10 Months

For once, I am getting a birthday post posted on time! Partly because I'm so excited to tell you about all the things Little Miss has been up to.  Girl is on a ROLL this month, Peanuts!
Here's the run down on Miss at 10 (OMG seriously- 10?!) months:

She SPEAKS
Miss started out with "Mama" and "Dada", then hit the big-time with "More".  A word She loves to use when She actually wants more, or just when She wants anything.  She reminds me quite a bit of those seagulls in "finding Nemo" that incessantly chant "Mine. Mine. Mine.", only Miss's version goes "More? More? More? More?!"
She's also expanded Her repertoire to include such classics as "Hi", "B-Bye", "Up", and "All Done".  Like "more", "all done" can be liberally applied.  For example yesterday at naptime, I rocked Her until She was all chill and sleepy, kind of like a post-massage-and-martini kind of state, and gently lowered Her into Her crib, where She contentedly sighed, "Aaaaahh Done", rolled over, and went to sleep.
She is not at all afraid, however, to just get the job done when expediency is preferable; arching Her back and howling.  If a grown up doesn't respond, no matter.  Big Sister will.

Sibling Love
And Little One is really the worst danger we have of Miss getting spoiled like a peach lost under the passenger seat.  Because Little One hates for Miss to cry.  "Missy-Miss! There-there! Want sompin'? Want mine toy? Want bite mine snack?  Need a snuggle??? S'okay fweetie! Sissy is HERE!!!"
The two have begun to play together more too.  Tonight in the bath they had a game going where Miss would hold a cup out to Little One, who would say something silly into it, so that it distorted Her voice, and they would both crack up laughing.  Then Miss would hold it to Her own mouth and try to repeat the sound, and they would both crack up.  And round and round they went. Another favorite is "playing band".  In which they sit together, and bang on things.  Looove that one.  Little Miss is getting more and more interested in doing whatever Little One is doing, and loves to follow Her around the house like a puppy.

The Moves
Something She's getting pretty good at.  Not only has She mastered the full-on crawl, but She's up cruising the furniture and climbing anything She can. She wants to walk so bad She can taste it.  She will walk around suspended by Her vice-like grip on your index fingers until your spine begins to disintegrate.  She is constantly on the move.
Which leads Her to utterly and totally despise anything that forces Her to be horizontal.  Diaper changes are an absolute affront to human decency as far as She is concerned, and She WILL GO DOWN FIGHTING.  And hollering, and twisting in a very cirque-de-soleil manner until finally She is free.  Changing clothes is also intolerable.  Car seats, seat belts, or any other restraining apparatus triggers the back-arching, scrinchy-face, howl of dissent.  FIGHT THE POWER!  GIVE ME FREEDOM OR GIVE ME A BLOOD-CURDLING TANTRUM!
And for all Her sweetness, Miss can scream like Her eyeballs are being scrambled if She's mad.

The Faves
Fortunately, other than being held still, there's not much that upsets Her.  She still smiles and flirts with everyone.  She still takes punctual naps and eats whatever I put in front of Her. She adores kale and broccoli, devours fruits, veggies, rice and oatmeal, and Her all-time favorite is any type of raw leaf.  Spinach, lettuce of any variety.  She loves drinking water from a glass. She is getting pretty good at using a spoon by Herself.
Other favorites include a new interest in books, though She's choosy about which She'll sit through.  Anything along the "That's not my ____" is the top choice, followed by lift-the-flap type books.  She loves Her cabbage patch doll, the plastic dollhouse She got for Christmas, and the wooden activity cube.  Though Her favorite toy and comfort object is- a spoon.  Any spoon.  I don't know, guys, She just loves them.
She's into games, too. Patty-cake is good.  Tickling is always funny- and She might be the most ticklish baby I've ever met- and She loves to try to "tickle" us back. Waving the princess/homecoming queen wave at anyone who will respond (including Herself in the mirror) elicits big grins. The best is any version of peek-a-boo.  Recently She even started initiating the game by covering/uncovering Her own eyes.  She also likes to play baby marco-polo, in which She crawls off and I call "Miss! Where are you!" And She answers "DA!" until I find Her and She races away again. 
She's still not the biggest snuggler, but She has a new thing She loves to do when I hold Her, where She'll suddenly lay on my shoulder, hold me tight, pat me gently, and say "aaawwww!"  She'll rest there a few moments, look up to smile at me (and watch me melt into a pool of goo) and then do it a few more times (to be sure I'm completely liquified).

10 month Miss is slimmer and sleeker, gregarious and outgoing, mischievious and incredibly sweet, with a new hunger to learn everything there is.  She's the kind of happy that infects whole rooms and brightens gloomy days.  She is, if I may directly quote a gentleman from the supermarket, "sweeter than a lord-have-mercy dipped in a pot of glory be!"
Amen to that.