Already?

Today Bella is 10-months old. She's still a chubby, but petite little thing.

She cruises like a champ, pulls up on everything - walls, another baby, toys, gates, etc.; although her favorite thing these days seems to be my pantleg.

She can stand on her own for several seconds, but hasn't taken any unassisted steps yet.

She prefers to feed herself, and until recently refused to be spoon-fed anything. She will now let me feed her some things, but only if she really likes it.

Her favorite foods seem to be the meat we've only recently let her have. She's had meatballs (homeade with baby cereal and pureed green beans with a little fresh garlic for flavor) and grilled chicken. She will pick through the vegetables on her tray to find the little pieces of meat. It's so cute. She will go back and eat the veggies when the meat is gone, so that's good. She loves yogurt and cheerios.

She has begun to throw little temper tantrums, her latest one being at 1 o'clock this morning when I wouldn't get her out of her crib to play. She threw herself back onto the mattress with as much drama as she could muster.

She claps her hands when you sing the 'pat-a-cake' song or just say 'yay'.

She will repeat 'uh-oh' almost everytime you say it, and will say it on her own a lot. She will wave and say 'bye-bye' sometimes, and a few times at our insistence, she said 'ba-ba' for bottle.

She will sing along with the radio in the car, and dances while standing at her toys.

She has done the signs for 'eat' and 'more', but hasn't used them correctly yet.

She has begun to fight over toys with Hunter, who is 6-weeks younger than her but much bigger. It's cute the way they go back and forth, eventually resolving it themselves when one of them gives up after a minute or two of tug-of-war.

She still adores Cylie, who can get a laugh out of her most of the time.

She loves to watch the Elmo 'Imagination' video we have saved on our laptop. She will clap and look from the screen to us as if to thank us for playing it.

She is getting very good at putting herself to sleep, but not quite as good at staying asleep recently.

She loves dogs and gets very excited when she sees one.

The past 10-months have gone by so quickly, but have been the happiest and richest of my life because of this little baby girl. She amazes me every day!!