Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Eleven Month Update

It's amazing how quickly this past year has gone. Even more amazing is the fact that in a few weeks time my baby will be one. ONE! My brain spins just contemplating it. Gone will be the baby. In her place will be a toddler. And if her behavior now is any indication, this little girl is going to give us a run for our money in toddlerhood. I can't wait.
But, I have one more month to call her a baby, so baby it is. This is what the baby is up to lately...

Weight: Who knows? Somewhere over 20 pounds.

Height: Not really sure of that either.

Feedings: 4 bottles a day, 3 solid meals, and 1 or 2 snacks
sidenote: I stopped nursing last week since she wasn't getting much anymore. She is loving her bottles. She squeals and laughs until I hand it to her. Then she greedily sucks the whole thing down.
Sleeping: 2 naps a day, about 1 1/2 hours each. About 12 hours at night.

New Habits and Skills: Kate has developed quite a few new skills this past month. Not all of them are cute and endearing. For instance, the desire to put her hands in the open toilet or eat the toilet paper after pulling a large strand from the roll. Not so cute. But really, the cute things outweigh the annoying (i.e. purposely dropping food on the floor and standing up in the bathtub) things. For instance, the love of her teddy bear. Just this afternoon when I gave him to her for her nap, she squealed in delight and pulled him to her face as if she was going to devour him in her excitement. She loves the bear. She usually only gets it when sleeping, so the rare times I give it to her outside the crib, she is so thrilled I think she may pop a blood vessel from all the screaming. Last weekend when I wanted her to sleep in the car, I gave her bear. She spent the first 15 minutes of the car ride talking to him, then the next 45 minutes just playing with his ears and eyes. So loving. So fun to witness.

She isn't trying to walk on her own yet, but she is constantly pulling herself up on things and trying to get around that way. She's almost comfortable walking only holding one of your hands, but she certainly prefers two. She can push herself around a bit on those little toddler bike/car things. She loves pushing around her walker or Padyn's babydoll stroller. Unfortunately, she has yet to understand the stroller is a dangerously precarious object that would rather fall over on top of her than move forward. Eventually she'll get it.

She is signing "Thank You" and occasionally "More." I'm not sure about "All Done" or "Eat." I've seen some evidence of them, but whether or not she's really got them is questionable. She'll wave hello and bye-bye, stick her arms above her head when you ask, "How big is Katelyn?" and clap whenever she feels the need to applaud herself. Speaking of applauding herself, she knows when she's done something new and great. The other night she climbed on and off one of those previous mentioned car/bike things by herself. When she got off (to standing, mind you) she turned to us, put her free hand up in the air, and hollered in that happy way that she does. She was so so so proud of herself. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.

She continues to enjoy crunchy foods of the carbohydrate variety. Actual food that she gains sustenance from...that's still a bit of a struggle. She does not want to eat real fruits, vegetables, meats or cheeses. She does love a few baby foods, so I just keep mixing in baby food she doesn't like with food that she does. Her menu is the same everyday: oatmeal with banana and some fruit she won't eat for breakfast, an orange vegetable with some protein baby food she won't eat for lunch and yogurt with some green vegetable baby food she won't eat for dinner. The only things that change are the foods she won't eat. I figure she's still getting a varied diet. Her snacks are varied. I try to fool her occasionally with a dried veggie or fruit. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
After giving me such a hard time in the sleeping department, Kate has really become the world's easiest baby to put to bed. Give her the pacifier, her bear, lay her down...night night. Usually we don't hear from her again. Thank you, God!
Other new things that she seems to love are giving you things and then taking them away, stealing her sister's sippy cup, pulling Padyn's markers out of their box and off the table, crawling with something in each hand that bangs on the floor while she moves, drinking water out of a sippy cup (usually Padyn's), and swiping everything within reach off Padyn's nightstand. I'm sensing a pattern of behavior that is not going to make Big Sister happy in the next few months.
And next month? Well, besides eating cake for the first time, I have a feeling we may be seeing more of that walking action. And hopefully many many more of those smiles and squeals that she's so fond of these days. I think I'm going to miss this baby...

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