Okay… well… ten months and one week.

I know, we are totally, horribly, catastrophically late, as hinted by Madelyn’s Mimi who’s been blog stalking with bated breath for the tenth monthiversary update. I have no excuses except that we’ve been remodeling our kitchen, it was my birthday, and our mornings for the monthly photo shoot have been busy. So, I guess I do have excuses. Trust me, the Jewish mother guilt has been eating away at me, but a week after her ten-month birthday, we finally got Madelyn on camera and a moment to write about our little babydoll.

This month, Madelyn…

• stands up for a few moments totally and completely unassisted. She wobbles a little bit, but it’s clearly obvious that her legs are balancing correctly and when she falls, it’s with dignity and grace via squat. She doesn’t even seem to realize she’s standing up, but of course we cheer her on when she does. And then get nervous about the walking that’s just around the corner!
• likes to pull out all her books from her shelf one by one and then toss them on the floor. When she first started playing this little game, my heart skipped a beat that I’d become mother to a genius baby who’d be breaking records, reading War and Peace unassisted by a year old. Then, I quickly realized that, pssshh, forget War and Peace, she’s not even interested in Goodnight, Moon. This exercise is an experiment in a little concept called “Cause and Effect.” What happens when Baby Madelyn pulls off all her books? Mommy has to get on hands and knees to clean up. Cause. And effect. Good times.
• made friends with animals at the zoo! We took a family trip with her best friend Brielle and Brielle’s parents, Stefanie and Jeremy, to the Santa Barbara Zoo and Madelyn loved it. By “loved it,” I mean she didn’t have a breakdown all day and enjoyed pulling off our sunglasses as we introduced her to Asian elephants, fed giraffes, and witnessed two gorillas fist-fighting over food. It was a fun day! We got annual passes so we plan to go more often!
• says “DA DA DA DA” which, when said two “DA”s in a row, sounds like DADA, which, as we all know, is short for “I LOVE MOMMY SOOOOO MUCH.” It’s okay. One day she’ll learn which parent is the one who’s going to lock her up in her bedroom and isolate her from any and all potential suitors until she’s 27. And if the suitors have tattoos and drive fast, well, forget it. Enjoy “DADA” while he’s cool, Madelyn.
• cut some new pearly whites! It may not be Christmas, and she may not have wanted them, but Madelyn got her two front teeth. Thankfully, she’s not a nightmare teether. One day, they just appeared and now they’re totally in. So, there’s really not much to report about these teeth. Uneventful cut-throughs are a good thing. It’s amazing how much these two new teeth change her whole look. Much less baby-like. Much more todder-ish. Much much more sentimental mommy.

It’s hard to believe we are wrapping up Madelyn’s first year. I’m not really sure I remember what life was like before she came into our lives. It’s been the best ten months of my life and I can’t wait for the next month. Every month seems like THIS is the best month. THIS is the cutest stage. THIS is the coolest, developmentally. And then the next month comes and I’m like, “Okay THIS month is the, etc. etc….” It’s a wonderfully vicious cycle.