10.5 Months

I was looking at Paige today in disbelief. She is going to be a year old in March. I cannot believe how fast the last year has flown by. Paige is developing into such a funny and self-assured human being. She has a wonderful sense of curiosity, and is extremely social. If we walk into a restaurant or new home, as soon as I let her walk around she will systematically work the entire room, walking up to each person waiting for them to react to her.

As she approaches the one year mark, she has a few "words" although I use the word loosely. She says "bye bye," "hi," "mama," "dada," and "uh oh," but none of them are used exclusively for their correct meaning. For example, she does say uh oh when she drops something (on purpose) but she also says it when she wakes up from her nap or at other seemingly random times. I would say that "mama" is the word she uses most sparingly. She clearly uses it for me, as well as when she wants to nurse and when she wakes up at night and is upset.

She now has two teeth. They are coming in SO SLOWLY. I think it will be a while before she has anymore. Paige is continuing to work on walking and continuing to refuse to crawl. She can walk holding on to just one of my hands now, although she will not do it unless she has something else in her hand. She is very cautious and hates falling or being surprised in some way by her motion. She can balance for about 30 seconds or more standing, but again, will only do it if she doesn't notice. She has to be distracted, or she gets nervous and just sits down. She has now been walking using our fingers since November. I see definite progress, her balance is much improved, but I don't think she is that interested in walking independently. She does not pull up on things, and cannot get into a standing position herself. I suspect Paige will not be a super early walker. Who knows, she may eventually crawl first. I continue to give her as much "tummy time" as she will tolerate. All I can say about that is thank God I was a late walker and didn't crawl first, otherwise I might be a little more concerned about seeming disinterest in independent movement.

In this post is a picture of Paige showing off her first tooth as well as a video of her pushing around a toy at the Upper Noe Valley Rec Center, or as we call it the Day Park. Its an amazing place for the babies to play. I am so thrilled its in such close proximity.