Our cheeky girl babe or, as the toddler likes to call her – “Miss Poo Poo Bum Bum”, is ten and a half months old now. Can you believe it? I cannot.

I mean, I lived it, but I cannot actually believe any of it. My oh my how time flies when you are exhausted and chasing a crawling baby and a very fast mini person all over the house.

This last month has seen the little poo bum grow and develop more than I could ever have imagined.

Whilst she is still very much a baby (and she has the total lack of hair to prove it), she is starting to feel like she is heading into toddler town. Minus the toddling of course.

She is crawling so fast that I am thinking of heading to Births, Deaths & Marriages on Monday and changing her name to “The Flash Shepherd”. I truly think that this will suit her down to the ground. I could probably change my name to Ellyn “Gawd She Yells All The Time Shepherd”. That would probably suit me perfectly too.

The wee babe has such a cheeky personality these days and it is all that I can do sometimes to keep a straight face when she is around. Even aside from all the aforementioned yelling that I need to do at the kids these days – “Don’t knock your sister down”, “Stop licking the dog”, “Can you please not blow your nose on your sister”, “Don’t eat that, that could be dog poo”… Yes, aside from all of that, she is highly entertaining.

She and her brother love to race, in fact they love chasing each other in general. She squeals and giggles as she races (um…crawls) and if he happens to be behind her then she will stop every few paces to turn around and make sure that he is still there before squealing, and racing away once more. And in return, he is always there, ready to bowl her over and take the lead.

If he actually deigns to start off in FRONT of her (how dare he), she yells at him whole heartedly (I am pretty sure that she is actually swearing at him in baby talk) before losing interest, preferring to check out what’s happening in the toilet bowl instead. Ugh, gross. What person in their right mind likes to hang out in someone else’s poo smell? Babies. Weirdo’s.

They also spend full afternoons squealing back and forth at each other and then giggling hysterically. They did it this morning at swimming in fact. Sah cute. But sometimes I wonder if my ear drums are ACTUALLY going to burst from the unnatural pitch they both reach whilst squealing…

Speaking of unnatural pitches, if I sing to the babe and/or clap my hands she absolutely LOVES it! The wee girl immediately stops what she is doing (like trying to eat something, or tear pieces off something else with her teeth), and shakes her nappy bum at me, like she just cant help but FEEL the music. Her whole body moves up and down and side to side, shimmying like it “ain’t no thang”, all the while with the most straight-faced expression. She takes her dancing so seriously, and it is ridiculously adorable.

The little clever clogs says  “Ta” now. Well, actually… that is only partially the truth. She SORT OF says “ta”. Let me explain. I BEG her to say it at least a million times a day whilst she eyeballs me in total silence, before I completely give up and walk away. Then, and ONLY then do I hear a teeny tiny (and very giggly) “ta ta ta ta” echoing from the kitchen. Jerk. Cute Cute CUTE jerk.

Now that she has mastered crawling, she desperately and constantly tries to climb up the stairs every chance she can get. However in saying that she completely refuses to learn how to climb back down them again safely – i.e. feet first. Nope, she would MUCH prefer to attempt a gracefull swan dive (head first) down the stairs. Because apparently “feet first” is for the weak lol. *shudders, terrified*.

Now, because climbing up and down the stairs all day every day is something that loses its fun factor after the first 300 times, we have had to throw together a makeshift barricade to keep her downstairs with us. You know, so I can make breakfast/lunch/dinner or do a wee without worrying about her racing up without me and tumbling right back down again. #ItWouldTotallyHappenWithThisFearlessBabeICanTell

Side note: The barricade actually does its job pretty well, as not only does it stop the babe from going up the stairs without me, but it also (usually) stops the dog from going upstairs and secretly sleeping on our bed… because he just CANNOT be bothered jumping that high. #IHearYaDoggieExerciseIsHard

The sweet baby – like her mother, father and brother – LOVES to eat. We have actually shocked ten colours of poop out of friends with babies of similar ages (and even older) because of the sheer volume of what she can scoff down. She will tackle a hamburger like its nobody’s business, and she slurps down endless fingers of steamed eggplant like they are spaghetti, without even blinking an eye. That’s our girl.

Imagine what she will be able to do to a piece of chocolate cake on her upcoming holy-crap-I-cant-believe-we-are-even-thinking-about-her-turning-one birthday.

But there are other changes too.

Even though she is a lady of few words – “mum”, “dad”, “ta”(sometimes), something resembling “woof”, “bubba” and “pa”, her babbling has changed. It feels like something has shifted in the last week and that she is heading more towards stringing sentences together. Sentences which don’t remotely make any sense, but its pretty cool watching her evolve in this way nonetheless.

The coolest change is that she doesn’t hit us anymore really, unless in a TOTAL fit of rage… But on the flip side she DOES now push our face out of the way if we are all up in her personal space which… I always am, so thats kind of fair enough. #WhatCanISayILoveSmooches

But she has also started becoming rather clingy. Or rather, she has frequently and very LOUDLY started demanding cuddles from those around her hehehe. Which is usually me quite frankly. In fact, NOTHING calms her more than being held in my arms. At any hour of the day… and usually when I am trying to do chores. At times that makes things bloody difficult – I mean, I have short arms, and because of that it’s hard trying NOT to set her bum on fire whilst trying to cook our dinner every night. But it is also super sweet.

Because once she gets older I will have to beg her to love me. So I will take it now.

And my absolute FAVOURITE part of the day, is when she is tired… That may sound like a strange thing to say, however she is like clockwork when it comes to bedtime, and as soon as it hits that time she is extra snuggly. She sticks her thumb in her mouth, leans her head toward me for a gentle kiss before resting her head on my shoulder. Her spare arm wraps around me, and she gently pats me on the back like she is settling ME for bed instead of the other way around.

The closeness is beautiful. Her love is beautiful. She is beautiful.

And I cant wait to see what she is like next month. Holy Moly.

What is your favourite thing that your child is currently doing in their development? Leave me a comment below with their age and what that favourite thing is below, as I would love to read all about it! xxx