Betsy, 9 and 10 months

This month Betsy has blossomed. She used to be the silent baby whose chuckles were hard-won by dedicated siblings who tickled and danced mightily to pry them from her. Now she babbles and smiles and laughs all the time. She's a busy bee, always grabbing, holding, dropping , moving, crawling, standing. She has a little sense of humor and loves to tease and play. When Logan growls, "I'm gonna get you!" she squirms away in fear and joy.

(In fact, once he said, "I'm gonna get you" and she promptly threw herself over the edge of the couch.)

Just in time for her grandparents' arrival last weekend, she put her to-do list on hyperdrive and started learning a new trick each day. 

She often sits with her knees tucked around her like this. Look at those toes!

Day 1: Crawl down stairs. Those of you with babies know that this is always a tricky one. To crawl down stairs, you have to turn your little self around and put your feet down first. 

Day 2: Walking holding hands. One day her little feet just didn't have that stepping-out action. The next day she was chortling with pride as she pitter-patted herself across the room.

Those plumpy legs and ankles!

Day 3: Speech! She dropped something and said, "Uh-oh." Now she worries "Uh-oooh. Uh-oooh" all day long. Of course she loves to play the gravity game, where she drops something over and over. Fortunately for us, she's willing to do her own pick-up.

She's been working on standing unsupported and standing from the ground (as opposed to pulling herself up on something). I'm sure once she does these, she'll be walking in no time. Betsy is much more a toddler than an infant these days, and so she and I had a little heart to heart. I told her that she could grow up if she would promise that we would be friends forever. She agreed.