10 Months Old

Molli turned ten months old on Tuesday. Two days earlier, she’d attended Liam’s first birthday party. Here’s a scene from the party (Molli is top left baby, Liam is top right baby):

Tuesday morning we saw Anna Greve, who seemed to think Molli was doing just fine. She gave us some tips on solid foods and sleeping, as well as some advice pertaining to Molli. Most importantly, she gave me the green light to get Molli a “walk wagon,” which we’d feared would hinder Molli’s development. I couldn’t wait, and got it for her Wednesday. She loves it, as you can see from the hideous smile she wore the first time she ever walked with it:

Later the same day she decided she was finally interested her doll. She couldn’t seem to choose between playing with her doll (remember, “playing” still means seizing by any available limb and thrashing against the floor) or pushing her cart around, so she opted to do both at once. It’s astonishing how grown-up she looks standing up with the doll in one hand and the “walk wagon” in the other:

The most interesting thing in the world is still Mommy, however, even when Mommy is trying to work. Especially when Mommy is trying to work.

(Here’s a closeup, because they’re actually cute pictures but I wanted to present them in series.)

Thursday was the holiday of the Ascension. Trine and Molli began the day with a visit from Trine’s friend Stinne and her daughter Annelinne (14 months, and I’m sure I’ve spelled it wrong):

I’m sad to say that the playtime with Annelinne revealed a side of Molli we’d never seen before. Annelinne would try to play with some of Molli’s toys, and Molli would freak out with jealous rage. I wasn’t awake to see it (I’d worked the early shift with Molli and was taking a nap), but Trine says it was ugly and we need to start socializing Molli as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t anything abnormal, but we want to nip that kind of stuff in the bud since she’ll be going to Vuggestue within the next month or two.

Later in the day we met John, Sandie, and Liam for a pre-poned beer stroll. We hooked up at Nyhavn, where we got Molli’s inevitable Nyhavn shot. (Notice the wreaths around the big anchor, which is a memorial to Denmark’s naval dead from WWII. All the memorials were garlanded with wreaths and flowers Thursday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Denmark’s liberation from the Nazis.)

From Nyhavn we strolled up to Kastellet, the fortifications and ramparts of which make for a lovely park. Here’s a view looking away from Kastellet toward the nearby church, which has some part in Danish mythology (but I forget what):

And here’s a shot of the memorial to “Our Fallen” just outside the entrance to Kastellet proper.

We concluded the stroll with the requisite beer at a nearby cafe, and John was kind enough to get some pictures of the three of us.

So I reciprocated, utterly oblivious to the fact that Trine was walking by with Molli in the background:

A total stranger behind me was less oblivious and offered to take a shot of all six of us:

By the time we got Molli home, fed, and in bed, the place was a wreck. Her semi-ambulatory habits are just destroying the place. Here’s what it looks like a moment or two after Molli goes to bed these days:

Her teeth continue to come in and she began waving last Sunday. I’m going to copy and paste in the account I gave of her waving to Nana/Farmor and Poppop/Farfar:

…did we tell you she’s waving, by the way? It’s her first real communicative gesture. She taught it to herself the other morning [Sunday] when she noticed her shadow on the wall while Trine was feeding her. She realized the shadow was her own self, and she lifted an arm and started moving it around to marvel at the way the shadow followed along. Opening and closing her fist, wiggling her fingers, rotating her wrist, waving her arm. It was kind of like she was waving to herself, but also like she was giving herself a puppet show. We were amazed and had no idea what she was doing or thinking.

Not long afterwards she was on the other side of the living room from me and Trine. She looked up at us, smiled, and waved. It was a surreal moment. We waved back, clapped, ran over and kissed her, and apparently that was all the reinforcement she needed. She’s been waving on and off ever since. Not always at appropriate moments—Trine dragged her into our bed this morning at one point and Molli grabbed my cheek until I was fully awake, then waved at me from all of six inches away. And she’ll only wave hello or goodbye at a meeting or departure about a third of the time. But it’s definitely a real part of her repertoire now.

Also she now does that raspberry thing to announce she’s done with a meal. She eats and eats and eats, then suddenly raspberries a mouthful of food at you and that’s it. The meal is over. It’s her own messy but effective way of saying, “I’m full, thanks!”

And today [Tuesday] at Mormor’s she was standing outside in the portacrib (that’s how nice a day it was), and I was stroking her head, when suddenly I looked down and realized she wasn’t holding onto the railings. She was just standing there with her hands at her sides. She stood like that for 5-10 second before she shot an arm out to balance herself on the railing. I think Farmor’s right, I think she’ll be walking by the end of the month.

She seems very cranky and moody the past couple of days, eating irregularly and taking naps that are either much shorter or much longer than usual. It’s made things a little tough on us, because our routine has been blown to hell, but we’ll find our new routine soon enough.

That’s all for now. Nothing very big planned for the weekend except a lunch visit from Nikolai and Linda and their kids tomorrow, and hopefully lots of rest on Sunday.