11 Months

It is impossible to think that as I write this the next month's post will read Happy Birthday!  You are an incredible joy in our lives.  You continue to smile and laugh at virtually all times.  You love people and the ability to interact with them.  You are still completely comfortable to be dropped off at the nursery or at First Steps.  I will probably laugh at this in the future, but have asked the ladies that have watched you without us around if you are aggressive.  When I asked the Director of MDO, she literally laughed at me and said you do not have a mean bone in your body.  To this point, I will not argue, my only fear is that you play too rough.  Your pats that you give us and others are so sweet but oh so hard.  You have a sweet spirit and would not hurt a soul on purpose, but sometimes I don't think you know your own strength.

You had an interesting month as far a food is concerned.  You went through a long stretch where you were 'over' bottles and had no interest.  Thankfully that phase has passed and still drink 4-5 4oz. bottles a day coupled with your meals.  You are sippy cup champ, but really enjoy the opportunity to drink for our glasses or any liquid we place in straw to give you.  You certainly have a choice food 'color' group.  You would be perfectly satisfied with goldfish, cheese and peaches.  We continue to expose you to other foods/colors to show you life is a bit bigger than your choice three.

You have never required a great deal of sleep especially compared to your peer group.  You are now consistently waking up between 6:15 and 6:30 no matter when you normally go to bed (normally 8:30 - 9:00).  You are so happy when you wake up that we can't be angry to get up and go get you from your room.  I am now in full swing with tax season so I am already up, but we may have to talk about this pattern when I get to have Saturdays again.  With respect to naps, you take one in the morning and afternoon and they have been long enough to let Dad get quite a bit accomplished.

You LOVE books!  You will sit in your room and pull every single one of them off the bookshelf and 'read' for a very, very long time.  Our current definition of reading is turning page after page and stopping on most every one to see if there is an object that was meant for you to touch.  You love touch and feel books and books with flaps.  I love that you are showing what I would deem is an early interest in reading.  At this point, you are really not yet interested in listening to us read to you, but I think you are well on your way to that point.

You are:

• Able to turn things off and on without our help - lights, your jungle in your bed
• Able to shut doors and open and close drawers
• Feed us your snacks.  We love how you share, but sometimes you will take them back if we are not fast enough
• A speed crawler
• Walking holding our fingers
• Balancing on your own
• Walking behind your dinosaur at a very high rate of speed
• The best driver of Cozy Coupe I have ever seen
• Curious
• Incredibly happy.  You constantly clap and cheer.
• Verbal.  You will attempt to imitate each and every sound we make with great success.  We are anxiously awaiting more sweet words from your mouth.

We love you so much and are blessed to have such a sweet, sweet daughter.