Taryn is 10 months old today! As usual, it seems like time is flying by and everyday she's less of a baby and more of a little girl. It seems like a lot has changed in this last month. She is now taking a couple steps here and there. When she is standing up, she'll let go of whatever she is leaning on and balance for awhile. She has crawled a little, but it is usually just so she can get into a good position to get back on her butt and scoot.
Taryn has started to assert her independence by throwing some little tantrums. When I try to put her down when she wants to be held or, you know, keep her away from light sockets, she'll throw back her head and arch and get stiff as a board. Or if I try to stand her up when she doesn't want to, she gets jello legs and collapses in a whining heap. I have started to try to just ignore them, so when she starts, I just let her lay on the ground and I walk away. She usually calms down pretty quick.
Taryn is a baby who knows what she likes and doesn't like. She hates my mom's shower curtain. She also hated a comforter that we saw at Bed Bath Beyond. (My mom is pretty sure Taryn is trying to tell her that her shower curtain is ugly.) She is particular about the patterns that she likes. She is also very wary of certain textures. As I mentioned, she hates grass, she doesn't like scrub brushes, she is iffy when it comes to bushes out in the yard. Apparently she is also scared of the big tube at daycare (good to know since I was considering buying her one for her birthday). Oh, and she hates shoes. She likes to pull her socks off constantly too. She likes the kitties, but she is still too rough with them. Apparently my mom's cats will let her beat on them... Our cats are not so laid back.
Taryn is still in size 18 months clothing. The pants are still a bit big on her, but now the shirts are bordering on snug. I think she has a long torso. She wears size 3 diapers, but wears size 4 at night. We would put her in all size 4's if they weren't more expensive... She likes to eat things when she can pick them up and feed herself. She enjoys greenbeans and cheese the most. She also still loves her puffs and Lil' Crunchers. She is drinking less and less formula, but really isn't a huge fan of juice. She generally goes right to sleep at 7pm and sleeps until 6am. She still fights naps, but she has been taking 2 hour naps at daycare. She LOVES the Puerto Rican lady, Wanda at daycare and can say "ti ti" which means auntie in Spanish.
I'm really excited to spend the summer with Taryn. I want to take her to the pool and let her run around in the yard (if she'll get over her grass aversion). We'll be able to take her out on the boat at Lee's parents' lakehouse. Just 6 more weeks of student teaching and then we have 5 weeks to hang out! 
Taryn has perfected her butt scoot, but still will not crawl. She scoots with her legs to the right, then swings them around and scoots with her legs to the left. It works for her though. Especially on the wood floors! She walks around the furniture constantly. Her goal is usually to get over to where I am sitting so she can hang onto my legs and whine at me. I can put her on the other side of the room and before I know it she has side-stepped all the way over to me. She has discovered that it is amazingly fun to open drawers and pull cans off of the shelf in the kitchen. She especially loves the end table drawer. One day she got into that drawer and had a pocket knife in one hand and the DVD remote control in the other. Yeah, we need to get that drawer baby-proofed. 
When Taryn is healthy, she now sleeps from 7pm until 5:30am. She fights naps pretty hard, but when we get her to go to sleep, she usually sleeps pretty well. Her hair just started getting darker all of the sudden. It is long enough that we can put it up in one spiky little ponytail on top of her head a la Pebbles. The back of her hair is getting long and right now it is growing into a little baby rattail. We bought Taryn some new shoes... And she HATES them. Whenever we put her in shoes she whines and tries to pull them off. I think part of the reason she hates them is that they hinder her scooting. 
There are now a few kiddos at daycare that are younger than Taryn. They told me the other day that she was being a bully. They said that she would scoot over to people and pull their hair. She loves to shake her head "NO". She also likes to brush her teeth (as you can see above). Her eating has slowed down quite a bit. The doc said this is normal since they are not growing as quickly now. She prefers eating "big people food". My mom made some mac & cheese and Taryn was obsessed. We couldn't get it on her plate fast enough. She was literally eating it with both hands and just shoving it in her mouth. 
