10 Months and So Dang Smart!

My beautiful little Ariana. I am so fascinated by her everyday. I love watching her discover new things. You can see the awe on her face everytime she enfronts something new and interesting. She analyzes EVERYTHING. She will tilt her head back and forth trying to decide what she thinks about whatever she has come across, then she´ll either pick it up and study it some more or move on. She will scan the room when looking for something new to play with, I watch her as she lets her gaze move past the 20 toys strewn across the room, then I see her face light up as she zones in on an outlet or paper or anything destructable, chokeable or otherwise not good to play with, and she heads straight for it. Why are the toys not intriguing? Just a "been there, done that" issue? Or a "this will get my mom´s attention faster" issue? She is so funny and so decisive. She´ll even get the little mischievious smile and giggle when she sees me trying to beat her to whatever she is going after.

The other day I was putting on my mascara and she had her hand out grunting for it. So I closed it and gave it to her assuming it would just go straight into the mouth. But it didn´t. She immediately pulled on both ends trying to open it. Then she pulled harder. Then she changed hand positions, turned it over, looked it over, pulled harder. I was actually very impressed at her focus. She kept trying to open it for a minute or so, then when she decided it wouldn´t open, she chucked it. I kept thinking, "is she really only 10 months old"?

Today I threw her a little piece of cereal and it landed right behind her foot. I could see her looking for it and I told her (in spanish) "it´s by your foot, behind you" I was just talking to her until I could get back over to her to help her find it. She looked at me, so I told her again "It´s by your foot, behind you". She turned and looked straight at it and picked it up. Coincidence? Can she really understand that well already?? Honestly, I was floored. Again, "is she really only 10 months old". I guess her spirit is much older than that and half the time she is probably looking at me like I´m clueless.