Julia at Ten Months!

Julia's ten-month birthday was on October 12!  She is getting so big! 

Highlights this past month include:

• Julia is speaking! I wrote about a possible first word in the last Julia update, and as it turns out, the connection is solid!  Whenever she sees a duck, in the bath or in a book, she excitedly says, "Du!"  Likewise now with dog ("Daw!"), baby (does really well saying this one), Dada, and banana ("nana").  My dad also sings, "E I E I O" to her a lot, and she can repeat that too!  She repeats "Weeeeeeeee!" when I'm spinning her on an office chair (one of her latest favorite things to do).  Now, if she could only get "Mama" down... ;-)
• Julia can stand unsupported now.  She can't stand too long before falling down, but she does pretty well with this.
• She has added several new foods to her diet, including black and pinto beans, tilapia, roast beef, pork, baby mum mums (rice cakes), corn, grapes, and shredded cheese.  She definitely prefers finger foods to pureed foods now.  She has eaten a lot of avocado and mixed veggies this month.  
• Unfortunately, we did discover that Julia is allergic to egg :-(  Her poor little face got covered in bright, red hives after eating it, but praise God she didn't have any serious ill effects, like trouble breathing.  We're hoping she outgrows it, because that'd be a tough allergy to have.  I am reminded of her egg allergy several times a day, as we've been administering a lot of flu shots at the clinic I'm at this month, and the doctor asks each person about egg allergies, since that is a contraindication to getting the shot, as the virus is grown in egg.  Sad day! 
• Julia loves books, which isn't new.  What is new is how she sits by herself now when she's not being read to, flipping through books on her own, making sounds.  She's usually pretty gentle with the books, and she can't get enough of them!  She spends more time looking at books than playing with her toys.  Bookworms that we are, we think it's pretty cute ;-)
• And speaking of toys, Julia has some rather unusual favorites.  I'll post about that sometime soon :-)
• She's gotten better at the concept of "in."  When she was younger, she only knew how to take things out (read: make messes), but now she can help put her blocks back in their bucket or her books back in their basket (read: clean up messes!).  If we keep working with her on this concept, we figure she can be our very own house elf!  (Just kidding ;-) )
• Julia is a climber.  She tries to climb up everything, dresser drawers, the dishwasher, the fireplace...  She climbs onto the shelves under the side tables in the living room and our bedroom.  She's such a monkey!
• Julia loves other small people.  She screams excitedly when she sees other babies and tries to touch them.  She frightens other babies with her enthusiasm sometimes.  Whoops.
• Julia loves the crucifix from Guatemala hanging in her bathroom.  She reaches up for it, and we take it down, telling her it's an image of Jesus and that Jesus loves her very much.  We'll say, "Give Jesus a kiss!" and she does.  So cute.
• Julia also loves images of family.  She loves looking at pictures of herself or the people she loves, both in picture frames and on computer slide shows.  My mom warns me that she's going to end up being vain!  Haha!

 I have lots more pictures from this past month to post sometime; I just need some time to sort through them.  Getting her three monthly photos was so hard this time around - we tried probably at least four times to get some, but she was never in the mood.  She's had a cold, though, so I don't blame her for not feeling like posing!

We love our Julia!