All About Finley

Finley is ten-months-old today!  I continue to love each month more than the last and am finding myself enjoying the fact that she is able to communicate her wants and needs more.  She has had quite a few documented milestones in the last month, but here is an official update on her recent developments!

She weighs 16 pounds 14 ounces (5-10th percentile) and is around 28.5 inches long (25-50th percentile.)  It is pretty hard to weigh her these days because she doesn't like to lay or sit on the scale for too long!  

On Friday, she stood up completely unassisted in the middle of the room for the first time!

She can now clap her hands and will clap them for a variety of reasons, but anytime music comes on, she almost immediately begins clapping them!

She is still very much a "climber" and fortunately she cleans up after herself as well. =)

She has a great Donald Duck expression.  It's the weirdest sound that she's making, but it sounds just like him.

She is very social and does not like to nap if there are other things to be a part of...  So far she doesn't really show signs of being overtired (fits, etc.) as long as she is in the middle of the action (playing with her cousins), but if she is confined to a carseat or stroller and has missed her nap, a meltdown is pretty inevitable.

She is sleeping in the weirdest positions these days.  I love checking on her before I go to bed because she is always sleeping in a crazy way.  She does like to sleep with her bottom in the air which is pretty precious!

She has become more of an independent player again.  For about a month, she wasn't wanting to entertain herself, but she has been doing well at playing alone as well as with me lately.

She loves to eat and though she eats solid food well, bottles are still her favorite.  Her eyes light up when she sees the bottle and her excitement is clear.

She waves at everything...  she knows waving has something to do with doors so she will wave to every door she sees.  For months, I have waved to her binky when I toss it back into her crib after naptime and she has now started waving to it as well.  She will also throw it in the crib herself which just happened recently.

Her hair is continuing to grow.  Devin told me last week that she was clearly growing a mullet.  She also has more hair over her left ear than her right and it tends to stick out only on that side.

She still has never shown a fear of strangers or shown anxiety when we leave her which assures me that she is feeling pretty secure and loved even though I know it is entirely normal for babies to have anxiety at this age.  Now that she can say "Hi" she will pretty much "Hi" every person we see while out running errands.  If I thought she got a lot of attention before...

We are becoming braver about trying new foods.  We have given her yogurt, cheese, hamburger, bread, Cheerio's, etc.  We pretty much let her try most things we are eating except for peanut products, sweets, and milk.  We are also still very cautious with fruit since she is intolerant to it.  She is now eating some stage 3 foods, but isn't crazy about the texture of pasta in the macaroni and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs.  She pretty much refuses the macaroni and cheese altogether.

She is no longer afraid to fall on her bottom so she will pull up on things and then let go so that she plops down on her bottom... thank goodness for diapers!

Besides walking around the coffee table, she has also taken a few steps with her walker.  She can also hold on to the walker and move it back and forth while standing still.

If she decides to be a dancer, I think she will be a very good one.  She is always pointing her toes!!!!

She likes to play rough with Daddy and he absolutely loves it as well.

She continues to be a wiggle worm and changing diapers or clothes is quite the chore.  She does not like being still and I miss my cuddle time with her.

Her little tummy is so flat in the morning that her belly button is an innie, but by evening, she has the sweetest, chubbiest tummy and an outtie belly button.

She is now very good at feeding herself finger foods.  She has no trouble with the Puffs, crackers, Cheerio's, bits of cheese, or anything else we put in front of her.

She is deswaddled! YEA!

Her hair looks different colors in different lights.  It still has a hint of red in it, but is mostly a sandy blonde color.

She is enjoying bathtime again though sometimes she doesn't like to actually sit down while we bathe her!

She is up to two teeth on the bottom, but no more.  I really thought she was teething again two weeks ago...

She still loves gadgets and powercords and is beyond curious.

Her eyes are still blue and since we now know that they are going to stay blue, this is the last All About Finley that I will make note of them! =)  Except maybe to say how beautiful they still are.  As much as I expected her to have green eyes, her blue ones are absolutely stunning!

Her favorite toy would continue to be the toilet screw cover, but we have fixed that problem!  She does still like blocks and her Little People, but mostly enjoys pulling out the DVD boxes, magazines, or anything else that is stacked.  

"Hi" is still her main word, but she can also say Dada, duck, kitty cat, and rarely Mama.  She now understands "No" and knows her name.

She is showing signs of being very empathetic.  She is always concerned anytime another baby is crying and wants to make sure they are okay.

She just recently realized that she has to take her binky out of her mouth before she can put anything else in it!

She likes to drop things off the side of the highchair.

She can give 5... or more like 25...  She'll just keep slapping your hand over and over!

She will reach up to us now wanting to be picked up.

She is sleeping so well these days!  A two hour morning and afternoon nap and a faithful 12 hours of nighttime sleep.  

She recently started babbling in conversations...  she has inflection and you can just tell that she is "talking".  Devin and I already know that she will probably talk our ears off soon and that she will probably get in trouble for talking when she gets to school.  This is just a short video of her new babbling.

She is in 6-9 month clothing and is wearing size 3 diapers now though they are pretty big on her!  We were tired of diapers that were too small.

And as always...

She is truly the most wonderful, beautiful baby ever and I love her more than I can stand!