10 months old

Emma is ten months old today, which I consider to be a milestone in that she has now been alive outside the womb longer than she was alive in it. I don't know why I consider that significant, but I do!
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Emma's development continues apace. In the last month, she has started to pull herself into a standing position and has finally worked out how to crawl 'properly'. She was getting around pretty fast anyway, but now she has mastered the traditional baby crawl, there really is no stopping her! All her frustration has vanished now that she can get around and you hardly know you've got her half the time as she spends so much time contentedly exploring the house. She hasn't mastered the stairs yet, so she currently has free reign of the main part of the house. I occasionally have to stop her from pulling my books off shelves, but she is quite happy to move on to something else. Something that has surprised me with Emma is how quickly she has learned 'No'. If I see her starting to pull books off the shelf, I simply have to say 'Emma, no." and she will generally look at me and stop. Let's hope that means she will be a compliant child (I'm not holding my breath!).
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Emma is still quite a dinky baby. The dress she is wearing in these pictures is size 3-6 months. Though she generally wears 6-9 months in most things, they all have plenty of growing room. Gotta love the little ones!

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Emma loves finger foods now and likes nothing better than having a selection of goodies placed in front of her to pick at. She still isn't over keen on lumps in her food, but will tuck into toast, cheerios, cooked veg, rice cakes and other baby snacks.

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She remains a very vocal baby. There is a lot of baby talk and babbling and she makes various consonant sounds with no particular meaning attached, with one exception. If I walk away from her and she doesn't want me to leave her, she will put up her arms and call 'Ma Ma' in a plaintive little voice. Gets me every time! Given that Tom was two before I heard him call me 'Mummy', I'm rather pleased that Emma's first attempt at a word is my name!

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I continue to delight in this darling little girl. She really brightens my day with her smiles and I love her infectious little laugh. Now that the warmer weather is here and she is in her summer dresses, I am particularly enjoying her chubby little baby arms and legs! Love that little girl of mine!

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