10 Months.

                                     
                                     

I can't believe that you are 10 Months old, and will be 1 before we know it!!  It went by in the blink of an eye, literally, and I have treasured every moment, and continue to try and take every moment in and make each one count.  You are such a little person righ now, I can't believe how 'grown up' you are.  I was just saying to Daddy today how fun you are right now.  Such a little ball of energy, pizazz, and spunk!  There is so much to say, so much that I could say, but really, I just want to remember and put down some of the things that are so 'you' right now, like:

-You are such a ham, and you smile the biggest smile all the time, at almost anyone you see, especially when they give you a big smile too! 
-Everyone stops to tell me how much they love your big 'beautiful' smile!!  They say how much they can't get over your big smile!  It is pretty cheesy!!
-Everyone always says how you have these "Big, Beautiful Blue Eyes."
-They also say you are so Beautiful.  Everywhere we go.
-You laugh literally out loud, in little laughing fits, when we gobble your tummy and tickle you.  You are tickilish everywhere: feet, tummy, legs, under the arms.
-When you first began these little giggle fits, I sometimes got confused if you were laughing or crying/fussing
-You have the sweetest little voice and you jibber jabber all the time, and have little coversations with yourself and other people that you think people can understand.
-Your jabbering is started to resemble more of an actual language, converation, and words now though.
- You say: Dada, Dad, Daddy, Mama, Mom, Nana, Baba, Lala, Hi, and you speak your very own language
-You can sign "milk" but you haven't picked up on any of the other signs yet, you just smile a huge smile at me when I sign with you.
-You sometimes bang your hands on the highchair tray when I am getting your food ready in the kitchen, and ask you if you 'want to eat'
-You start getting excited, moving your hands and legs and head when you see:bowls, spoons, sippy cups, baby food jars, yogurt cups, gerber poofs, yogurt poofs, cereal jar, wagon wheel jar, bottle, any kind of food, people eating food, or as I'm getting ready to nurse you.
-You get excited and wiggle and move your arms and legs in excitement when you see Diesel, and you call him "Da,da."
-You call lots of people and things, "Da,da."  It's by far, your favorite word.
-You love people.  You really love any and all children.  You are mesmerized by children, and will intently follow them with yoru gaze and body.
-You love to open and close the laundry shoot door, and you think you are so clever, and you are beside yourself with how much fun you think it is (although, we have since nailed it shut, so you wouldn;t go flyign down it some time when we are not looking.
-You love to flush the toliet and will do it repeatedly over and over.  You also like to empty the toliet paper roll on the floor, or empty a box of kleenex.
-You love to play with magazines and books.  And you will take them out of a pile and throw them on the floor, or pull every single book off the shelf.
-You are starting to get into cabinents and drawers.  You will try to take everything out and throw it on the floor, and even after being told "no," moved, and distracted with somethign else, you will repeatedly go back and try and do the same thing over and over and over again.  This is the same with the laundry shoot cabinent and toliet paper roll.
-You will crawl over to your lay area on your own and begin to play and will continue to play entertaining yourself for over and hour.
-You love to play with the blinds in the family room.  You love to crawl along the couch, and look out the window.
-You love to crawl around on our bed in the morning before we are ready to get up out of bed.
-You lift Mommy's 3 Pound weight up with your hands over and over like you are lifting weights.  I kept telling everyone you will have the  buffest arms of any Toddler in daycare
-You most of the time, do not liek to have your diaper changed, and will try with determination to roll right off the changing table, and I have to hold you down with the grips of life to change your diaper so you don;t go flying off
-You frequently do not like going in to your carseat, and hold your legs ral stiff and stand in your carseat refusing to sit dow.  I usually have to bribe you with a toy to get you to sit down, the same applies to changing your diaper.
-You "sing" in church, when there is singing and talk others are talking, you also sometimes make very loud noises and talk shriek when there is absolute silence, causing others to look at you, and I have to give this shrug face, like, "what can I do?"
