A day of Fours

Becca had a day of fours yesterday. She's getting so big, to us anyway. She's actually apparently a slightly petite 10 month old. Anyway, she's been getting more and more confident. She loves to stand on her own or cruise around. Yesterday, she even stood up all by herself. She's been trying for a few days. I never thought about the amount of balance required to go from sitting all the way to standing without touching anything except the floor. Maybe others aren't too impressed, but I cheered very loud when Becca succeeded after several failed attempts. Becca also took 4 steps yesterday, which is her new record. Her first step occurred July 3. I had the day off, so I was downstairs with her in the morning. We were playing with the DVDs and she was holding one while standing by herself. I wondered if I could get her to come to me, so I scooted a little bit away from her and beckoned. She was so cute. She looked at me, then looked down at the DVD she was holding, and she took one step, steadied herself, then took another! I was a very proud mama. Last week she increased her steps to three, and now we've hit the four mark. She's also getting a lot better at walking while we hold just one hand. She and I walked all the way to the mailbox that way, and that included going downhill on grass. Oh, the things the impress mothers! Her other 4 event yesterday was that her fourth tooth finally broke through. We could tell it was close for about a week and a half, and yesterday Kyle could see that it is through. Becca already loves to eat "big kid" food. We're fortunate that she's never really been a picky eater. Her favorite meals at this point seem to be Hawaiian haystacks (rice cereal or rice mixed with cream of chicken, little chicken chunks, cheese, and tomatoes) and macaroni and cheese. She also enjoys fruits and vegetables. I was very surprised by her enthusiasm with cucumber, but I'm all for it. Below is a video of her taking a few steps. It was right before bedtime, so she was a little fussy. I lured her into walking with Kyle's phone, which she loves because it plays music and she enjoys dancing.



This is a video of her dancing while standing her herself, which again, impresses me. This was actually taken first, followed by the video above, but oh well.



Becca's babble has started to sound like words. Her favorite sound right now is "Da," so it sounds like she calls everything "Dada." She does, however, have slightly different sounds for the dogs and the kitty. I was holding her the other day and preparing her morning bottle when the cat meowed at the garage door. Becca perked up, so I knew she'd heard. I said "What was that?" and she motioned towards the door and said "Diddy." I kid you not, it really did sound like kitty. She's said it a few more times, either when she's seen the cat, or when she's heard her, so I think it counts. For dogs, she says "Dod!" She likes to look at them through the sliding glass door while I get dinner ready. The dogs absolutely love Becca and they try to sneak kisses to her by licking her feet or something. If we catch them, we tell them "No!" but they do it anyway. We can always wash her feet, so it's not too bad. I know they'll love her even more when she can go out and play. They're pretty gentle dogs. Duchess is a bit more hyper, so we watch her more with kids, but Duke is almost just a big teddy bear. He really is a big dog, and probably looks very intimidating, but he's a sweetheart. I'm sure we'll use him at some point for a Halloween prop. He's big enough that I'm betting he can be used as a mini horse for a mini cowgirl. The kitty (who does have a name, but really, we've always called her Kitty) is intrigued by Becca, but hasn't completely warmed up to her yet. She's always ready to escape in case Becca gets too friendly. I know Becca will be good friends with all our animals as she grows.

While I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I'm raising a girl who will like jewelry. One of the first things Becca does when I get her from her crib in the mornings is check my ears for my earrings. It's pretty funny because she'll lean to one side and look and then turn my head the other way so she can check the other ear. If I have earrings in, she immediately tries to play with them. I don't mind, and I choose my jewelry based on how easy it is to remove so Becca can play with it. For those of you who knew me back when I wore 18 rings, you'll know I love jewelry and I don't mind if Becca follows that path. I think it will lead to some fun shopping in the future. Becca also appears to like books. If she is ever wandering where I don't want her, I lure her back with a book. I'll hold it out to her and get her attention. She almost immediately starts back. She'll grab the book and sometimes let you read it, but more often than not, she'll take it and try to do it herself. She even babbles as she looks at the pages. Reading is another one of my loves, so again, I think it will be very fun if she continues to enjoy it, especially since I saved all the books I enjoyed when I was little (Like "Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots" and such). Hurray for little kids!