) and can easily walk along furniture barely holding on.  She is THIS close to walking and has even taken a few steps alone!  While in Florida recently she mastered climbing up a stair or two, although coming back down may take a while.

Beyond “dog” and “duck” she now can say “ball”  “hi” and “cat.”  She will wave after much pondering, and has learned to sign to us when she is “all done” eating (very exciting to see the sign language coming into play!)  She also meows at the cats, carries her toys around in her mouth and pants when she gets excited (thanks dogs.)  She says “Dixie” although it comes out as “ixcthie” with a lot of spit involved and only her parents would recognize it as an actual word.

Mia surprised us one night as she was toying with an electrical outlet.  We did our usual “uh-uh!” and “no!”  She then repeated the “uh-uh” and shook her head!  So now everything that she isn’t supposed to touch or do she mimics us!  Smart little bugger, she is.

The lessons learned over the past few weeks are many, but some standouts are:

1. Baby socks, pacifiers and spoons evaporate into thin air after some unknown expiration date, never to be seen again.
2. It’s ok to buy your child new toys, books and DVDs if you have to keep her quietly entertained for 12 hours of travel.  The other passengers on the flight will thank you.
3. After months of thinking we really have to watch what we say in front of our baby, now that she mimics us we REALLY have to watch what we say (Mama B!).

That’s it, people. It’s time for Jillian to clean up that gutter mouth of hers (like a longshoreman, that one!) because – DRUMROLL – we have our first word! Well, Mia does. We assumed it would be ‘mama’ or ‘bottle/baba/variation that sounds close to bottle’ or one of MY choice expletives that just shoot right out mid-sentence but no. None of that sillyness for the Mighty Morphin Power Mia. Instead, we got “DOG.”

She started saying it while playing Peek-a-Boo Barn on the iPhone (go ahead and roll your eyes but that thing keeps her entertained for a good 20 minutes.) If you ask her to say ‘dog’ she looks at Dixie or LadyBear and repeats it. Pretty clear too although she exagerates the “G” into “gha-a” which means my southern accent is contagious and she’s catching it. That or she’s actually saying ‘dogma’ and maybe we have a mini-philosopher on our hands… Please LORD don’t make me pay $50k to get this child a degree in Philosphy. That’s MY dogma.

Anywho, this first word has been certified by Shaunna which means it’s gold. I’ll try to get a video of her saying it but so far she’s remained verbally elusive.

p.s. She also will sometimes say “duck”  – again thanks to Peek-a-Boo Barn. Trust me, the work is “D-U-C-K” so don’t give me that look the first time you hear her say it.

You might recall that at my last post we were celebrating Mia sleeping through the night 5 times in a row. Yes, well. So much for that! What we didn’t know was that under her tiny pink gums were two sharp little white teeth that were about to make night time a whole lot more entertaining! March was a big month for Miss Mia ~ not only did her two first bottom teeth pop through, but she also finally mastered coordination of her hands, legs and torso enough to start crawling FORWARD. FAST.

The last few weeks have focused on the long-dreaded baby-proofing. No more procrastinating.  We finally realized that creating a safe zone for a mobile baby is actually easier than following her around all day redirecting her from all the safety hazards. And now I get it. For some unknown reason babies DO find light sockets, shoes and lamp cords much more exciting than all of those beautiful, colorful, designed-specifically-for-her-age-group toys we put on the floor. She was drawn like a determined moth to a flame to the pet food bowls and made a beeline for Bonnie’s guitars. Any sharp furniture corner was an irresistable invitation to try and pull herself up, and she instinctively knew in which lower drawer she could find our poison stash.

The good news is that this has forced us to re-think our square footage and actually make better use of our home. The carpeted living room is now the pet-free Mia Zone (see photos for the unhappy pet reaction). She has her Jumparoo, toy box, play pen and books all available and seems to appreciate a bit more cushion under her knees for all of the active crawling. And frankly it is a relief not to have everything crammed into the den off the kitchen. We still have some work to do, but baby girl may actually survive at least until the walking stage.

Oh, and speaking of which, she also learned to pull herself up to standing (which required lowering her crib) and now holds her own bottle. You will see from the “Mia meets avacado” video that she wasn’t nearly as excited about eating people food as our pediatrician thought she would be, but she has taken to crackers, small bits of cheese and the ocassional glass of wine. [Just kidding on that last one, Nana.]

A select few new lessons learned from the 7-8.5 month period:

• Wearing hoop earrings is a bad idea. REALLY bad idea.
• Don’t bother getting dressed until after feeding and bath time.
• It is not wise to try giving a taste of a new food after her regular feeding, when her tummy is full. 
• Don’t panic when you look down and notice your entire arm is covered in bruises – it might just be dried prunes.
• Its probably best not to put her up on your shoulders for a ride until after she learns the command “please let go of my hair!”
• Just when you think you have parenthood figured out, everything changes.

Until the next report,
J.