Bits and Pieces: May 2013

At ten months, Mercy:

has developed two freckles--one in the corner of her eye and one on her forehead. I had a million freckles as a kid, so I wonder if that's in her future, too.

you can sort of make out the one in the corner of her eye

started to wear some shoes this month. They have pandas on them :) Her foot was measured at Payless as a size three, but it turns out size three is way too big for her. She has tiny feet. Her panda shoes say that they're for babies 0-6 months old.

panda shoes

got her first teeth (bottom two). I'm glad the top teeth are still absent because I just love seeing her gums when she smiles.

in addition to other body parts from last month, she knows where her thigh and head are if you ask her.

she will also dance if you ask her to, which involves clasping her hands in front of her body and moving them back and forth likes she's stirring something.

gives hugs.

knows what an elephant says.

is beginning to tolerate being in a stroller. She didn't like strolling for many months, so I would usually just carry her everywhere or wear her in the ergo. I would try once in a while to put her in the stroller, and as soon as we got to the farthest point we were going to go from the house, she would start wailing, and I would have to take her out and carry her the rest of the way while pushing the stroller, which was exhausting. Now she'll sit in it for a long while before she gets tired.

can say a few words: ball (bah), baby (bah bah), hi (HI!!!!!) and sometimes light (na, sometimes la)

is not napping well anymore. I think it's because she's sick with colds/ear infections all the time combined with teething, but it takes her sometimes 1.5 hours to fall asleep and she fights it hard.

is starting to get lazy with learning to walk. She has a firetruck toy that she can push to help her learn to walk, and she'll take two steps and then just plop down on her butt to sit down. She doesn't seem as motivated to walk as she did last month.

at the park with Grandma (before she lost motivation to walk)

's favorite foods are cheese, pizza, pineapples, oranges, avocado, yogurt and hummus. Oh, and ice cream, but that's a rare treat.

still nurses about 4/5 times a day. Sometimes she nurses at night if she's sick and needs comforting (which happens a lot because she's sick often).

tries to feed herself with a spoon. She usually gets most of it in her mouth, but of course, it is a messy endeavor.

takes stuff out of her mouth to inspect it and then puts it back in to finish chewing it.

going down the slide with Grandpa

at the duck race

Mercy loves riding on Daddy's shoulders

loves to play in the grass.

passionately loves to watch other kids and tries to get their attention by waving and saying 'hi' really loudly. It's so sad when she's not acknowledged because she is trying so hard.

is losing her chubbiness. She's pretty lean these days. Her legs still have a few small rolls on them thankfully, and her cheeks are still squeezable, but she's officially not chubby anymore.

never sits still. She's pretty exhausting and I have to watch her every second. She never, ever, ever relaxes, except if she's sleeping. I don't know how anyone can do that.

started having some stranger anxiety. She often gets upset/scared if I leave the room and sometimes starts screaming.

the usual--mouthful of cheerios

hanging out to dry with her diapers

9 months was a big month for Mercy. Her mind was especially spongy, soaking up everything and learning lots of new tricks. At 9 months, Mercy:

weighs 18 pounds and 15 ounces and is 28.5 inches tall.

learned to crawl. She was close for a long time, but she finally figured out how to move both legs to propel herself forward.

learned how to pull herself up and started cruising around the furniture, the walls, etc.

takes forever to fall asleep at night because all she wants to do is stand in her crib. She basically just stands and walks around her crib until she collapses from exhaustion.

learned lots of cute tricks. If you ask her where her belly, ear, hand, foot or mouth is, she will touch it. She gives kisses. She claps. If you ask her what a puppy, kitty, cow or fish say, she will make the sound. She does 'so big.' She knows who daddy is and says his name. She only says 'mom mom' when she's angry; I'm not sure if she officially knows my name yet.

loves to say the word 'bop' all the time. Maybe it's because we call her Mr. Bop sometimes. But she says it non stop.

is mesmerized by animals.

still has no teeth (which I just happen to think is way cuter than teeth, so I'm glad).

still abhors being laid down to have her diaper changed and being put into her car seat.

received a ten dollar tip for being cute. Tim, Mercy and I were grocery shopping at McQuade's, which has its fair share of elderly shoppers for some reason, and an old woman came up to Mercy as she was sitting in the cart and commented on how beautiful and happy she was. Then she pulled out a ten dollar bill, gave it to Tim and told him to put it in her piggy bank. ahaha. We tried to give it back, but she insisted.

took a trip to Baltimore to visit some new babies (and future boyfriends perhaps, Thomas and Dean) and old friends.