10 months young: a state of the baby address

How did 10 months go by since the day the nurses were calling my OB/GYN, telling her to drive faster because she might miss Sonia's birth?

This baby is like a little Energizer Bunny.... She just keeps going and going and going and going. Sosini is going through a phase where she sleeps only about 10-11 hours at night and then takes (at most) three half-hour naps (for a grand total of 1 1/2 hours of naptime) per day. Some of her playgroup buddies take two naps a day for several hours each time. It's hard not to notice a tinge of green (AKA jealousy) in my complexion when I look in the mirror. There's a wide range of normal when it comes to sleep, and lucky us (sarcasm!), Sonia is on the lower end. I love my baby, but I keep telling her that absence makes the heart grow fonder....



According to Sonia, I am a human jungle gym. All of my shirts are getting stretched out because she grabs hold and pulls herself up before I can stop her. She has also discovered my hair, and she loves to yank on it. How do you teach a 10 month-old empathy? One thing she has started to do lately is to lay her little head against my chest while I'm holding her. It's so sweet! She also sometimes plays "shy girl" and playfully hides her face when someone is saying hello to her.



Sosinini will pull up on ANYTHING! Baby-proofing is going slowly-- we watch, and she shows us what we need to move/remove/hide/block. I installed a KidCo baby gate at the top of the stairs, and MAN was that a pain in the booty. But Sosi is crawling faster and faster, so we feel much safer with the gate up.


I bought a "big girl" car seat (a convertible seat that can face forward or backward), and I didn't feel comfortable with how it fit in my Mini Cooper. According to a reputable website, this particular seat supposedly fits in a 2003 Mini, and while it is possible to get the car seat in place and belted in, the car seat doesn't sit securely on the Mini's scooped back seat-- it rocks way too much. I took the car seat and my car to our local police department, and after watching a 6 foot tall policeman crouch in the backseat of the Mini for an hour and 15 minutes, cutting up a foam pool noodle and trying out both the latch system and the seat belt to secure the car seat, we declared failure. So, Andrew and I are still trying to figure out what our plan is (switch cars? try another seat? walk everywhere?). Once I can turn Sonia's car seat facing forward, we are far less limited in the options as far as what will fit in the Mini. Her legs are a little scrunched in the infant seat, but she still fits in it safely (the policeman confirmed it). So, we can take our time determining the solution.

I took this picture with my cell phone, and I apologize for the blurriness (she won't sit still!), but how hilarious is that ornery expression on her face?!?



We love our Great Sosini! Her capacity to make me laugh and smile is infinite. Now, if only she would sleep a bit longer....