Eleven months...where has time gone?! This has been one of the best months so far because I've been able to spend the whole thing with you!!! Its absolutely fascinating to me how much you understand what we say and how quickly you pick up on things. At the beginning of the month you were crazy about animal books (especially Brown Bear, Brown Bear). After reading them a million times and working on animal sounds, you learned how to growl like a bear! When I ask you to be a bear, or what does a bear say - basically just say 'bear' - you do the cutest little growl! Sometimes you'll mimic a cat, dog and cow, but the bear is your favorite and one that you do almost every time.
You look all around when we ask you where Ozzie is or when we meow; you perk up whenever you hear a dog barking, a bird chirping, or a loud vehicle/truck outside; you know what 'eat' means verbally and through signing; you consistently sign "more please" when you're eating; you know where your toes are; you know what to do with a brush/comb when we say 'brush your hair; you bounce up and down when we say 'dance, dance'...and my absolute favorite is your love of music and singing.
We started going to Baby Talk each week and you love it! You can play with other kids, other cool new toys and you love to sing and do hand motions to the songs. We sing them at home too, and its adorable to see the happiness come across your face when we sing the first few words of a song you know - your face just lights up and your arms start waving.
You've had huge motor developments this month too, especially just within this last week. At the beginning of the month, you were doing so well cruising around the house, or in the driveway, in your Beetle walker, but now you'd much rather not be contained. You're so quick walking around the table/furniture, you pull up on everything and love to walk when holding someone's fingers. Within the last week, you've started letting go of the furniture/wall/etc and standing all by yourself. At first it would only last a second or two, but within a couple days, you were able to clap and swing your arms around before either diving for me, grabbing the wall/couch, or falling to your bottom. Then, on 4th of July, you took your first one/two steps while at Linda & Roger's!! You were standing by yourself and I was sitting on the floor in front of you, and instead of diving for me, you decided to move your foot first! You did this a few more times, one time you moved both feet! It was so exciting!! Since then, you've been taking a step or two when we practice together, and I even saw you do it by yourself to get from one thing to another! Before we know it you'll be running!!
**Tonight, at eleven months, you took your first more steps! We were all in your bedroom taking your monthly pictures on your chair and quilt. I stood you up to get a picture of you standing on the quilt, and you started walking towards me! Luckily Daddy already had the camera up because he was able to get the next time on video! You took about 5-6 steps several times tonight!! We're so proud of you!!!
Another big change this month has been your eating habits. I'm so proud to say that you're still nursing at eleven months old. When I was pregnant with you, I knew I wanted to give breastfeeding a shot, but I didn't set any long-term goals because I didn't want to disappoint myself. Thankfully, we've had a fairly easy journey and are so close to making it to one year! Anyway, you have cut back on how much you nurse during the day, and I'm totally okay with that. You're slowly weaning yourself and I am planning to let you dictate when you'd like to end this journey.
You also love food! There hasn't been anything that you won't eat! You're slowly starting to get annoyed when we feed you baby food on the spoon because you'd much rather be eating finger foods and feeding yourself. I love the you're striving for independence...wonder where you get that trait from?! I like to feed you a thing of baby food first, then I'll give you finger foods, because if I give you finger foods first, there's no way you'll take the baby food off the spoon.
We typically eat our breakfast together. We'll have peanut butter on toast or cinnamon raisin toast with yogurt. Of course you always want my Greek yogurt instead of your own, but I don't mind sharing with you. You've definitely mastered the straw sippy cup and are getting better at the regular kind.
You're slowly losing your 'baby' and becoming a little toddler - it's amazing! We cannot believe we're going to have a ONE year old in just a short month! Let's enjoy every second of it! We love you, baby girl!
