Snowbound Herpetologist

Belated, again, but not by as much!  No, we're not walking yet even though she's been standing for two months, but she's maybe close?  She sure does a LOT of free standing, and the woodpecker walker has made its reappearance.  She's finally cutting her top lateral incisors this week, after like two weeks of crank, drool, and poor (like, poorer than normal, which is saying something) sleep.  However, just today was the the first day she skipped her morning nap (do I see a light at the end of the nap jail tunnel?), and all week she let me lay her down *awake* in her crib after nursing her and she drifted off to sleep peacefully, quietly, and by herself.  Will it last...? Mostly, we're just keepin' on keepin' on.  Teaching (well, the writing lectures part) is totally kicking my ass.  I've written 8 lectures, I have 19 more to go (:::scream emoticon:::).  I'm also trying to write a new grant proposal, 3 manuscripts, finish a masters student this semes

So actually, Annika is now closer to 11 months, but this will simply have to do!  Our semester started last week, and I'm teaching a new (to me) course and writing like 30 lectures, sooooo...I will update the best I can, but I promise nothing! Annika at 10 months is, except for nighttime sleep, a joy to be around.  She is free-standing everywhere (e.g., she can stand up in the middle of the room and even clap for herself, or "dance" by doing knee bends, without falling over), can cruise with only a single hand on the couch, and is really trying to walk unassisted.  She tries a lot harder at skills than Maya did at this age, practicing them with impressive determination.  She eats very well, and we haven't had a choking incident in about a month!  She's a little picky about what she'll eat, but when she's excited about what I've given her, she goes to town!  She's even quite interested in the mechanics of spoons and forks. Her language is doing