No shoes on the furniture? Sorry Mommy, I chose not to hear that.

Double digits.  Oh, my goodness, where is the time going?  How are we in double digits?  I keep scratching my head, because this is just unbelievable.  It feels like she just arrived a moment ago, and yet, here she is with a huge personality and into everything and just becoming her own little self, more and more each day.  I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, saying this stuff every month, but it’s just true.

Blah, blah, blah, Mommy.

This month, more than any other, Peanut discovered music.  Oh, she’s always enjoyed being sung to, and Auntie Em played plenty of Raffi when she was with us, but it’s just dawning on Peanut that music is a thing, and she LOVES it.  She has started to recognize her favorite songs on Pandora (we play the Raffi channel) and she sings along with them, stomps her foot and slaps her thigh like a little baby folk singer.  It’s just about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.  She’s also obsessed with my cello; I’m not sure she knows it’s a musical instrument, but it’s certainly on theme for the month.

Phantom of the Opera baby demands that you sing for her.

Another relatively new love: water!  Now that it’s warm, Nana has been taking Peanut out to play with a bucket of water on the deck on nice days.  And for when it gets really hot, we’ve got a kiddie wading pool all ready to go.  I can’t wait to see her splashing in it.  She’s been enjoying water so much, in fact, that we’ve been joking that we need to wear ponchos for bath time, and Peanut has been affectionately dubbed “Baby Kraken.”

Peanut also has another new nickname this month: Fang.  Yep, we’ve officially got teeth.  She has two on the bottom, and after being bitten several times I finally got a visual.  (Peanut hides them – if you try to get a look, she sticks out her tongue and covers them up.)  And just a few days before her birthday, Nana and I also caught sight of a little white peeking out from her top gum.  I’ve got to say for Peanut: she’s been remarkably easygoing and uncomplaining so far (knock wood).  Our little NICU ninja isn’t going to cry over some little thing like teething!  We can tell she’s teething because she gnaws on everything and drools constantly… and bites us, there’s that… but there’ve been no tears, not even a little whimper.  We have baby acetaminophen for her if she seems to need it, but we haven’t had to use it once.  She’s been her usual charming self the whole time.  Miracle.  I’m almost afraid to have another kid, because Peanut’s been such an easy baby (after that whole NICU thing, that is) that I’m scared of what would happen if baby #2 turned out more temperamental.  Peanut’s got me spoiled.

Hey bird, come down here. I have a surprise for you.

Another milestone this month: hubby’s first Father’s Day!  I didn’t do a whole special post for it because, well, this isn’t his blog and he’s entitled to a little privacy.  But we had a great day.  Peanut gave her dad a handmade oak beer tote with a sixpack of one of his favorite craft IPAs (yep, he’s a beer snob) and a t-shirt with an illustration of a dinosaur and the words “Daddysaurus Rex.”  We had a pizza date on Saturday (Peanut sat in my lap and made grabs for my pizza) and on Sunday church, then a relaxing day at home.  As a special treat, Peanut fell asleep in her dad’s arms on Sunday afternoon and snuggled there for over an hour while he watched golf and FaceTimed with his dad; she never sleeps in our arms anymore, so he was elated.  He’s an amazing, loving, hands-on father and Peanut is so lucky to have him as her dad.

Dad, did you see all these pizza toppings?

Peanut at 10 Months

Adjusted Age: 8 months

Weight: 16 pounds, 2 ounces

Clothing Size: 9 months, mostly, but she has a few 12 month outfits she’s already wearing.  I can’t believe I have to go shopping again.  (Oh, who am I kidding?  I love it.)

Sleep: Still going strong!  Every so often there’s a short-lived nap strike, but for the most part she’s an angel.  And bedtime has gone from the time of day I dreaded most to being one of the things I look forward to most.  We have so many sweet moments.  At 7:00 p.m. Peanut and I go upstairs and I feed her the last bottle of the evening while Daddy listens in on the baby monitor.  When we’re done he comes upstairs and joins us while I change Peanut into her pajamas (a fresh onesie and a fleece sleepsack) – he can always tell we’re on that phase of the bedtime ritual because I sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” while I change Peanut’s onesie.  Then Daddy cuddles Peanut while I read a bedtime story (and hold the book well out of reach of her mouth), we put her in the crib and say her prayers (a selection from her Really Woolly bedtime prayer book, and then the classic “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep”), give her kisses, and tiptoe out.  And then, with very few exceptions, she’s down for the count.  She lays in her crib and talks quietly to herself for about ten minutes, then drops off to dreamland, and we hardly hear a peep from her until she wakes up, well rested and ready for her morning bottle.  Bedtime has gone from a battle to a sweet and cuddly time, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Likes: In addition to music and water, which I think we can all agree are the coolest, Peanut is still enjoying Mom’s homemade baby food.  I made her apple and pear sauce with cinnamon this month (recipe coming soon) and it was a huge hit.  Another big like: church, which provides endless entertainment.  Our historic church building boasts gorgeous art deco lighting fixtures, and Peanut is a big fan of lighting.  She’s also a fan of the old ladies who play peekaboo with her during services.  And, let’s be honest, she likes the way her voice echoes in the big room when she babbles loudly during the sermon.

You seriously put a cookie and a zucchini in front of me and expect me to pick the zucchini?

Dislikes: This is a tough one this month, because Peanut has been so remarkably good-natured – even more good-natured than usual – that I’m having a hard time coming up with anything.  Getting overtired isn’t fun, so missed naps sometimes create crankiness.  And Peanut really can’t stand it when I wipe her face (she’s going to have to deal, though, since teething-biscuit-mask isn’t the look I’m going for on my baby).  But for the most part, we’ve had such a smiley, giggly month that I can’t really come up with a dislike.

Favorite Toys: Still loving books (as a friend said when I told her about Peanut’s book obsession, “She’s your daughter!”).  And she’s been having fun with a big cube toy from Hape, which comes with a mirror and beads and a goldfish to twirl and all kinds of other good stuff.  I can’t really describe it, but here’s a  (blurry) pic, and you can see it’s enthralling (and yes, I play with it too):

Mommy, put the camera away and come flick beads with me.

Milestones: CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP.  One chomp for each of her three pearly whites!

Quirks: I don’t know why, but Peanut thinks that me walking up or down the stairs is just about the funniest thing in the entire world.  She can go from catatonic to cackling in three seconds if I start walking up the stairs.  Of course I ham it up, bouncing up and down and announcing, “I’m going up the stairs!  Here I go!  Yay!  Up!  Up!  Up the stairs!”  (Okay, I’d laugh at me too.)  But the strangest thing about this is that the stairs are not nearly as funny if it’s ANYONE else.  She’ll laugh at me walking up or down, and she’ll laugh if I’m holding her on the stairs, but if Daddy holds her and shows her Nana walking up the stairs… well, it’s mildly amusing, but the torrents of giggles are reserved for Mommy.  I’m so glad she finds me so wildly entertaining, but I don’t really know what it is about the combination of me and stairs that revs her little baby engine so.

I’m-a eat this pillow later.