Ten Month Birthday

Dear Ingrid,

My sweet baby girl, you are getting so big. In just two short months you will be ONE! Mommy cannot believe how much you can do! You are so sweet, full of life, beautiful and smart. I am so proud of you. You are on the go from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to bed. You absolutely love your toys and books. You can play and play and you have such a long attention span. You still love to look at books and you love to sit and listen to someone read to you. You crawl so fast from place to place that I can scarcely keep up with you. You can also walk anywhere--as long as you have something to hold on to. The most steps you have ever taken by yourself is two. Right now you are not interested in walking. You know you can get anywhere you want, as fast as you want, on your tough little knees. You have one tiny bottom tooth and you talk all day long. You can say so many words. Mommy can't even believe all the things you say to me! Here are the words in your vocabulary: mama, dada, baba, nana, bye-bye, all done, dog, bird, meow, moo, no-no, baby, and your newest two word phrase that I love is "sweet baby." You are so precious when you say your words. You always mimic our tone and inflection. Your cousin Amelia thinks you are getting to be such a big girl and she is right! You love to dance to music just like her. You are sleeping soundly at night. You're bedtime is usually between 7:15 and 7:45. You sleep until around 5. My favorite time of the day starts right then. Mommy comes into your room and gets you out of your crib and you get to come and snuggle with mama and dada until 6. Sometimes you curl up and go back to sleep. But most of the time you just snuggle up with us. You get lots of cuddles and kisses and give us some back. Mama cherishes this time with you more than you'll ever know. I love to stare at your sweet little face and thank God over and over for you: my perfect Ingrid Cate.

Love,
Mommy