Saturday, June 13, 2015

11 months!

And here we are again, celebrating another month in the life of our girl. We've started gathering supplies for her first birthday, and it's hard to believe we're just weeks away from the big O-N-E.
she's always so happy when she wakes up in the morning

the signature cheesy smile
Girlfriend is on the move. She is curious about everything and pretty much never stops. Our apartment doesn't lend itself well to baby gates, so we've constructed a fortress of chairs, pillows, and our trusty Pack and Play in our living room to keep her contained. She is generally okay with this arrangement, but gets frustrated if we leave her in there by herself. We also have to do a lot of reassuring due to her bonking her head 10 zillion times a day. ;) She is so, so funny and cracks us up all the time. She now has six teeth (with, it appears, three more about to make their appearance) and loooooves to show them off. Singing and dancing are her favorite activities, and she will now enthusiastically participate in all action songs, clapping along to "If You're Happy and You Know It" and throwing her hands up in the air when we get to "hurray!"

clapping with Daddy
She started babbling a few weeks ago, and now says "dadadadada" all day long, preferring to practice it quietly to herself before breaking out at full volume. Her little baby voice is the cutest ever. No real words yet, but we're looking forward to those soon. Also, kiddo, a "mama" every now and again would be nice!

The monthly rundown:

SLEEP

She is still a great sleeper, although naps went a little off the rails this month. We figure the combination of teething, new milestones, and increasing separation anxiety are to blame. She (and we) are happiest when she gets her two naps in per day, but she skipped one nap a lot of days this month---sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Things seem to have leveled off the past few days, so here's hoping we're back on track soon. She'll go down to one nap eventually, I hear, but we're going to try to hold off on that for as long as we can.

Night sleep is still really good, and ohhhh how much better life is now that we're all well-rested. She puts in 11.5-12 hours overnight, so Brian and I have our glorious, glorious evenings together, and, if I get up early enough, I can sneak in a few minutes to myself to eat breakfast before she gets up. A few nights this month, she started hysterically crying about 45 minutes after we put her to bed. One of us would go in if she hadn't settled after a few minutes, and she would snuggle up, rest her head on our shoulder, and suck her thumb. During these days of chasing her all over the place, it's nice to know she still wants some cuddles.


EATING

Still nursing, usually four times per day, but sometimes more. She now knows exactly how to tell me she wants to nurse by pulling down my shirt, which is not my favorite, but at least she's communicating. ;) I am both looking forward and not looking forward to weaning and am trying to read as much as I can about it in preparation, to make it as easy on both of us as possible.



She's eating three meals of solid foods a day, although how much she eats per meal varies wildly. Her old standby of yogurt for breakfast continues to be a favorite, and she's now really into blueberries, too. Lunch is usually leftovers of whatever we had for dinner the night before. She also likes tortillas with cheese, pasta with tomato sauce, broccoli florets, asparagus, and beans. Purees are less and less interesting for her, and she'd much prefer to feed herself. Consequently, meals are always a giant mess.


MILESTONES

As I said earlier, she crawls everywhere, and she is FAST. She pulls herself up sometimes and is thinking about cruising along the furniture, but she prefers to kneel. She waves, claps, and gives kisses. She dances whenever music comes on and "sings" to indicate she wants to hear a song. She loves to look at books and flips through the pages of her favorites to keep herself busy.


sweet little curls

blowing raspberries

LIKES:

Chasing the cats; riding on Daddy's shoulders; hanging upside down; singing songs, particularly ones with motions; splashing in the tub


loves this, also hanging down his back by her feet

our cute little reader



DISLIKES:

Half the time we're not sure what she's upset about because her mood will change on a dime, but she consistently hates getting dressed.

  
rosy-cheeked at the zoo

I say this every month, but Claire is a joy. While we sometimes feel nostalgic about those tiny newborn days, we're mostly just excited to see who she becomes.

1 comment:

  1. Love the pictures of her reading -- what a cutie! Can't wait to see you all soon :)

    ReplyDelete