-You love looking at people in church, and will sometimes crane your neck to look at people.  You dont; discrinm=minate, you love everyone.  Everyone is incredibly fascinating to you, and you like to try and touch people, throw your toy at them, and smile this big huge cheesly smile at them.  You also try and talk with people, and call them, "Da,Da."
-You open and close doors.  And sometimes you close yourself in a room, and start to fuss and cry because your alone and scared.
-Anytime you see your reflection:be a mirror, glass, refridgerator, oven, window, etc. You kiss yourself thinking you are another baby?  Or, maybe you just really like yourself!
-You wave "hi" and "bye," very often.  But, usually not when prompted to.  You like to decide who and when you will say hi and bye too.  You wave hi with your left hand and bye with your right.  Your "hi" is like a queen wave.
-You will chase a dog around for hours following him/her and you are not afraid to get very close, or have them touch/lick you.  You are so obsessed you sometimes annoy the dogs (which seems impossible).
-Upon waking you immediately stand in your crib, and cry and fuss until someone comes to rescue you.
-You are starting to get ancy while nursing, and will proceed to crawl all over me in every position while still nursing.
-You bite harder than any pitbull, and I'm sometimes afraid you've turned into some kind of rabid animal.
-You are fascinated with nips, and will squeeze them very hard.  Daddy's too.
-You love books with textures and pull flaps.  You kiss your stuffed animals/dollies before bed, and love snowglobes.
-You most often sleep on your tummy, like your daddy.  And you can sleep in any angle/position in your crib (even stickigng your booty up in the air in a crouched position!)
-You're starting to love on people more, and will lay your head down on their shoulder, or another body part.
-You love to sleep on people, and would prefer it that way.
-You love to be chased while you  crawl, and will giggle and increase speed while being chased.
-You love to play Peek-a-Boo, any kind of peek-a-boo.  And will pull down any object covering the person playing with you.
-You will put absolutely anything into your mouth, and lvoe to find very very small tiny objects on the floor and crawl away with them pretending that you don't actually have said object, and do not like to have someone take that object away.
-When very tired you will fall asleep immediately in the car and could sleep there for hours
-You are a very light sleeper, and will awake to the sudden noise, loud or soft
-You love soft, furry things, and enjoy snugglign with them, and/or rubbing them against your face
-You love people food, baby food, Yo Baby Yogurt, rice cereal, Gerber poofs, but you do not like those baby meals in a jar.
-You love sippy cups, bottles, mommy milk, and are obsessed with whatever drink/food is in someone's hands
-You are a superb master crawler, and you love to sit-to-stand, and cruise along furniture flying from one thing to the next.  You love to push your little train around and your walker, and get a huge kick out of it.
-You move an dance to music, melodies, and make noise.  You LOVE your Leapfrog "Tad" frog that teaches you numbers as well as your Leapfrog frog that teaches you your body parts and plays music.  You always light up this huge smile and start to "dance" and talk whenver we turn them on.
-You love stuffed animals/bears and your Elmo puppet and love to have them tickle you and smoosh you on your face.
-You love teethers, and liek to constantly have one in your mouth.  But you have begun to not like your nookie, prefering to have mommy nip or nothing at all.
-You usually prefer not to have a bow, headband, or hat on, but I can usually get you to wear one for a while until you become tired or sassy and pull it off.
-You love stroller rides, and being outdoors.  You like to look at the trees.  You try and help walk Diesel by holding the leash.
-When you're tired you rub your eyes, and mimick pulling your hair out, or start fussing with it.
-I'm sure you would let us hold you all day if we could.
-Everytime we get in the car, you take your socks off while in your carseat.  Everytime.  Sometimes you can oly manage one.
-You place your tongue over your upper lip and leave it there, sometimes rubbing it back and forth over your upper lip in a quick motion.

There are so many "Nikolina" idiosyncrasies that define "you" but I coudl go on forever.  We love youand we're so proud of youand how far you've come.  We can;t wait for each new step.  Our little pumpkin.  Don't grow up too fast!  Let us walk a little while with you.