Eleven Months And Counting

This is her serious, observant face. Her cheekies sort of poke out.

Dad took down the dead twig wreath from the outside door and hung up the beautiful live wreath he bought. Kate thought the wreath just perfect for peekaboo.

You may think I'm cruel, but I NEVER have gotten a picture of her crying, so after naptime the other day I decided I wanted to do a photo shoot BEFORE we nursed and this was the result. :-) I only took 3 pics.

Lydia & Kate giving each other some loves.

Kate is quickly leaving her babyhood behind her and growing into a little girl. She eats lots of table food, and wants to eat even more. In the morning, she usually eats her cereal while I eat mine. She usually asks for my cereal instead of hers! Her chief pursuits each day making me laugh and smile. Her sense of humor is so lively. She loves to hide under blankets, behind doors, or anything she can toss over her head. She recognizes pictures of herself and thinks it's so funny to look at them. Reading is actually one of her favorite pursuits. She's content to read on her own, and always points at the pictures. And of course, she loves it if Dad or I read her a book. She's fascinated with putting things inside other things and she's usually pretty good and matching things together. For instance, I allow her to play in our plastics cabinet and she finds sippy cups and tops and "puts" them together. Right now, she's hiding behind the laptop as I type and then popping out from behind the screen and seeing if I react. She has become an expert crawler & cruiser and several times has stood independently until she realizes that the toy she's holding isn't connected to the floor or a piece of furniture. She recently fell in love with her monkey, Jeremy. She loves to have him with her all of the time! She started giving us loves by laying her head on our shoulder & giving us pats. She also gives Jeremy loves and that is a killer to see! Currently, she is LOVING our Christmas tree. I hung baby friendly ornaments on the bottom and she can't resist taking them off (and then can't figure out how to put them back on.) Her personality is observant, friendly, cheerful, and VERY loving. She learns new games quickly and particularly enjoys reading books about babies (another new if infrequent word). Her latest trick is pursing her little lips together and saying, "Whoa-whoa-whoa" over and over with the most hilarious inflection. The pursed lips is my favorite part of the act. Of course, she also shows us her stubborn side accompanied by some unattractive squeals. So, I'm constantly reminding her to use a gentle voice & help her remember that saying mama attracts my attention in a much more positive way than squeals. :-) She consistently uses her own signs for all-done & more. She loves to sign because she KNOWS she's communicating. We're trying to improve her consistency in the "Where's Mommy?" game. She is about 75 percent I would say. And, we've dropped one nursing time, so we're down to 3. She hasn't complained in the least. Although I would say that during Thanksgiving, her nursing times were completely weird and she definitely let me know when we finally got around to nursing regularly that BOY, she was glad we were doing that again! I think my goal is to pare it down to 2 and then let her keep doing that until she doesn't want to. I think. These things change frequently. Well, for those who wanted an update on baby girl Katie-boob (Lydia's new nickname for Kate), I hope you enjoyed!