Ten Months

Beanie you are ten months old today and your nickname is morphing from Bean to Beansprout to plain old Sprout. This month has been quite a blur for me as I have spent most of it in complete shock that I was indeed quite close to the end of this long road called education. We both haven't been at our best this month...me because I've never done this thing called change too gracefully and you because your mouth finally decided it was about time for some teeth! Your two bottom teeth have both broken through, first the left one about a week and a half ago and then the right one just this week. I guess I'll have to return all that denture cream I've been stocking up on!

You are getting more and more agile on your feet and we are expecting your first steps any day now. You will stand unassisted for quite awhile but when we try to coax you to walk you just dive into our arms. I think you learned that from your walking toys since you get them going by first leaning forward and only after moving your feet. Your feet are so funny. They look far too small to hold up your body but you're proving every single day that looks can be deceiving!

You are delighting in interacting with others and copying behaviors this month. You have mastered the word "hi!" and you grin whenever you hear someone say it. You are terribly proud to carry on this quite complex conversation of "Hi!" "Hi" "Hi!" "Hi" with anyone who is willing to exchange it with you and you usually carry on like this for three or four greetings at a time. Just recently Great Grandma Caporali taught you how to shake your head side to side as if you are saying no and you think that this is also quite a delightful game to play as we shake our head no and then you shake yours.

My grown up Beansprout I have such fun plans for the month to come and I'm very anxious to get to know you better as we begin to spend the time together that a mama and her baby should. I am so very proud of you...and of myself...for making it to this point with only minor bumps along the way. You are my proudest accomplishment of all....

-Dr. Mama

Daddy Day

Daddy, Sofie, and I headed out for a family picnic and bicycle ride today and had a whole lot of fun. Sofie chilled in her "Tot Spot" and let daddy drag her around on the back of his bicycle as a special Father's Day treat. Then she let him buy her a new hammer toy. I think she's got the whole Father's Day concept a little bit backwards...I'll have to set to work straightening her out before next year!


Regardless, Sofia reserves a giant slice of her heart for her daddy. She absolutely lights up when he walks in the door from work and she is so engrossed in her playtime with him. Daddy always allows her to play with such fascinating grown-up things (with plenty of supervision of course) and teaches her the coolest tricks (that she performs over and over and over again just to see him laugh!) We love you Ben! Happy Father's Day to the best daddy one precious little girl and one very proud mama could ever hope to have in their lives.

(Daddy brought this special treat home for Sofie last week. What little girl doesn't love a PDR?!)

Summertime

We took our first walk up to the pool yesterday. The water was frigid and Sofie wasn't so sure what she thought about the whole experience, but we had a fun "first" anyway. While we were there a lone duck decided he might like to take a dip, landed in the water, and had a good old time swimming around as carefree as could be. I'm not sure how sanitary that all is but it was hilarious and Sofie enjoyed the visit. We're looking forward to many (hopefully warmer!) trips to the pool this summer.

Belated Birthday Wishes...

...to Sofie's favorite cousins Lillian, a great big four-year-old girl, and Clayton, a big boy two-year-old! We miss you guys so much and we're looking forward to seeing you sometime soon. We hope you had a fabulous time on your birthdays!! I was really hoping that we could get our resident "baker" to make a cake for you, but as you can see she wasn't really cooperating all that well!