11 months old!

Just one more month before our little sweetie is 1 year old!! I truly can’t believe how many changes a baby goes through in one year. So amazing! I’m just trying to keep up!

The biggest change for Lila and for all of us this month was switching daycares. I’m so happy to report that our new arrangement is going fabulously! Lila is adjusting really well and is learning so many new things. In the two short weeks she has been going to Miss Amanda’s, Lila has tried countless new foods, gone on playdates, completed some art projects (yes, at 11 months old), and has gone on trips to the park and the library!

I feel so lucky that everything has worked out! There is nothing more important to me in this world than my sweet daughter. And because I have to go to work everyday, her care while I’m gone is crucial, obviously! Lila is making new friends (human and canine), learning so many things and getting so much attention and interaction. I think it’s going to be wonderful for Lila’s development... especially for her language and creativity! And because I know she reads my blog, a huge huge THANK YOU to Amanda! You truly saved us! Thanks for taking such great care of Lila. I don’t know how to fully express how grateful we really are for you!!!!

Weight/Height/Sizes:
At her 10 month checkup Lila was 18 lb 15 oz. and she had only gained 14 oz in 2 months!!! I was so worried but the doctor wasn’t at all. She said that since Lila is so active and has grown a lot in length its nothing to worry about. She also had a little stomach bug around that time and was throwing up occasionally so she probably lost weight that way. We’ve been trying to fatten her up, so hopefully it’s working. I weighed her on our home scale the other day and it read 19.6 lbs. I really hope she is over 20 lbs at her 1-year checkup.

Her height at the 10 month checkup was 29.5 inches. She wears mostly 12 month clothes, some 18 month jeans and tops and a size 3 shoe, but some 2s still work.

Talking:
New Words - in addition to dada, mama, baby, Lila, yay...

bye - correctly pronounced now, and sort of in a Southern accent
dog - “gob”
bottle - “baba”
num num num - is “i’m ready for food now mommy”

She talks all the time in her own language. It’s really funny to hear her inflections and to start hearing some real words in there... she still loves that lower register of her voice and rarely does anything very high pitched. She likes to growl and do her Beevis and Butthead “huh huh” laugh a lot!

She remains very social and outgoing. She loves to look around, greet everyone in the room and wave! One funny thing that she does is when two people are talking and laughing to each other she will try to butt-in to the conversation by laughing and trying to get their attention. She is a little ham!

Motion:

Not walking yet. I’ve seen her stand on her own a few times and once she came toward me and kind of took a step. I just don’t think she is ready to fully go for it yet. She would rather crawl fast!! She is very nimble and moves around very well. She can squat to get things, cruises with furniture and the walls, likes to do a down-ward facing dog yoga move, and can climb stairs very fast!

Sleeping:

Still sleeps through the night beautifully, but is waking occasionally because of teething pain. Tylenol and some cuddles worked pretty well and she goes right back to sleep.

Her naps are changing so we are in a bit of a transition right now. She is almost ready to go to one nap a day, but not quite. She still seems to need a bit of a catnap in the morning (20-30 mins) and then will take a longer nap after lunch of 3 hours or so. When she is home with us on the weekends she doesn’t nap as well as she does during the week. But, that’s pretty much always been the case!

I'd say normal for her is 12-13 hours at night 7-7:30. And 2-3.5 hours during the day.

Eating:

Still has formula 4 times a day, around 6 oz each feeding, sometimes less. We are still totally on bottles and she still wont drink formula from a cup.

Eats 3 meals per day plus snacks. Loves big girl food and feeding herself. I think we are almost completely done with baby food! I still will give her baby food veggies and prunes if she needs them. She has been doing very well with drinking water from a sippy cup and I've been letting her try out a spoon and fork. Sometimes she even gets some in her mouth!

Favorite foods -

Cheerios, noodles, yogurt, meatballs or any meat really, baked or mashed potatoes, broccoli, broccoli soup, beans, baby goldfish

Least favorite foods -

Oatmeal, eggs (yep, two of mommy’s favorites!)

Nicknames:

Lila Bean, Goof or Goofy, Sleepy Gus, Silly Gus or just Gus! And for when she is being super destructive and daring: Lila-zilla or Lila Knievel. Haha!

Funny/new things:

Can “click” her tongue and does this often

She now has 4 teeth and is working on top canine teeth, we think.

Loves opening drawers and doors. She even closed the door to my closet the other day when I was in it... she said “Bye!” and closed the door with me inside!

Also blows raspberries a lot and does spit food occasionally, which is very annoying!

Loves to throw things. We taught her how to pick up her toys by throwing them in the toy bin and now she is obsessed with throwing everything. Food, spoons, toys, socks, everything!

Still loves to crawl through small spaces (under tables and chairs, through her tunnel), loves climbing the stairs, climbing our dressers (luckily they are very heavy)

Is showing a temper occasionally. If we take something away from her, or move her away from the stairs or pantry or dishwasher , etc. she will throw herself on the ground and cry! Very dramatic.

Loves the bath, but freaks out if she gets her face in the water or gets any in her mouth. It's absolutely frightening when she gets scared in the water because I always think she can't breathe. Oh my gosh, the scariest seconds of my life. I want to give her swim lessons soon to ease both of our minds about the water.

Starting to occasionally sleep with a blanket. She moves a lot in her sleep so it doesn’t stay on for long. We dress her very warmly for bed for that reason. I think she might be ready for a “lovey” of some sort. Up to this point she hasn’t been to loving or nurturing to any stuffed animal or doll, but we are trying!

Loves to be tickled and loves to laugh!! Her laugh is like nothing I've ever heard. The BEST sound!

Imitates us a lot. Will try to repeat what we are saying or she will clap or wave or whatever after we do it.

She points at things now. Not very often but she does occasionally point to things in stores or at places like the aquarium.

Very clingy to me this month. Sometimes daddy just won’t do, it’s got to be mommy! She even yells to get out of his arms and then reaches for me and hugs me!! I’m kind of loving it, sorry Neil!

Is starting to give big wet open mouth kisses. She also blows kisses, or tries.

Loves books and reading and loves turning the pages. Her attention span is still quite short so we don’t always make it through a whole book before moving on to another one

Has a very annoying tendency to slap us in the face or grab our faces or glasses/earrings/lips/noses! I’m trying to figure out a way to discourage this. I’ve tried ignoring it, saying “no” firmly and then looking away from her for 15-30 seconds, showing her how to touch “gentle”... nothing is really working yet. She is not hitting us in a mean way, its more just out of excitement. Hopefully she stops that soon. Toddler discipline is going to be fun, and especially with this little spitfire!

She says "bye" sometimes without prompting... if someone is putting on their coat or heads for the door, she starts waving and saying "bye"! Smart girl!

Neil and I just LOVE our little girl. She is (in our opinion) the smartest, sweetest, funniest, most beautiful baby EVER! I can't believe she is ours and how much we love her. I totally get why people brag on their kids all the time. The amount of pure love and pride I have for her in immeasurable. It's just not something you "get" until you are a parent.

I just hope we are doing her justice as her parents. It's VERY difficult to be a working mom. That's something for a different post, but it's so hard to be torn in so many ways. For me, I feel like I try to do all the things a stay at home mom does, but I'm just not there during the day... does that make sense? I feel like I am just as connected and devoted to my daughter and want to enrich her and be there for her as if I were there for her during the day, but I'm not. I guess that's where good childcare comes in!

Anyway, I cannot believe Lila will be 1 YEAR OLD in a month. So exciting!