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Can you believe it? Elizabeth Beans is officially 10 months old. Time feels like it's going so fast. I can remember when she was a tiny newborn, wondering what she'd be like at six months. Never did I think we'd get this far. I mean, I thought for sure I'd be institutionalized before now.

But I'm not! And motherhood gets better every day. Except for the days when it really sucks, but those are pretty few and far between with a baby as cute and funny as Miss E.

At ten months, Ellie can:

-crawl with purpose. She doesn't crawl on her knees though - she uses one knee, and then the other leg is sort of crabbed up behind her and she uses her toes to push off with that foot.

-pull herself up on the furniture

-do some cruising along the coffee table

-take a few slow steps if you're holding her fingers (she is not very enthused by this though.)

She's beginning to understand words. She stops what she's doing and looks at me when I tell her no. She will look for Auntie Sara if you ask her where Auntie Sara is. She claps if you ask her to clap, and sometimes waves if you ask her to wave (waving is way less fun than clapping, apparently.) She mimics the way we say "kitty" some of the time, and today when Auntie Sara sneezed, she faked a sneeze of her own.

She still loves swimming, loves the pool and bath time too. She likes coming in the shower with me in the mornings if I have time.

She loves small children and animals, especially dogs. She shrieks with joy at them when we see them in public, and she chases after our cats pretty frequently. Thor is exceedingly alarmed that the small human is now on the move. Rocky is the most patient and least irritated with her. Petunia still hates her with a fiery passion, but takes her aggression out by leaving revenge craps on the carpet.

She's just such a funny little lovebug. She laughs uproariously when I sniff her feet and make gagging noises, declaring how smelly her tooties are. The last few nights, she's gotten the giggles during her last nursing session before bed, which earns her a couple extra goodnight snuggles and kisses, because it is just SO CUTE.

This month we have transitioned out of her crib. She kept waking up every time she bumped into the walls and wailing, but she'll sleep all night through if she's in the center of the queen mattress in her room. So we bought her a bed rail and called it a day. Upside: I don't have to fight to transition her to a toddler bed when I need the crib for a hypothetical second baby! I mean, I get it. I wouldn't want to sleep on a sheet from Babies R Us when I could sleep on Macys Hotel Collection 600 thread count sheets. Baby skin is very delicate you know!

In short, Elizabeth is a dream come true. Even when she's a tiny baby nightmare.

I call this "do you know how to open the door?"

A couple of videos of Ellie's newest skills: