Eclaire is 10 Months!

Last week, I had one of those "when did my baby get so big?" moments as I watched Claire crawling around the kitchen. She pulled herself up to stand next to a chair, and then went onto her fat little tiptoes to get a better look. She gave the chair a few good whacks, and then she carefully pinched a little piece of something and put it in her mouth. It was one of those, "Remember when she couldn't even hold her own head up? And now she's so big and independent!" moments.

The next moment was one of those "EARTH TO PARENT she just put something in her mouth! Why are you still sitting there??" moments. Haha. Which honestly sums up this entire parenting thing for me so far. Cuteness all the time. Constant vigilance all the time.

Keeping up with little Eclaire is a full-time occupation these days. She is so wiggly and fun and always wants to go go go! Half the time, we say she's deeply curious and full of a beautiful wild energy. The other half of the time, we say, "Toilets are not toys!" "Daddy does not like it when you gouge his eye out!" and "Brooke, Claire's in my room eating my iPod again!"

Here are some things I want to remember about little 10-month Claire:

+ She crawls faster than the speed of light. We call it sprint crawling. Sprawling? I swear she looks exactly like a komodo dragon with her fast little waddle and her wide-elbowed stance. She especially likes to sprint crawl when she's escaping in the middle of an outfit change. Ain't nobody got time to sit sill for one whole minute!

+ She has three teeth now, and one more that's almost here. (Why did it take us so long to discover Hyland Teething Tablets? Talk about a life saver!)

+ She is our little social butterfly. At her nine-month checkup, the doctor asked if she had any social anxiety or stranger danger. "Does she often want you and nobody else? Does she seem apprehensive when new people enter the room?" he asked. In return, Claire crawled over to him, pulled herself up on his leg, and started chatting with him. I guess that's a no, doc! No stranger danger in this one!

+ She officially says her first word now. "Hiii!" Everywhere we go, she's saying hi to people. Even the big thug who was too cool to look up from his phone in Jiffy Lube was smiling and saying hi back to her by the end of our oil change. She's a charmer! (Also, that guy legitimately had a grill. I didn't know grills were still a thing. Apparently I was wrong.)

+We're in love with these baby blues. Blue eyes are really scarce in both our families, so I never dreamed that Claire would have blue eyes. But she does, and we can't get enough!

+ She learned how to clap! Which means we spend a good portion of our days clapping alongside her and saying "yay!"

Happy ten months, Squeaks!