Baby’s growth, month 10

Most 10-month-old babies are confident crawlers and continue making major gains in development and begin displaying a little independence. Yes, that is DD. Her newfound mobility enabled her to explore her surroundings and discover hidden pots and pans inside kitchen drawlers, unload clean knives and forks from the dishwasher, take a peek inside the mysterious refrigerator and tear Daddy’s favorite painting which used to be out of her reach. Our fearless baby terminator was back, with better gears.

Week 40: DD still wakes up at night, sometimes at 1 AM, sometimes 2 AM, sometimes 4. Interestingly, I always woke up approximately one or two seconds before she began to cry (M said we were connected with each other). Each time, DD either went back to sleep right after I breastfed her, or stayed a little bit longer to play. It made my lift hard but I seemed to get used to it.

DD was happy when M and I stayed with her in her play yard. She browsed books, played with toys, and crawled here and there. As long as we were there to keep her company, she was happy and would entertain herself.

Grandma noticed DD began to play with books and sometimes flipped pages rather than tossing them around or chewing the edges. When I sat down to read her the books, she could sit still for few minutes and listened to most part of the stories.

She loved eating beef. She gulfed it down as soon as I spooned the food into her mouth. M was so happy that he bought the most expensive steak just for her. She was also a fruit lover. Strawberry, pineapple, apple, peach, pear, you name it, she eats them all.

During the weekend, Auntie Chris came to visit us. When she played with DD in the play yard, DD suddenly pulled herself up completely by herself by the couch. Just as crawling, once she figured it out, she became so good at it. When grandpa and grandma came to visit us, DD could pull herself up confidently and quickly.

Week 41: Saturday night I called my mom in China and told her DD was eating like a little piggy. That DD loved eating beef, spinach and pretty much any thing we gave her. It was like she understood the conversation between me and my Mom because DD suddenly lost interest in beef; even it was the best and freshest steak. She must have been thinking in her mind “I am not as piggy as you said”.

Instead, she wanted to taste food from our plates, no matter chicken dumpling, spicy chili, baked chicken or hot dog. Anything if I didn’t eat it, she did not want it. So I began to put specially prepared beef into my soup and ate it. This way she would accept the beef. M said she might get tired of the plain food and wanted to try something with more flavor.

We went to see Grandpa on his birthday. Uncle Eric and Auntie Deborah stopped by too. DD was quite friendly to them. She was a little bit reserved and shy until she saw a dog bone on the floor. She got down and crawled toward the bone. Auntie Deborah watched her, smiling.

In the midway, DD stopped crawling, sat up and looked at Deborah. Auntie Deborah still looked at her, smiling. DD was hesitating, thinking whether she should continue pursue that bone or not. She looked at Auntie Deborah, making sure she was fine. Then she crawled toward that bone. She crawled more steps, then stopped, sat up and looked at Deborah again. Then she was back to crawling, until M picked her up.

I watched the whole process. She was a cautious little one, always paying attention to her surroundings.

This week I noticed there were two pale edges on the bottom of her mouth. Aha, she started teething! I could even feel the hard surface of the two sprouting teeth with my finger. She was a little bit fussy. But considering what she was experiencing, she was really doing great!

Week 42: This weekend M showed DD to raise her hand to wave “bye-bye”. She gladly follow suit although she didn’t have a clue about its meaning. It was a great fun to watch her raising her hands and trying to wave them at you.

M also taught her to clap hands. She didn’t get it quite right: one hand was still curved. But whenever I clapped my hands, she watched and laughed with joy.

Her bottom teeth broke the gum line and sprouted out. There was some bleeding on her gum. M said she was really a tough baby since she didn’t make much fussy about the pain.

Week 43: After she knew how to crawl, she was eager to come out of the confined play yard and explore the outside world. This week I let DD crawl freely in the kitchen. She was so excited. She touched the cabinet, opened the cabinet doors and drawls, and took pans and pots out. I sat right beside her and watched her messing everything in the kitchen.

Every time she took something out of the drawl, I put it in, and then she took it out again, and I put it back again. We kept this game up for several rounds. Finally I gave up and let her take things out and then put them back when she moved on the next target.

She was curious about the dishwasher. She wanted to help me unload the dishwasher and dropped those clean knives and forks onto the floor. Every time I opened the refrigerator, she wanted to remove anything she could lay her hands on milk, vegetables and bottles. Of course I didn’t allow her to go this far. But I can foresee I will have a good “helper” in the kitchen!

She could also pull herself up in her crib. One afternoon when she woke up from her nap, she decided to reach out for Daddy’s favorite painting, which used to be out of her way. She successfully grabbed it and pulled it. She tore the paining. After that episode, I moved all drapery and blind cords out of her reach, relocated hazardous objects to higher location, locked away poisonous cleaning supplies, covered electric outlets, and secured safety gates at the top of major staircase.