I'll blame denial for this post being so late. Also our laptop crapped out so I'm using our dinosaur of a desktop computer to write this, which will probably take about two hours to upload. I CANNOT believe tomorrow is your first birthday, Zobot! I better get to it, only 2.5 hours to go!Zoers,
If I had to describe month 11 in one word, it would be "ACTIVE". You are just all over the place - scooting, crawling, standing, reaching for everything and keeping us on our toes every waking minute. You're so much more independent now that you can get around on your own, though you still give us a lot of cuddly moments too.
This month you stopped eating purees! You're a strictly solid food girl now and you eat everything we eat. Your favorite? Meatballs. You love meatballs. Another favorite is taco night, which is good because let's face it - if you don't like taco night you're not going to survive in this family. You love everything, which I'm fascinated by. I guess I always thought babies should eat only bland food, or that they wanted only bland food. It seems like you're constantly eating. If it's not a meal time then you have a cup or bottle or a snack. We're really working on getting you to use a cup so that we can slowly transition away from bottles but so far no luck.
We pulled out a toy recently that was handed down from your cousins that you absolutely love. It's a chair that sings and reads a book to you and has a little talking lamp. You almost exclusively play with this chair. I think we could probably trash your other toys and you would be just fine playing with this chair forever. You sit on it, then you stand up and dance a little next to it, then you'll slap the lamp (you're really into slapping things [and people] lately) and flip the pages of the book around. Best toy ever.
Dad and I are still working on the walking skills. You didn't make it by 11 months like I thought you would, but that's okay. You're perfectly happy just scooting around everywhere. Once you're ready you'll go for it, and that's when we'll really be running around like crazy to catch up with you! Right now you're a pro at pulling up and standing up. You can even stand up on your own, but once you realize no one is holding onto your hands you sit down immediately. Be brave, little one!
Day care is going great, except for those darn naps. Now you take one or two 20-30 minute naps every day, which, compared to the four hours of naps you get at home, is not cutting it. I have to put you down for a nap when we get home almost every day, which cuts out a good chunk of our limited Zoey time. I've been missing you so much at work lately so this makes it even worse! You are learning a lot from your teachers and friends at day care. Your teachers have been telling us how smart you are and that you're starting to repeat things they say. One day at pick up they asked me if we have a dog. I asked why, and they said earlier they asked a little boy to get down off of something, and you said "Get down!" after they said it to him. This is something we often say to Swashbuckler as he tries to clean the remnants out of your highchair, so I guess you've caught on to that phrase! Oh you crack me up...
Your birthday is so soon and I'm getting more excited than one probably should. I'm taking a week off work beginning on your birthday so we're going to have lots of time together and I can't wait! You're growing up to be such an awesome little lady and we love you sooooooo much!
