Stellyn's 10 Month Milestone Minutes

Foods:

Stelly will still take a jar of food like 3-4 times a week, other than that she is fed up with the stuff. She now prefers bread, BANANAS! (whole ones that are more green than ripe), goldfish, suncakes, Jeff and Aston's pancakes, apples, edamame, avocado, veggie sticks, cheerios, chicken, steak, hamburger, fish, Jeff's BBQ. She is still a big eater but starting to be selective about what she eats which we are bummed about.

Signs:

New signs include: drink and all done. She waves to everyone (when they turn around of course...never when you want her too:)). She will even start waving if she hears the words "bye" or "goodbye" in songs on the radio. Makes me laugh. She also shakes her head "no, no, no" (with a huge grin on her face) when she does something wrong or she knows her brother is doing something wrong..she's getting to be such a hoot!

Sounds/Words:

She attempts 'woof woof woof' (sort-of)...to bark like a dog. Gram taught her this when she visited last week and Holly was here to demonstrate. Obviously with all of Aston's influence, she makes sounds that resemble 'vroom vroom/bruuuum bruuuum' when playing with A's cars. Still says 'Mama mama mama' and 'dada dada' but I don't think she quite knows what she's saying yet.


Notables:

• Mei points (reaches with a fully open hand) and grunts to where she wants to go or what she wants you to get for her now. I remember with Aston this stage lasted quite a while.
• If you say "Mei, snuggles" while you are holding her she will grab ahold of you and bury her face in your shoulder. This is a full, lengthy embrace and it's my favorite in the whole world!
• Loves to play peek-a-boo. She uses her bib, her lovey, or a napkin usually lifting over her face, then pulling it down with a huge 3-4 tooth grin for 'peekaboo'.
• Won't let you sit her on the floor. She insists on standing and quickly grabs your hands so that she can walk while holding your hands. She loves to walk. She walks with her wagon, she cruises along the furniture, she holds our hands or Aston's hands...and she is just mastering the one hand hold. I remember thinking Aston would walk any day now at like 8.5 months and he didn't walk on his own until 11 months. If she does start walking soon, I might have to push her down. Walking means I don't have a baby anymore and probably never will again. We are fairly certain Stell is our last:(
• Stellyn is Mei Mei's real name. I have to remind myself of this because we have so many nicknames for her it's hard to keep track. The other day I asked Aston in the car "what is Mei's real name?" and he replied "Tweets?", I said "nope" (Jeff and I were laughing in the front seats)...Then he said "ummmm, bugs?"...Ha! we said "no, it's Stellyn!" and he said "ooohhhhhh!" That's how much we don't call her by her real name. It's always, Mei Mei, Meips, Pei Po, Tweet Bugs, Tweets, Bugs, Peips...(Meips, Pei Po, Peips were all given to her by Aston:))
• I've been having to feed Stell at night still (per my consultation with Jan Ellen the lactation consultant). She does eat a ton then. I really kind of secretly enjoy it I think. Its my way of holding on to the "baby stell". She feeds for a good 5 minutes which is long for her now a days, and afterwards I lay back in the chaise in her room and she sleeps on top of me for as many minutes as I want...ahhhh...I love my baby Stells. I know this is going to end any day now. I mean just the fact that I have to night feed because she no longer is a good feeder by day (too many things going on to focus) is a huge sign that she is trying to wean...I refuse to let that happen at this point...I'm just not ready...and it's all about me:)
• Mei can climb all the way upstairs...This is one of her favorite games (supervised of course...well usually). Downstairs still needs work.
• She still loves dancing especially to Backyardigans and Kai Lan theme songs while Aston gets his fix
• Stell and I started going to Music Together last week, the day she turned 10 months, and she LOVED! it. Gram was visiting so she came with us. Little Tweet Bugs got so into it all. The reason I am so excited is because at home or when we are out some place she is super duper clingy lately. She will not let me go. At music class, after the first few songs, she crawled right in the middle of the circle and rocked to the beat like she owned the place...ahhh I love my baby Stells...

I've talked about Stell's fixation/fascination with her barrettes, bows, and headbands before and I just love this about her. She is the absolute-opposite of my absolute-BOY, Aston Ross. She dives for her clips as soon as we enter the bathroom where they are hanging. I usually let her have a feel (she is surprisingly gentle), then we pick one out, I put it on her head and she immediately rips it out so she can play with it/chew on it. I always need a major distraction to get the thing in her hair and then I'm usually assured it will stay in there for at least 20 minutes:) On a super special day I will let her sit in my sink so she can really get her hands on her girly gadgets!

Frolicking with Dad and Mom...everybody was happy because this was the day Eve Willette was born!

The photo on the RIGHT is important because Mei and I are wearing our matching socks made by GG Sybil. She gave them to us for Christmas. Great Grammy Sybil spins her own wool, dyes it, and then makes some amazing creations!

Hanging (literally) with Brother A:



Bath time is a fun event. Aston usually needs some incentive to get in the bathtub. If he knows Mei is getting in, he jumps right in after her. He never wants to be left out. They really do love to bathe together: