11 Months

Well well well. Little One’s 11 month birthday- that’s BIRTHday- happens to fall on Labor Day. Whattaya know. I think it’s very fitting, don’t you? Of course Little One has been a good little laborer Herself, working hard day and night on this "growing up" job, staging the occasional strike or protest, and negotiating for higher broccoli payloads. Here are some more of the accomplishments my little teamster has managed this month:


Little One can now SAY these:

"NO"- by shaking Her curly head very. emphatically. That's right. Little One has the ability to object and She's not afraid to use it! Oh jeeze. Here we go.

"more", "milk", and "potty"- by signing. And She not only tells us when She needs the potty, but when we tell the dogs to "go potty", She makes the sign for them, too. In case they need encouragement.

"dada" and "mama", and "da-squeal" which means "dog".

She just about has the hang of "hi", "hello", and "all done". She's got the intonation, it's just the consonants we're still working on. She holds her play phone up to her head and says, "haaahDo-oooh!"

"La! La! Lalalaaa!!!" Which is Her artistic interpretation of the ABC song.

"RrAAAAWWWRR!!!!" As in, "Little One, what does a lion say?" "RrrAAAAWWWWRRR!!!"

She can now DO these:

Find Her foot when I ask. Also Her nose. And my nose. Which is good because you don't want to misplace feet and noses.

Play "patty cake", making the hand motions Herself. She loves "rolling" and "patting".

Patting in general is big. We pat-pat animals gently. She pats the bunny in the pat-the-bunny book. She pats the baby on the "pat and burp the baby" page of another book. She pats Her parents when She's trying to show love.

Or hugs and kisses. Sometimes if I lose her I holler, "can I have a hug?!" and She'll emerge from the cabinet/under the bed/inside the toybox and squiggle over to climb up and put Her chubby little arms around my neck. There you are, Little One!
She gives me a big wet kiss first thing every morning, and whenever She's just feeling lovey. Beware the kiss when She's excited though, it comes with teeth.

Eat with a spoon and fork (with help loading them first). Broccoli is still the #1 ammo.

Recognize differences and remember. So She can find a certain toy in the box if I ask for it, or choose Her favorite book off the shelf. ( "10 9 8" or "jazz baby").

Give me five. And high five!

'sing' and 'play piano' at the same time. PLUS shake the booty. It's quite the act.

Pretend. She very much likes to pretend to feed Her food to me. She holds it out and I pretend to take a bite, She squeals in delight and then eats it Herself. Sometimes She gets silly and stuffs it in Her mouth before my pretend-bite, then laughs hysterically with Her mouth full of lima beans, knowing She has just pulled a fast one on mama.
She also pretend-sleeps, so I will call to Her in the car seat "Little One! Oh Little One! Are you asleep?" Which starts the dominoes of sly smile, peeping through one open eye, giving up the act and laughing hysterically because She has again pulled a fast one on mom. Mom is so gullible.

Empathize? Miss? Something. Something for the dogs. She loves them. She loves them SO. So much that if they are getting kicked out because I just cleaned the floo-um...allowed out to play in the sunshine, She will wail and flail and cry real tears as the sliding glass door latches. Then dramatically heave Herself over to press Her face against the glass, pounding it with little fists and reaching to them with Shakespearean theatrics. Diva.

Remove Her diaper. It is good that She no longer likes to be in a wet diaper. It is good because we are getting more and more wet in the potty. It is bad because if I'm not paying attention and miss the wrist-flip that means "gotta go, Lady!" She will take matters into Her own hands.
J- Why is the dishwasher full of all our tupperwear?
C- Little One peed in it.
J- ALL of it?
C- Yes.
At once.

We're working on it. It will take awhile. But dirty diapers (knock wood) are a thing of the past. She even holds it when we're out, and goes when we get home. Yay for no more dirty diapers!

Put things INto other things. Instead of just taking everything OUT of everything. I reeeally hope She runs with this one.

Climb. She has figured out how to pull out each drawer just a little so they make stair-steps. She has stacked two empty toy baskets and climbed on top of them the better to scale the bookcase. She can climb the stairs. If you sit still long enough, She will climb you, too. I'm on the lookout for little flags bearing "LO" at the top of everything, as She claims the furniture for Herself. (I'm on the lookout as She climbs, too. For the Grandmas freaking out out there. Don't hide! I saw you cringing!).

Plus lots more stuff.

Whew! I told you She has been working hard. And, really Peanuts, we all have. She's quite the whirlwind to keep up with these days. Have you noticed these birthday posts are getting looooonger? Her development has hit an exponential curve. It is exhausting! And it's so so SO much fun. Physically She is doing great, eating like crazy and staying very healthy as long as we are very careful. She's still chillin' down there in the 10th percentile for height and weight, rockin' the 3-6 month outfits, but She's growing and growing and getting muscles under there. Actually...I can't believe how big she is already...but I'll save the sniffles another month.
Happy Birthday, Little One. All that hard work is paying off. You're turning into one heck of an amazing Little One, and we love you! In fact. One a scale of 1 to 10, you're an 11.