My peanut is 10 months old!

Amaya turned 10 months old on Wednesday! It's amazing how fast she is picking things up! It's hard to believe that a month ago on that day she couldn't even sit up on her own! Now she is doing the army crawl so much and today she got on her hands and knees and wiggled so she is so itching to crawl! My prediction is by the end of the month she will be crawling so those kitties and mommy for that matter - look out! :-)

Last weekend she shocked us because she was playing on the floor and all of a sudden she got to sitting on her knees and then I was holding her hands - the music was on and she pulled herself to a standing position! According to the books I have, she is mostly doing all the skills she should be doing at this age - except for saying a few words but she says lots of sounds and she's a second language learner so we won't worry about that one! Also she is starting to hold her bottle, do her sippy cup by herself and put finger foods in her mouth. I gave her pieces of toast and it was so cute - she would pick them up with three fingers and then her eyes would follow it to her mouth and she would shove it in. She hasn't' mastered the pincer grasp yet but sometimes she does it! She loves her toast and scrambled eggs and bananas - those are her favorites!

and she loves music so much - even when my phone rings, it plays a song, and she starts rocking when she hears it and shaking her head. sometimes she tries to sing along to her lullabies too - so cute! I want to put her in a music class because she loves it so much.

speaking of classes, I felt like a slacker mom because today was supposed to be our first day of baby signs class but we didn't wake up early enough! Amaya is still not on a consistent bedtime schedule and she didn't fall asleep until 11 and woke up in the middle of the night so neither mommy or baby wanted to wake up early enough to go to the class! I paid for it though so hopefully we will be up for it next week!

She is napping in her crib - we are making some slow progress with the sleep situation. 2 steps forward, one step back. she was going to bed at 9 or 9:30 a week ago but then she got sick and would wake up coughing and crying in the middle of the night and I think that messed her up cuz then she was sleeping later and going to bed later. for a few days after that she wasn't going to bed unti midnight. then we got it back down to 10 and then the next day 10:30 and last night 11. I don't know how my friends kids go to bed at 7:30. Amaya has never done that - not in the orphanage or in China or at home. I guess from what I've read some kids are wired to be night owls, morning people just like adults. I have until April to get her on a somewhat early bedtime of 8:30 because I will be going back to work and I need to be in bed by 9:30. I am also going to need time to get stuff done after she goes to bed so I have 3 months to help her get an early bedtime!

I took off the front rail of the crib and pushed it against my bed for a safer cosleeping arrangement. she naps in there fine and we have progressed from no longer needing to walk and rock her sleep. now I just play music and lay next to her and she falls asleep. this is at nap time. at bedtime I have been doing a bedtime routine and I start around 8 but she doesn't fall asleep until much later. I have been reading sleep books, articles in adoptive families, etc for suggestions. The one I feel most comfortable with is this cosleeping with the crib next to the bed and then being in the same room with her until she falls asleep. I try not to pick her up when she gets fussy before she falls asleep but last night I gave in! I don't do the cry it out method since adoption experts and my dr advise against it - plus I couldn't do it anyway even if they didnt! I know she's only been home for a while so it's okay to have her sleep next to me for reassurance and bonding but part of me is worried that she will get used to it so much that when we move in the summer it's going to be harder for her to adjust to having her own room.

I read that with any change they regress with sleep so I am prepared to start over when we move and be with her in her room until she falls asleep. I am so glad for the adoption community and the websites with helpful hints that others have used because our situation is unique and often not taken into account in all the sleep books out there.

Well, wish us luck with getting an earlier bedtime! not that I mind sleeping in in the morning, I just want an earlier bedtime for me to get stuff done after she goes to bed and for her to get used to it before I go back to work!

I took her to see one of my best friends yesterday and all the girls at her work loved Amaya!

she is very popular! I am loving this time off to be with her - I wish I didn't have to go back to work at all!