Eleven Months!!

Oh my sweet girl just keeps growing and growing! Eleven months have gone by...that means almost 1 year, which means almost 5 years, which means she's almost headed to kindergarten, then she'll be having sleepovers, playing sports, driving, graduating....yikes. Maybe I should just slow down and stop worrying about her growing up and just enjoy her being a sweet baby girl! And let me tell ya, I sure do enjoy it. Even though she won't let you hold her like a baby anymore unless she's sick or really sleepy...anyway, here's what Mollie Michelle is up to at 11 months!

1. CRAWLING!!! Yep, she can do it. I was certain she'd completely skip this developmental milestone, but one day about two weeks ago she just decided to go for it. It's kinda funny; it's half normal crawl and half bear crawl. She's decided she can get a little more oomph out of her motions doing it that way I guess. Let the explorations begin!

2. Almost walking: She's continued to strengthen her abilities in this area and loves to walk with you holding her hands or pushing her new baby doll stroller. I love watching her walk with that thing. We've decided it looks like she's window shopping; she walks around with a very content, pleasant look on her face, (as if she's humming a little tune to herself) and stops to look at things on the shelf, then moves on to the next new item in her view. Her confidence in this area is growing, too, and I'm sure she's VERY close to letting go and taking steps on her own!

Dressed up for a day out on the town!

3. Spitting up: GONE! (Well, almost) I can't even believe I haven't had to put a bib on her in weeks. It was like over the course of a week, she went from soaking several bibs and burp rags a day to only having a little dribble here and there. I have no idea what it was that made it stop, I guess she just grew out of it, but it is SO NICE! I can handle a little dribble here and there as opposed to everyone in her vicinity smelling of vomit. Now you can see what's on the front of all her cute little shirts :o)

4. Talking/babbling: She's quite a talker, especially when she's very interested in what she's playing with. She's still talking in her "sentences" and has added a few new syllables. I hear "Dadadadadada" a lot, and this week she's really started saying "mamamama" a lot, too. I think that's mostly because she's been sick and only says Mama when she's really mad or doesn't feel good. She's recently added "nnnnnga" to her vocabulary. Not sure what this means yet, but we've decided it sounds like she's speaking some kind of German dialect when she repeats this syllable over and over. Other things she continues to say: Hi Daddy!, uh-oh (haven't heard it in a while though), and she'll sometimes mimic what we say, though those words haven't become a permanent part of her vocab yet.

5. Really loves books: This we've known since she was born; she's always been quite content sitting in your lap reading books before bedtime and naps. However, lately she's started to show preference for books as opposed to other things. For example: when we're reading before bed, instead of either squirming to get down or getting distracted by my necklace or something, she's reaching over and grabbing another book to read. Another example: out of all the presents she opened over Christmas, she squealed with delight when she opened a gift and books were there! I have several books at her reach in the living room and she'll crawl over and pull those out to "read"...she'll babble while turning the pages and have a "deep thought" look on her face. I hope this continues!

New book from Santa!

6. First doctors visit for being sick: Unfortunately, this week we had our first (two) visits to the doctor for being sick. The poor kid had a fever all week and was VERY lethargic and fussy, but with no other symptoms. Since the fever lasted for more than 3 days, they had to rule out a urinary track infection, which involved a catheter and a tearful momma :o( It made me sad that they had to do something rather invasive, but we at least had to rule it out. No UTI was present, but then she developed a stuffy nose and cough. So we're going on day 6 of being quarantined. Her fever is down now, so I think we'll be ok to venture back out in public tomorrow.

This baby did NOT feel good!

7. First weekend away from Mom and Dad: As you may have read in the last post, we went away to celebrate Jason's (early) birthday child-free. She stayed home with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly and they took great care of her while we were gone. We even did ok with out her :o) More weekends with grandparents are sure to come!! Y'all just get ready!

8. Almost weaned from nursing: At first, I had no idea how long breastfeeding would last for us, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Turns out, it's worked out quite well for us and I'm glad we've been able to keep it going this long. For the past 2 months, Mollie's been supplemented with formula, too, and we've gradually increased the formula and decreased the nursings. We're now down to once a day and plan to be weaned by her birthday! Time for big-girl sippy cups only!

9. Fine tuning her fine motor skills: Mollie continues to figure out more things to do with her little hands. Back to her love of books, she is mastering the art of turning pages. She does a great job with the board books. This morning I sat and watched her turn pages in a magazine I had laying on the table: with that look of deep thought back on her face, she very gently and carefully used her thumb and finger to turn one page at a time.

10. Teeth: Mollie now has 3 teeth, all on the bottom. She's very close to having 4 on the bottom, and her top 4 teeth look like they could break through any day. Sounds painful if you ask me! So we've been giving her frozen fruit in her mesh feeder with her meals so that she can gum away those teething pains! She loves it and it works :o)

Two (visible) teeth and counting!

11. Kisses: Mollie still loves to give kisses. I think it is the sweetest thing ever. Even though she gets drool all over you, it's still sweet. She got two baby dolls for Christmas and the first thing she does each time is give them kisses while saying "ooohhhh". Is the nurturer already coming out in her? Is this evidence of gender roles already playing out? Did we teach her this or is it inherent? Hahaha, all those child development classes are coming back to mind and it's fun having a live example to observe!

Ooohhh sweet kisses!

Well, we sure our proud of our little Mollie and feel that she's on the verge of having some major breakthroughs in her development! I'm very excited to see what she'll accomplish next. Bring on the birthday cake, this girl's almost one!!!

Having a great Sunday afternoon watching football with her daddy!!