Ten and a half months old and growing!

Thought I'd just do a quick update on Carissa. It seems like all of a sudden she has accomplished some things she's been working on for quite a while. She said Papa today! For a while now she's been working on whispering the soft little pa sound. But this morning Shane and I were in the kitchen, he had just gotten home, I was drinking my coffee and Carissa was in the playpen watching from afar. "Papa!" Just like that. Shane and I look at each other and smile and gasp, then he goes over there and bends down and she says, "Paaaaaaaa," and holds up her arms for him to pick her up. It was soooooo cute. I'm so glad I saw that. He melted. She can stand! With my help, of course. I was even having her try to pull up on the table today. She doesn't really enjoy standing, but it's coming along. She says, "ball ball ball ball ball," when she's playing with a ball. When the ball rolls away from her she can lean over and instead of grabbing it, which she has learned makes it roll away from her, she cups her hand around it and bats it toward herself with her fingers. She knows how to watch t.v. now. I know, not a real milestone, but still. I thought it was interesting that when she was younger she would totally ignore the t.v., but now she knows there are some fun things to watch on it. She eats most of her food with her fingers now, although she's pretty darn picky. I feel like I'm feeding her the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At least it's pretty healthy food. Peekaboo is still her favorite game ever. She gets a real kick out of hiding under a blanket. Sometimes she'll just hang out under there for a while. What is she waiting for, I wonder. I guess she's just intrigued. This week she has learned how to get from her belly to a sitting position, a HUGE accomplishment, I think. And, this week we started to "discipline" her. I know, it's time already. When she is getting ready to throw food on the floor I say a warning, "ummmmmmmm!" Then when she throws it I say, "uh-oh!" and pick her up and put her in a room alone for about a minute. She doesn't seem to get that this is supposed to be a punishment! Well, it's good practice for me. I'm learning that the baby is smart and can be trained when she does something that is unacceptable. This morning I gave her that warning, "ummmmmm!" and she put the grahm cracker back on her tray and shook her head no! Wow, maybe it is working!! I think she is signing back to me, too. I've been trying to teach her, "all finished," when she is finished eating (cakes are done, people are finished). Today I really think she signed back, even though she really wasn't finished eating. Carissa's world just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Completely amazing.