Scarlett Letter #8

Ten and a half months old. Holy mackerel. Scarlett is growing like the weeds in our backyard! Only she's prettier and she hasn't attracted any bees thus far.


I just love our little lemon pie. She's the sweetie-est. She's really becoming quite the character. We can see her personality coming through more and more each day. She has a bit of a bratty side lately as she's been testing the waters. She gives out a little wail and then looks at us for reaction before she settles on her next move. It's actually pretty adorable.

The Stats: 
As of July 6, Scarlett weighed 21.6 lbs and measured 28 3/4" - she's in the 80th percentile for height & weight! Crazy long legged dolly.

Munchies:
At just over nine months old Miss Scarlett decided she no longer wanted to drink from a bottle. It may have had something to do with her teething issues at the time but she hasn't touched one since. From that day on I've made her bottle and poured it into a sippy cup (the ONLY sippy cup she'll drink from) and she slugs it down with a smile. At the same time, we did away with the "bedtime bottle". Amazing. She eats everything. She's great for cleaning up leftovers haha. Some favorites are: turkey meatballs/burgers, broccoli, scrambled eggs, yogurt, waffles/pancakes, carrots, zucchini, pasta and she LOVED salmon when she tried it for the first time. She's a pleasant eater with one stipulation - there HAS to be finger foods on her tray. You're bananas if you think you're getting away with feeding her nothing but a bowl of yogurt.

Playtime:
She loves her pink swing in the backyard - and gets a kick out of watching Brody run around like a mental patient while she swings. Her favorite toys are scattered around in her play-yard that is set up in the living room for ease. She also loves her Around We Go activity station, running around and around like a big goof. She's still entranced with our bedroom closet's mirrored doors and LOVES playing in her bedroom. I'm so glad she enjoys being in her room; we worked really hard to make it the sweetest! She's recently enjoyed trips to the beach in Narragansett and the rocky coast of Newport and she loves splashing around in Grammie's inflatable pool. She is still a book-bug and loves her old favorites most. The $1.00 Sesame Street books from Target along with Counting Kisses remain a daily must. She has recently decided that she will turn every page for me- and she does it well although sometimes a little prematurely. Pillows are a beloved treat. I scatter a few around for her and she goes ape-shit.

Speaking of splashing...
Bath-time is a huge hit. She knows it by the trigger words, "splasha-splasha", which we are promptly trying to replace with "bath". I put away her infant-toddler plastic tub and decided to place her in the real deal last week. She has no fear- spinning around and lunging forward, laying on her belly and drinking the suds. Aside from my bi-second mini-heart-attacks, it's a fun time. I keep adding random water-friendly toys for her to play with in a new way, she digs it.

Little obsessions:
If a baby can actually be obsessed with anything, I guess Scarlett's fascination would be with puppies and kittens. Her first word was "kitty-cat" and she learned it via a combo of a cat flash-card I made for her and by seeing my Hello Kitty slippers day in and day out. She LOVES Brody and also Pluto on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Any episode that is Pluto-heavy is a total winner.

Brags:
I just have to show a little pride for a minute. Scarlett is learning so much at this age and it's just so amazing to watch her connect the things we've been teaching her over the past few months.

When she's in her highchair and eating happily for some reason she raises both arms up in the air. I decided to call that her "SuperMoon". Super as in superhero pose and Moon because I call her my moon. She now does SuperMoon on command.

Since she was a teeny bean I've always said, "How much does Mama love you? .... SOOOO MUCH!" and I spread my arms out wide. She now spreads her arms out when I ask the question. Too cute.

Daddy has been doing the classic walking-fingers on the floor and on her legs and she just cracks up. She now tries to do her own version of the walking-fingers... it's a little like a walking fist but we get the point.

I can ask her where the rainbow, kitty-cat or pig is and she rolls her eyes right over to the wall where her flash-cards are posted. On occasion she points to them. And she always smiles when she sees the rainbow.

If she sees a fish or hears the word fish she tries to make the fishy-face.

If I ask if she's ready to eat or hungry she starts to chew.

When I pick up her Counting Kisses book she immediately does her own kisses.

She waves bye-bye and hello of course but she does it every time we enter or exit her bedroom as well. She occasionally waves hello to her bathroom too.


Well, I guess I could go on bragging all day --- I've become one of them. I won't apologize for it.

Life with Scarlett is unbelievably awesome. Every single day.