Sophie,
How are you eleven months old? How are we on the heels of your very first birthday party? I am up to my ears in party planning materials, invitations, decorations and ideas. Every time I make a decision or a purchase, I ponder at how we got here. You are such a precious little girl and we have spent every moment of the last eleven months soaking you up and loving you as hard as we can.
At eleven months, you weigh just over 18 pounds and are 30 inches long. You are still wearing a size 3 diaper and finally started to fill out your 9-12 months clothes. I unpacked bins of Ella’s clothes over the weekend and found tons of things she never even wore. You are more than ready for spring and summer weather!
You are still drinking about 22 ounces of formula every day, but I have bought my very last canister. I plan on picking up some whole milk this week and I’m going to try alternating between the two or making half and half bottles. We also fed you the last of the baby food this week. I’m sure you’d be content to eat it for awhile longer (you haven’t met a fruit or vegetable you don’t love), but you do so well with table food that I’m not going to worry about keeping it stocked. Tonight you had a cheeseburger and baked fries for dinner… yummy! You really like oatmeal or cereal bars for breakfast, cheerios and goldfish for snack time and you love sandwiches or spaghetti for lunch. We have been feeding you whatever we eat for dinner and recently you’ve tried grilled zucchini, squash, hamburger steak, pork chops and hash brown casserole.
You are very adventurous and love to be outside. We have recently started putting you in the baby swing and are so impressed that you love it. Ella never liked to swing (even until she was over two years old), but you have taken right to it. You just smile and giggle, no matter how high we push you. Recently, I’ve let you crawl around in the grass and you aren’t quite sure what you think about that scratchy stuff. This weekend, we spent some time in the driveway letting Ella ride her bike and practice hitting the baseball. We decided to put you in your walker again and you loved it! You drove yourself all over the carport and driveway and picked up quite a bit of speed.
You still aren’t walking, but I keep thinking it will happen at any time. You are standing up for long periods of time all by yourself, even in the bathtub. You have taken several steps at a time, but you get nervous and sit down. Your daddy and I remark that you “dislocate your shoulders” because if we try to hold you under your arms, you flip them over your head and slide out onto the floor. Adults need to have you in a very tight grip! You are still crawling from place to place and then pulling yourself up. You are the fastest crawler I have ever seen and love to be chased or surprised when you come and go.
We’ve started putting you in the pack & play to keep you confined, but you just hang out and play. Your favorite toys these days are books and play food from Ella’s kitchen. You still love to kiss and snuggle your baby doll, but you haven’t shown any real attachment to her or any other toys. You like your paci, but only at bedtime and during nap. When you get up in the mornings you leave it in your bed and sometimes I find that you’ve put it back in the paci pouch* yourself.
You’ve added only a few words to your vocabulary this month, but they are very important ones. You can say thank you and Ella. These might be mommy’s favorites. You have also started playing peep-eye (what we call peekaboo) yourself and it is so sweet. Sometimes you use your hands to cover your eyes, but you usually use a blanket or clothes that we’ve taken off. You also remove your socks and shoes every chance you get and love to hide in your sister’s room.
Your personality is really starting to blossom this month and it’s fun to see how different you and your sister are. She was so talkative at this age, but wasn’t much of a mover. You on the other hand, use your words wisely and are into everything! In fact, as I type this you are giving the dog a run for her money. I can’t wait to come back here in another month and see how many things have already changed.
We love you sweet Sophie-girl,
Mommy
*I got so tired of Ella throwing pacifiers into the floor out of her bed and never being able to find a replacement in the dark, that we hung a fabric pocket on the rail to keep the extras and we showed her where they were. Any time she lost a paci in the middle of the night, she would just grab another one and go right back to sleep. It saved mommy LOTS of walks in the middle of the night. We’ve done the same thing for Sophie and we have her put the paci back in the morning when she gets up. Some mornings I find her asleep with no paci and they’ve all been returned the pocket. I always find that so funny!
