ten months old

nuggie turned ten months today and i must declare that we, her parents, are EXHAUSTED. the term "into everything" was redefined for us this month though i'm sure we'll look back on this time soon enough and think "we had it so easy back then!" thea moves at the speed of light and when we gently try to redirect her from yanking cords out of power sockets, she's on to the next thing before we can catch up. we turn our eyes for a second and she's already climbed to the fourth or fifth step racing upstairs laughing as she goes.

noteworthy moments from the last 30 days include taking a single step while standing [followed immediately by falling on her behind], eating meats like chicken and sausage which she positively SHOVELS into her mouth [sorry PETA, this kid is no vegetarian], sharing and making a T-H sound [for thank you], and saying hi! it's completely thrilling to hear her say "hi" in the appropriate context. her little voice is so adorable!

i feel like this is as good a time as any to reveal another one of nuggie's nicknames, especially since football season is upon us. thea and i read books in bed almost every morning before we get up and start the day. sometimes zack is with us, sometimes not. thea usually sits and listens intently for awhile and then she starts flailing herself all over the bed trying to explore what's beyond the stacks of pillows walling her in. she quite honestly resembles a running back attempting to power over a pile-up intent upon the end zone. as a result, i started calling her jerome [as in "the bus" bettis] back in july and somehow it's stuck. we only call her this when she's so focused and driven and uses her [extremely powerful] legs to break through even the toughest of forts that we've built to contain her. i considered changing the title of our blog to "nugget. monkey. jerome." but it just doesn't have the same ring to it.