Branstad Family: Mover and a Shaker at 10 months

Well, as usual, I'm behind on the Lainey updates. Looks like we're going to have a combined 9 and 10 months update. Oh well. We had her 9 month check up about a month ago. The best part about it was NO SHOTS. Whoo-hoo! I was totally gearing up for it and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't have to have any. Unfortunately, at her next check up (1 year) she gets 3 shots and a finger prick. Uff da. She's growing right on track: 19.2 pounds (66th percentile), 27 inches long (23rd percentile), and 17.5 inch head circumference (66th percentile). Here's what else Lainey has been up to the last two months:

CRAWLING - Yep, Lainey started crawling a week shy of 9 months. John had just changed Lainey's diaper and had put her down in the middle of the floor in her room to go wash his hands. He knew there was a plastic diaper bag on the floor but thought even with her being able to scoot and stretch it was out of her reach. As he was washing his hands, he heard a plastic bag rustling. "There's no way!" he thought to himself and then yelled to me, "Shannon, Lainey's crawling!" I came out of the kitchen and looked toward her room and sure enough she came crawling out of her room with John using the plastic bag as bait. Using plastic bags for toys...man, we're such good parents! I gasped with glee. Which made her stop for a second and look at me with concern, and then she started in again like she could do it all the long. Luckily, my iPhone was close by and I got more crawling on video. She had only been crawling for a few minutes before she made us very aware how much we needed to baby proof when she started digging in the bookshelf! Now there's no stopping her and she is so pleased with her new independence.
PULLING UP ON THINGS, CRUISING, AND STANDING - In addition to pulling herself up on the couch, chairs, coffee table, mom & dad's legs, etc., Lainey can even stand up on her own - without holding on to anything! She will stand for at least 10 seconds sometimes. She also has a lot better body control and can let herself down from standing very gently without plopping over and banging her head on something. She now uses her play gym as, well, a gym. She pulls on the bars and taps on the top.
WALKING (behind her little walker) - Daycare let us borrow a little walking cart and she loves walking behind that. She also likes when we walk her around the room by holding onto her hands. She can walk sideways along furniture but doesn't quite know how to take forward steps by herself.
DANCING - She loves playing her little "radio" and twists her torso and arms back and forth to the music. She'll also bop when you sing her a fast song or if she's playing with her Ballcano.
WAVING, CLAPPING, AND POINTING - She had been waving and clapping before so there's just a lot more of that especially corresponding to hi and bye-bye. Her new one is pointing at anything and everything that's interesting. If you ask her "Where's Dada?" She looks around and points at John. When you ask her "Where's Mama?" She stares at you blankly.
MAKING MESSES - Lainey loves to make messes! Got a bucket full of toys? Dump it over and throw them over your shoulder! Got a basket full of clean clothes? Stand over it and pull the clothes out one by one and throw them over your shoulder! Got some DVD's on a shelf? One at a time, pull them out, look at them, put them in your mouth, and throw them over your shoulder. Have some toys, books, or coasters on the ottoman or coffee table? Slide them off with one big swoop of the arm.
EATING - We've been increasing the amount of solid food and adding more variety of fruits and veggies. She seems to do pretty well with the solid food and she really likes Baby Mum Mum crackers and Gerber puffs. Of course, that's the food with the least nutritional value. I'm excited to start her on finger/table foods soon. Our CSA share should start soon so we'll get her some good exposure to a variety of farm-fresh fruits and veggies.
DRINKING OUT OF A SIPPY (a little) - The last few months we've been giving her a sippy cup for practice. It was mainly used as a toy or a teether but slowly she's been kind of getting the hang of it. Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled to my parent's house and wanted to give Lainey a bottle for convenience but realized we forgot a nipple. So we pulled one of the old Tupperware sippy cups out of the drawer and, with a little help, she drank her entire bottle out of it. We've been trying to incorporate the sippy more and more.
JABBERING - She's been speaking her baby language more and more with "mama's" and "dadas" mixed in though I still don't think she knows what she's saying. She's also been experimenting more with her "outdoor voice" which has been interesting.

I can't believe how much Lainey has changed in the past two months and that we are coming up on her 1st Birthday. Unbelievable. And now, here's Lainey to tell you what she's been up to the past couple months: