Amber is so cute

Amber turned 10 months 2 days ago - so she's officially been outside longer than she's been inside.

She's such a cute baby. Then again, I think Nigel and Shannon were just as cute. Just that back then we were too worried, over-stressed, and plain inexperienced to stop, look at the baby and just appreciate the cuteness that exudes from the little creature. And it's real cuteness, not the pretend type that older children can act out.

Only a baby can "pat" a table, try to pick up a cheerio, look down on the floor (when she drops something), explore your face with her teeny fingers, twist her head to-and-fro in lightning time (if you take a picture, you'll get a blur fuzzy face image) trying to catch the sight of something whizzing by - and yes, just shriek in 100% pure excitement, all with an air of innocence, worldly wonder and yes I say again, cuteness. It makes me want to pinch her cheeks, squeeze her little body and rub my face against hers until red rash spots appear - they disappear after a while, thank goodness.

Earlier, I was just staring at her trying to capture every moment, freeze the scene, pause the frame (watching one too many movies?) - attempting to remember this 10 month baby trying to fold the menu, pat it, crumple it, drop it on the floor, lean over and stare at it and wait for me to pick it up and give it back to her to do the whole routine again.

Time flies, as we all know, and soon she'll be older, self-concious and faking (in a nice way) the cute behaviour - which we all like too. So while we say "Amber, don't grow up so quickly", we know it has to happen. So we savour every moment of her "baby-ness" right now.