10 Months Old

Elaina is loving the world of solid foods, and recently has been eating a lot of meat and rice mash, or avocado and rice mash, or various crackers or cereals.  Her two little teeth don't seem like much, but she uses then as often as she gets the chance.  We had some Advent chocolate last night, and her daddy let her suck on it, and she left some cute little teeth marks in it. She really loves joining us at dinner and eating like the rest of us.

(Elaina has no trouble communicating her approval.  Arms flapping means something is good.) It's no surprise that Chloë loves to help feed Elaina.  And Elaina loves the interaction with her big sister.

In fact, Elaina loves being with Chloë pretty much all the time.  When Chloë is sleeping, Elaina seems bored and lonely, and wants attention from me.  When they're playing together, Chloë will sometimes get a little bit frustrated with Elaina's constant attention.  Elaina will try to smash Chloë's book while she's looking at it, or sweep blocks everywhere while Chloë is trying to organize them by color or build them into something.  Most of the time Chloë is really very patient with her curious little sister, and they really do have a lot of fun together. 

Elaina is all over the place these days: crawling everywhere, scaling the staircase if we leave the door open, walking along furniture, trying to climb into the dishwasher when it's open, and hanging on to my pant legs while I'm in the kitchen.

She still doesn't really sleep through the night very well.  Maybe it's because she doesn't like being by herself (all alone in her crib, bless her heart).  During the day, and when it's close to naptime or bedtime, Elaina is a snuggly little thing.  She really likes to cuddle.  And she loves her binkie. Occasionally she gets so sleepy that she'll just fall asleep propped up in someone's arms.

Maybe it's just growing pains, but for some reason, Elaina has been quite the squealing grump lately.  She figured out how to make a whiny distressed sound, and I just wish I knew what was bothering her.  She doesn't seem to be teething, but I reckon a baby has a hundred reasons to fuss.  This is her serious face:

But when she's happy, her mouth is open, and her tongue is doing something interesting; usually hanging half-way out of her mouth.

She makes this sweet little noise when she's in a good mood.

She seems to be the happiest when there are people around, and when she's getting lots of attention.  She loves it when her daddy comes home from work, and demonstrates her approval with flailing arms and happy squawks.