11 Months

Ay ay ay!  Anna Reaghan, you are ELEVEN months old!  There is only ONE more month until your FIRST birthday!  It seems impossible.  You are changing into a little person who is so expressive and curious and determined right before our eyes.  Sometimes your little baby coos communicate so much that it feels like we are having a conversation and I am startled that you are not actually talking to me.  I love the person you are becoming and I can't wait to learn more about you!

• weight: probably in the 17-18 lbs. range
• length:  I'd have to try to hold you still with a tape measure, and I can't imagine either of us enjoying that very much.  We'll wait for your one year check up ;)
• You are growing out  the last of your size 6 months, now mostly 9 month, 6-9, and 6-12 month clothing.
• Size 3 diapers [side note for the sake of recording the little details:  we switched you to Huggies Pure and Natural or something like that, b/c size 3 Pampers Cruisers look almost EXACTLY like Asa's size 4 Pampers Cruisers (he's in cloth diapers part time, but the diaper basket still has some of his disposables in it.) I didn't want to be guessing or having to closely inspect a diaper to see which size it was before I put it on.  These Huggies are working great for you!  I haven't loved other Huggies, but these are great!  We tried many different brands and types before settling on these. :)]
• You are still pulling bows out of your hair sometimes.  If I can distract you when we first put it in and prevent you from pulling it out, then we are usually okay after that. :)
• Your hair is getting longer and longer!  And we see more and more curly Qs.  I am thinking your hair will probably be like mine as a little girl and hold a curl really well, but maybe not be naturally as curly as your cousin Charis'.
• You still have 2 teeth. I think Asa had 6 by now, so this cracks me up.  But it is adorable!  I wonder if you will have just 2 teeth on your birthday/in your birthday portraits?
• You are still nursing 3-4 times/day (wake up, lunch, dinner, bedtime).  You eat food for lunch and dinner, but you are not hungry in the morning after you nurse except for a few Cheerios while Asa eats.
• You drink from a sippy cup now!  With all your meals, we offer you a sippy cup of rice milk, and you are doing great with it!  What a relief as Asa was so hard to get to drink from a cup!
• You are still sleeping through the night.  Wa-hoo!!
• You are awake about 2 hours in the morning before your first nap (1-1.5 hours long).  Then you are awake about 3 hours til your afternoon nap (about 2 hours, +/- 30 minutes).  Then you are up til bedtime, and you no longer turn into a pumpkin right at 7.  Since you are sleeping so much better at night, your bedtime is more like 7-7:30 and instead of 6:45-7. :)
• So your day often looks like this:  wake/nurse around 8:00, nap from 10-11:30, wake and nurse at 11:30.  Lunch at noon.  We play and run errands til nap at 2:30 (Asa goes down between 2 and 3 also).  You usually  nap then til 4 or 4:30.  Wake and nurse.  Play until dinner.  Eat dinner (varies depending on when Daddy gets home).  Bedtime between 7-7:30!
• You eat: green beans, sweet potato, whole grain bread, applesauce, soy yogurt, oatmeal, peaches, pears, plums, apricot, pasta, (we tried pineapple, but I think it's still too acidic for your tummy), avocado, banana, cheerios, puffs.  You tried black beans, watermelon, and shaved apple this month, but none of those were a big enough hit to be a regular rotation. ;)
• You are crawling faster and faster.  Cruising and doing LOTS of letting go to only hold on with ONE hand.  More than that, you are trying to let go and stand by yourself.  You GRIN when you do that! :)  Still "pushing up" and standing by things you have nothing to help you pull up with.  You are STRONG and DETERMINED.
• Yesterday you showed me you can climb stairs!  You are amazing!
• You LOOOVE Sammy Dog--you crawl so fast to get to her room and just sit and squeak at her and flap your happy arms at her
• You LOVE animals in general and especially fish after our Memorial Day weekend trip to the aquarium.
• You LOOOVE your brother and grin when I get him out of bed in the morning (you generally wake first).  You interact with each other more and more.  It is so sweet to see. 
• You seem very aware of others' feelings in general and adjust your actions accordingly.
• We read a book before every nap and before bedtime, and you grin every time. :)  You anticipate some of the silly things we do in the Can You Hop? book.
• You say "Mama" and you have little "uh-duh" whisper that sounds really sweet.  That's the closest we are to "dada" though.  
• You are signing "all done!"  Last week I was buckling Asa into his car seat and you were still in the stroller.  It was past your nap time and you had been so patient, but you were FINISHED.  You started frantically signing, "All done!  All done!  All done!" while I buckled him.  You also sign "all done" with you are done eating and sometimes when you are done nursing.  We are still working on "more" and "please" (for when you want something, not because I'm obsessed with an 11 month old's manners).
• You are waving at everything and everyone.  You love to stop in the middle of nursing and wave to the bird mobile above your chair. One Sunday you waved to the nursery volunteer as we left, and then you waved at every person we passed on our way out of church!  You also wave to airplanes when you hear them overhead.
• You are determined and you KNOW what you want.  You are still distract-able and we can redirect your attention when you are upset about something, but not as quickly/easily as we could with Asa!  You are your own person, and I am loving getting to know who that is.
• You are FUN!
•  We LOOOOOVE you, Anna Reaghan!!