I'll Do It Myself!

Kayla has been a busy busy monkey lately. At nine months old, she is truly queen of the castle and she has taken to asserting this fact regularly. For instance...now that Kayla is becoming a Big Girl, she is eating more and more finger foods. No longer confused by having a hunk-o-somethin' in her mouth, nor confused by how to use that pincher grasp, Kayla is conquering foods left and right. She now eats steamed carrots, slices of avocado, flakes of fish, and as many puffs and yogurt melts as she can get her hands on. Based on the fact that she is fast becoming an accomplished self-feeder, she has decided that there is clearly no reason that Mommy should still be involved in the feeding process. Mommy wield the spoon? I think not. She can do that herself, thank you very much. Oh, and Mommy, puree actually IS a finger food, mmmkay? It may not be pretty, but darned if she isn't having the time of her life.





What else...Kayla is a crawling, climbing, lunging, jumping, dangling, yanking menace. Nothing is safe. Example A:



You would think at her height, she wouldn't have access to most things. You would be wrong. Like the giraffe stretches its neck to reach the highest leaves, Kayla somehow manages to stretch herself to reach dangerous objects that appeared to be FEET above her head. Chris has taken to calling her "Snuzz Croft" because with Tomb Raider like maneuvers, she will put one foot on your shoulder, one hand on your head, will then launch herself upward to grasp a shelf and swing herself over to a nearby ledge, before finally reaching the coveted...well...in the bath it is usually the coveted bottle of baby shampoo, so maybe she doesn't quite understand "treasure" yet, but hey...the determination...steel.





She's also proving to be more and more clever. A prime example, this week Kayla invented...THE WHEEL!







We can only hope that fire isn't next.

She's also being taught some important life lessons, for instance: Being a Steelers fan is no easy task. Having watched the last couple of weeks' games, Kayla now knows the meaning of a "nail biter".



She also knows how to wield the Terrible (Toddler) Towel. (Video Proof Coming Soon!)

She might love nothing more than watching football with Mommy and Daddy. Maybe she has no clue what's going on, but the yelling and jumping and cheering is all right up her alley and she joins in with gusto.

Other than that, Kayla is just learning what it means to be 9 going on 10 months old. It means lots of smiles, lots of laughs, a few growing pains and a little separation anxiety. It means learning to stand and to cruise, it means learning to love books more and more and learning that you have a will and can exercise it. Sometimes the will becomes a little too exercised and then Daddy and I have to try to redirect the angst, either changing to a new activity or creating some kind of diversion. In the case of dinner time temper tantrums ("I sai-aid, I can do it myself!"), Mommy has discovered that if Kayla starts to whine and pitch a fit, Mommy can puff up her cheeks, and then, if Kayla doesn't stop whining, Mommy can send a big *poof* of air into Kayla's face. This may sound like baby torture, but what happens is that Kayla startles and then falls into giggling. Sometimes she'll then remember "Oh crud, I was supposed to be all angry!" and she'll recommence to whine, but at that point, it's all over, because if Mommy puffs up again, she can't help but giggle, anticipating the puff of air hitting her face, and it's all over. Mommy 1, Baby 0. Of course, there are plenty of other battles Mommy's not winning...but hey, baby steps, we are finding, are really more for adults than for kids. Babies make leaps and bounds. It's only the adults who have to proceed slowly, ever so slowly, learning all the lessons that you can't find in some book.