10 Months!

Another month come and gone.... and now Em is in double digits. The big 1 0 !

A few favorites...

**Standing**

Em is standing so well and walking along the edges of almost anything. I really though she'd be walking by now, but not quite. Although she is able to walk behind something moving very well. A favorite is when Em stands up at my legs and holds on. This means she wants up, either to just be held or get a better view of what's going on.

**Sharing**

Em just started wanting to "share" a toy when she's playing with it. After sucking on a toy, she'll hold it up to my mouth and watches oh so carefully as I pretend to give the toy a big smooch and then giggles with delight and repeats over and over.

**Chasing**

A new favorite game. Em will crawl away, stop and look back over her shoulder just waiting for your to come after her. Todd or I will then "stomp" towards her and with an exaggerated startled type motion, Em will leap forward with more giggles and quickly crawl away (usually around the chair in the living room or around the island in the kitchen). She'll then stop and wait for you to "catch up" and the chase begins again. Here's Daddy chasing Em:


**Talking**

No actual words yet, but very definite sounds can be heard, such as "Daaa", "Baaa", even something that sounds like "Bawaaaa?" (yes, this last one does sound like she's asking a question).

**Eating**

She has finally done it -- eaten something that actually requires "chewing." She has gotten the concept of picking up her puffs (or as we call them, "snackies"), put them in her mouth and "chews". They more or less dissolve in her mouth, but she now keeps them in long enough so that she consumes the entire thing rather than spitting them out after they are nice and mushy. Now the trick is to only give her 1 or 2 at a time because whatever is on her tray goes in her mouth no matter how many!

**Listening**

Em really seems to listen and understand things. She knows exactly where to go if I say "go get Daddy" (even if he's in another room) or "go get the Christmas tree" (she'll go from the kitchen all the way across the house into the sunroom). Also, if we ask her "where is Lucy" or "where is Monty", she'll look around for the right cat.

**Waving**

Em knows that when someone says "good-bye" that she should wave. She will do this when we say "good-night" or "good-nap", too. She'll even wave if we're reading a story and the word "good-bye" or "good-night" is in the story (she will wave to the book). And every night after reading (or reading before a nap), we'll say "good-night (or nap)" to Emerson in the mirror and she'll wave to herself. Em will wave "hi" if prompted by us to wave, but hasn't quite associated that word with waving yet.

**Dancing**

If Em hears music, she'll rock her head back and forth. Even if she's in the middle of fussing, all I need to do is start singing ABC's and she'll stop and then start to rock. She's even starting to get more of her body into the swaying back and forth.

**Growing**

It just doesn't stop!