Saturday was Lydia’s ten month birthday.  Happy birthday, Sweetheart!

I can’t believe I’ve only got two months left before my baby turns one!  Where does the time go?  Remembering how quickly Alethea’s first months went by, I’ve tried to be very deliberate to savor every moment of infant closeness that I could with Lydia, but somehow it went even faster and now I’m sitting here, thinking about my pre-toddler, who shows me every day, “Momma, don’t cha know, I’m not a baby any more!”

This month Lydia did a lot of growing up.  Most notably, she is now pulling up to standing all the time and everywhere.  She still army crawls around the floor, but as soon as she reaches a chair, bookshelf or the stairs, she promptly pulls herself up to her feet so she can take a look around.  She also does some cruising around while holding onto furniture and seems to be contemplating how she might be able to go no handed.  This girl wants to get walking!

Lydia is also starting to communicate more.  She regularly uses the signs ‘more’ and ‘all done’ when she’s eating.  What really surprised me though was the other day when I asked her if she was all done, she made the sign, but then also said, “Ah da!”  Her first words!  I probably wouldn’t have even believed my own ears, but we were over at a friend’s house for a playdate and my friend totally heard it too.  I shouldn’t be too surprised though, since Lydia clearly understands so much of what is being said around her.  If you ask her, “Where’s your water?” she will look around and locate her sippy cup with her eyes and she makes excited noises whenever I ask her, “Do you want to nurse?”  What a smarty pants!

As far as physical changes go, this month Peter and I have both noticed that Lydia’s eyes are turning brown and she is definitely getting more hair.  She has a couple hairs that are maybe an inch long in the back.  It’s still a ways from a full head of hair, but it is something.  As far as the eyes go, they do still have a blue/gray ring around the outside, but the middles are pretty much solid brown.  Oh and teeth, gotta mention teeth!  After a marathon month of teething in September, we ended October with the same six pearly whites.  However, the last few days have been a drool fest, so perhaps the remaining two of her baby eight are on their way in.

Lydia’s very most favorite activity is eating.  She loves trying new foods, her recent favorites being turkey (lunch meat) and raspberries.  You’d swear those berries have wings the way they disappear off her highchair tray!  She is really starting to get the hang of her sippy cup and is interested in bowls and spoons, although she seems to view them more as playthings than eating utensils.

Speaking of playthings, she also enjoys playing with toys, as long as she’s sure they belong to her sister.  She can spot a baby toy a mile away and regards them with utter contempt.  But if she gets her hands on something that she’s seen Alethea play with, she’ll spend minutes on end trying to figure it out, even if it is nothing more special than a comb or bottle for Alethea’s baby dolls.  This of course drives Alethea crazy and leads to a fair amount of conflict in our house on a daily basis.

The girls do occasionally have moments of playing together nicely.  I think these will happen with increasing frequency as Lydia becomes more and more interactive.  However, I still have to remind Alethea that Lydia is not yet so grown up that she can pretend to ride her like a horse.

I’m sure that it’s not wise to wish for time to stand still, but I’d almost like to hit the pause button in this month.  And it’s not the impending holiday season that’s got me worried.  I’m just not sure that I’m ready to give up my sweet baby girl and get a toddler in her place.

My dear little Lydia, your Mommy and Daddy love you more than you’ll ever know!  Try not to get so busy growing up that you forget that we’d still like a cuddle ever now and then!

It’s official!  Alethea in no longer in a crib and she’s no longer in a big girl bed.  Nope, she’s been upgraded to a big BIG bed!

While it was nice to have a crib that converted to a toddler bed, we realized that Alethea’s time in it was limited by the fact that our second crib, the one that Lydia is using, is a drop-side model, also know as an “they no longer make them death trap”.  So now that Lydia is on the verge of pulling herself up to standing, we figured it was time to pull the ol’ switcheroo and get Lydia into the safer crib and upgrade Alethea to a twin mattress.

Alethea’s transition from nursery to big girl room wasn’t completely smooth and her move from crib to toddler bed wasn’t exactly without bumps, so a few months ago Peter and I started strategizing how to make Alethea totally enthusiastic about her big, big bed’s arrival.  So enthusiastic that she’d want to help take apart her toddler bed.

Plan Stage 1: Talk it up!  We started telling her about the big, big bed, how it was going to be so big that it would go all the way from the wall to the bookcase and how she’d have room to sleep with all of her stuffed animals.

Plan Stage 2: Bribe away!  Alethea adores Clifford, the big red dog, so I found a large plush Clifford dog at Kohl’s.  Then we kept telling her that when she got a big big bed, her bed would be so big that Clifford would come sleep with her.

I’m happy to report that our two stage plan worked brilliantly.  Alethea was begging to go bed shopping!  And after we bought the bed, Alethea was so excited to sleep in it that when we offered her dinner, she said, “No thanks.  Go to sleep!”

She did eventually come down for dinner, but right after she got her jammies on, she asked where Clifford was.  I have no idea what she was expecting, but when Peter brought in the stuffed animal, she got a huge grin on her face, held out her arms, and said, “I want it!”

Of course, we couldn’t leave Lydia out, so she got a new plush too, Clifford’s best friend T-Bone!

Of all the sleeping transitions we’ve gone through, this was definitely the easiest.  She was thrilled with the bed and her new Clifford (and only mildly bothered that she didn’t get a T-Bone too!)

And I am so glad that we finally got to make the bed with the gorgeous quilt that Alethea’s Gramma Denny made for her.  It really brings her whole big girl room together so nicely!

A big girl, a big red dog and a big, BIG bed!