My Eleven Month Old

Can I say that I feel like a terrible mother for dropping the ball on Lucia's eleven month post?  I mean, it's obviously not as bad as forgetting to change her diaper or something, but I do feel a bit negligent.  We've been busy lately, but today is the first day of my Thanksgiving break (6 days of unadulterated Lucia time!) so there are no more excuses!  I have, however, been diligent to write down the cute/new/exciting/adventurous things she did during her eleventh month so I wouldn't forget anything.

Last month was so exciting for both "developmental" milestones and "cuteness" milestones.  As far as developmental goes, Lucia could stand for about 5 or 6 seconds at a time.  She didn't (still doesn't) do it often and the trick to getting her to is to distract her.  Daddy will put her on her feet and give her a toy.  As long as she's interested in the toy in her hands, she stands.  As soon as she loses interest, she loses her balance also.  It's all mental!

She's been really into opening & closing this month, especially cabinets and drawers.  We finally had to start baby-proofing the "important cabinets".  Anytime David or I have a dresser drawer open, she crawls toward us and opens/closes it.  She's gotten her fingers stuck in it a few times, but only fussed until I freed them.  A few of her other favorite "play things": her puzzles, her books, and her new glow worm, Zoey Glowy.

At eleven months, she just started going to a non-family babysitter.  The sitter is wonderful, a stay-at-home mom with two preschool-aged kids that just adore Lulu.  (And Lucia's the only one she watches.)  Lucia has been great in her new environment, hasn't cried when dropped off and fusses only at nap time.  I've noticed for a while now that she's not too interested in other babies but she's crazy about "older" kids - not too much older - that are still close to her size but can do all the fun things she can't do yet (like walk!).  I was very nervous leaving her at the sitter's but she seems to be blossoming with her little friends.

Lucia eats SO MUCH now.  She's still nursing/drinking breastmilk from a bottle about every 4 hours, but she eats with us at meals (whatever we are eating).  It seemed like this month she went from having a few small bites to eating half my dinner!  I feel like we are soon going to have to make an extra portion for her.

A few not-so-fun developments: crazy, crazy sleep and tantrums.  If you take away a toy she's playing with or won't let her have something she wants, you better cover your ears!  She's still really good at "sharing" - playing with something then holding it out to whoever is playing with her (or holding out her food for me to eat) but if she doesn't offer it, she'll let you know that she does not want you to have it!  As for sleep, we've never gotten her back to sleeping through the night since we moved to Colorado in mid-July, but this last most, it's gotten even worse.  Instead of getting up once or twice a night, she's getting up four, five, even six times!  We've been trying it all: co-sleeping again, patting her until she falls back asleep, even crying it out, but nothing has really been seeming to work. 

Lucia only said one new word this month, but it's an important one: "Nana".  That's what we're calling my mom and needless to say, my mom's been in heaven!  It seems that she already knows the old "if mama won't give it to you, ask grandma" trick because if any of us tell her "no" or won't lett her have what she wants, she screams, "Nana nana nana nana!"

Ok, now onto the cuteness milestones: Lucia is a kissy monster.  She now blows kisses, she will (often, if she's in the right mood) give you a kiss if you ask for one, and she gives many unrequested kisses, seemingly out of nowhere.  She'll kiss your lips, your shoulder, your hands, even your feet.  Speaking of feet, she loves kissing her own feet.  She could keep herself entertained kissing her feet for five minutes.  It's adorable and hilarious.

I left the absolute cutest new development for last: Lucia tickles anyone (and anything) in her path.  David is always tickling her and will say, "tickle, tickle, tickle" as he does it.  So when she "tickles", she tries her hardest to imitate Daddy but it comes out, "dawdle, dawdle, dawdle".  Too cute!  She tickles people, dogs, and objects, including the walls.  If you laugh as she does it, you'll get peals of laughter from her in return.  I can't express how much I love my giggly girl!

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