TEN MONTHS OLD!

This 9th month is over! What? The 22nd marks the end of another month with Baby Nessa. The fun continues, and, if I forget to mention it, we LOVE being parents. It's pretty dang cool. As Daddio says, "Every month brings something new."

For her 9th month, Vanessa had more vaccinations with her pediatrician, Dr. Bravo. Our little Nanners continues to gain weight and cranium, but has slowed in the length/height department. Jack continues to bandy about his favorite college term, cephalocaudal, when explaining how our baby is developing head first. She will eventually get to growing those monkey feet out to size 10 (or beyond). Van wears 24 month old onesies but only 12 month old pants. Her hat size is 3T.

Here are her growth stats for those of you keeping score at home:

length 28.5 inches (75th)

weight 22 lbs. 7 oz. (95th)

head circumference 48 cm (off the chart)

We have not taught Vanny how to wave bye-bye or play pat-a-cake. Thank goodness she taught herself peekaboo, otherwise we would have failed all those milestones asked about! All Dr. Bravo said was we were already giving her the best gift - being so wanted.

Nanners sprouted a new tooth - one of her Two Front Teeth - yesterday. Dr. Bravo had warned us her upper gums were extremely swollen and four teeth might erupt very soon. I had a heads-up that something exciting was going on when Van slept on her face with her rump high in the air all night, then slept all day long. All that for one little tooth!

We decided to sign up our very busy little Monkey Princess for swim lessons. As it turns out, VH1 is quite the fish: her instructor took her underwater on Day 1, within 15 minutes of getting in the pool. She also swam on her back. The other babies are 2 and 3 years old. Vanessa (and her mama!) grinned and sang the whole hour, and we only cried when we had to get out.

This weekend Daddio suggested we attend the local humane society's dog festival with our Golden Hound (who turned 3 on 10/15) and his best girl, VanNestlekins. Not only did we attend, Milo smoked through the practice agility course, and Daddio took third place in the "Owners who look like their dog" contest. He was holding Vanessa, who perhaps helped edge out the competition with her Milo-colored hair. I wanted to enter Milo in the "Best Kisser" contest, but we had to leave before that one. Next year, though: watch out!

I am so over-the-top excited about our infant daughter and her obvious signs of [you name it] that I find I'm one of "those" moms. You know, the kind of mom who thinks their baby is a genius at everything and gorgeous to boot. That would be me.

First off, I entered her in the Baby GAP casting contest and took it as seriously as any aspiring stage mom. Jack asks, "Did she win yet?" every day and all of the moms I get together with on Thursdays entered their gorgeous babies, too, so I'm not too far out there beyond the Bell Curve. Here are the shots I submitted... of course I'm very upset (with myself) they are over-exposed.

Secondly, Vanners did so well swimming that I bought her a starter tricycle. Well, she also did so well climbing Duncan's stairs and riding his yellow taxi and rocking horse, that I feel quite certain she's the next Tiger Woods of [you name it]. Not to be outdone, Daddio couldn't wait to see Vanny's pool prowess, and when he did, I found myself asking him to dial down the enthusiasm for pushing new skills. We are both eerily crazed with enthusiasm.

Thirdly, poor little Nessers also debuted her first word, Dada and Mama (and Nay Nay) aside. She said, "Milah," as Milo brushed past her. I was thrilled. The next morning she said it again, however I've neither caught it on tape nor had a witness, save Milo. So do I put it in her baby book? What do you think?

Our little cherub continues to dazzle and entertain us. "How wonderful life is while you're in the world," Nanners.