11 Months Old

Each phase of these 11 months so far has been both wonderful and challenging all at once. This phase is no different. She's finally sleeping (thank God), but she's all gas and no brakes when she's awake.  She is an explorer and an adventurer, but also a silly little thing.

Weekdays are hard for me.  I get some sweet cuddles with Grace in the morning, but usually not very long, because I need to leave for work by 7:45.  Then, after work, she's tired and hungry and fussy, and to be honest, I'm tired and hungry and cranky myself.  We do get a little bit of fun playtime in after work, but it's not very long before it's time for dinner/bath/bed.

So, weekends have become more precious than ever.  I love spending the day with her.  I love taking her out and about to places.  It's a huge hassle to get her ready to go places, but it's so worth it because she loves being out and about. And I'm so proud to have her in my arms wherever I go.

Here is the latest with Grace:

Teeth:
Grace now officially has 6 teeth!  She got her bottom 2 last summer, and we've been waiting awhile for more to show up. Just this past month, within a span of about 2 weeks, she grew top middle 4 front teeth.

Sleep:
I don't want to jinx it, but we've had a few really good months of sleep now.  Grace still wakes up at random times throughout the night.  But, I watch her on the monitor, and she usually rolls over, makes a few noises, sucks her thumb, and falls back asleep.  It's amazing!  She always has one big wake up though, where she cries and I come down and nurse her. This is usually around 2 am, but sometimes is as late as 4 or 5 am.

She still takes two naps a day.  At home, the naps are almost always exactly 1 hour 15 minutes.  At daycare, she seems to have one long afternoon nap about 2 hours every day.

Eating:
Grace is still nursing about 4 times per 24 hour period.  And eating lots of solids and drinking water from a sippy cup!  She loves all kinds of food.  She likes scrambled egg, chicken breast, avocado, cheese, all fruits, most veggies, and she loves her Cheerios and yogurt drops.

Sizes:
Grace is officially in size 4 diapers.  She is wearing 12-18 month clothes.

Milestones:
Grace isn't walking yet, but she's getting sturdier and sturdier on her legs every single day!  She loves to practice her standing, sometimes letting go for free-standing, but so far not longer than a few seconds at a time.

Grace still loves clapping, and can clap when I just say the words "clap", without actually showing her.  She sometimes waves byebye, but it usually requires a lot of prompting.  ("Wave byebye, Grace! Wave byebye to DaDa! Look, he's waving at you!" etc.).

She plays "Peek-a-Boo" with us and it is adorable! She will cover her face with a blanket, and burst into giggles when we say, "There she is!"

Words:
Grace is still saying "Dada" to Brian.  And still saying it to other random items (like the window).  But mostly to Brian!  She says "Mamamama" but not to me at all.  She sometimes imitates "hi" and "bye", but not consistently.  She loves to make noise and babble at us! So, I can't wait for some of her babbling to include actual words.

Likes:
Grace truly loves books.  It has been so cool to see how her interest in books has increased each month.  It's especially interesting for me, because my whole career is teaching young children how to read, so it's cool to now see first hand how the foundational skills of literacy can be introduced as early as infancy.
Grace is now able to pick up a book (these board books are heavy!), open it up, point to a page, and make random babbling sounds.  This is so cool to see!  Sometimes, she'll even grab on to a book, try to carry it over to me, and crawl into my lap to show me that she wants me to read it to her.  No matter how tired I am or not in the mood, if she crawls into my lap with a book, I will read it every time and hope I can continue to do so.  

More Likes:
Grace loves other kids. She smiles at the other babies at daycare when she sees them.  She loves when she sees other babies at church or at restaurants.  Recently, we were at a Chinese restaurant with my parents, and two other babies were there and making babbling words.  And Grace repeated their exact babbling sounds loudly right back at them.  The waitress was impressed and was like "They are communicating across the room"!  It was really cute.

Grace loves to explore.  My nickname for her is "my little sneaker" because she is always trying to sneak around to get into something! 

She loves animals! She sometimes sees the neighbor cats at my parents' house.  She'll try to follow them, but they usually keep a little distance from her!

Dislikes:
Diaper changes. Oh my goodness, diaper changes have become such a pain.  She rolls over, tries to crawl away, and cries as if I am torturing her for forcing her to lie there.  I try singing to her, showing her toys, and talking through the whole thing.  But she is not having it.

Strangers.  She's right now going through a minor stranger anxiety period.  She will bury her head in my shoulder and peek out at people. There is one man who works in the produce section of Kroger, and she has burst into tears twice just because he looked at her!

Overall, 11 months is a pretty wonderful and sweet age.  I try to appreciate every moment, because I'm realizing how fleeting her babyhood is.  These next few months we'll be entering toddlerhood, which is terrifying.  But to me, no matter how much she toddles or walks or talks, she'll still always be my baby in my heart. I'll never forget her chubby baby legs or the army crawl she did for months.  Or the happy panting crawl she does when she's exploring somewhere new.  I'm not ready for time to move on and her to take those first steps.  But I know it's inevitable and it's time.  I try to embrace each milestone, no matter how much it breaks my heart. She'll keep on growing and changing.  And I'll keep on cherishing every hug and every cuddle I get.