Ten months

Actually, she'll be one in just a month and a half...yikes! I love this age, but i like to believe it will just keep getting better. She learned to stand on her own this week, and it's so cute to see this tiny little person suddenly pull herself up in the middle of the floor and stand there for a minute looking pleased until she decides it's time to sit down again. She loves to play in the kitchen, which means i have to vacuum and/or sweep a couple times a day to try to keep the floor at least decently clean. She "helps" with unloading the dishwasher, which can mean more dishes going back into it, but i figure it's a good time for her to learn "thank you" from me. She loves pulling the towels down from where they hang on the stove and sometimes mops the floor a bit with them. And once when i had the mop out, she actually did push it all the way across the floor. I can see she's going to be very good help! And also create lots and lots of messes.

I know imaginative play isn't supposed to start for a long time yet, but i can't help wondering what goes through her head when she's playing with her doll or stuffed animals and ends up waving it in the air, staring at it seriously. Is this some kind of game or is she just interested in the aerodynamics of it? :)

She's also surprisingly obedient. I try not to tell her "no" for too many things, because i think using it unnecessarily dilutes the power of it. But for power cords and dirty shoes and eating certain things of the floor, she needs to be kept safe. And she understands: yesterday it was quite funny to watch her, since she had a small piece of magazine stuck to her hand and wasn't supposed to put it in her mouth, but she wasn't sure what else to do. She kept shaking her hand to try to get it off, then bringing it up to her mouth and stopping. (I removed it for her, but it was pretty cute to watch for a few seconds.)