10 months 3 weeks

If she doesn't think about it, she can walk.
We've been watching Quinn this past week, reminiscing about the time that Isabella was this age, and it all seems so familiar. So we stand her up, walk away, put out our arms and tell her to "walk, Quinn!"  She looks at us, grins, claps, starts bouncing, and then sits down and crawls to us. Not to mention her other 'parents' that are encouraging her too, practically knocking her over in the meantime.

She is so close though. This week, she has been more determined than ever. Cruising like it's nobody's business. Going from couch to table to chair, all while hanging on with one hand. 
And then tonight, when she thought no one was looking, and she was paying attention to what Isabella and Ryan were doing, she went one handed from chair to chair to table leg to letting go and step, step, step.  Meanwhile I am trying to calmly 'grunt' and wave my arms so Ryan or mom will look at her without me bringing too much excited attention to it. Then she heard me, looked up, grinned her silly little grin, fell to the floor and crawled to the couch. Little stinker. 

We'll have another walking child soon. I can't believe it. I really can't believe it.  She hasn't been in our arms for even a year yet, and she's already learning what it's like to venture out without help. She's making moves, becoming confident, and understanding herself more and more...all before she's been on earth for a year.  Growth is amazing.  It was about this long that she grew inside of me. And she has grown so much outside of me.  Our sweet baby Quinn, or Quinny-poo as she still mostly goes by thanks to big brother, is growing up just as they do, but is still just my baby (our baby I should say--she has a brother and a sister that think they are every bit in charge of her, as Ryan and I are). 

Little things:
**Declan is a collector. He likes to carry around things in bags or boxes. He likes to hunt for similar things.  He likes to find things, put them all in one spot, and have them with him all day. Today it was 'tiny pinecones' as he called them.

Nothing like playing in the dirt before you've even changed out of your pj's...

**Perfect match. Isabella is convinced that she knows how to read. Declan will sit and listen to stories all day long.  This is their "quiet" activity of choice. And I love it.

**Swimming on the porch.  In the old house, I hated filling up the baby pool in the grass because they would get in and out so much that there was usually more grass than water, in the pool.  I'm a fan of swimming on the porch. And they're fans of getting wet, period.

**Happy wake-ups. When a child wakes up cranky, you can probably assume they didn't rest long enough.  Wake-ups in our house, usually require a lot of patience because crankiness abounds.  Not when Quinn wakes up though. She wakes up, plays in her crib, looks at her book, chews on some toys, then stands up and "calls" out to let us know she's ready.  There are smiles all around when Quinn wakes up.

**One-on-one. We all need it sometimes. Today, Declan needed it. The other two were napping, I had a serious headache, and needed everyone to nap. Declan lay quietly in his crib, unwilling to nap, but willing to rest.  So after awhile, I got him up, took him downstairs while he looked at me in shock that he was the only one up, and we got dinner ready, talked about cooking, and had a snack of his choice...ice cream. Benefits to one-on-one.

Yay for long weekends and celebrating another year of another's amazing life.  Birthdays just never stop around here. It's mom's birthday, and I think we're in need of some pool time.