Now you've gone and done it...

You've gone two whole days with nothing but big girl food. You're not terribly impressed with milk, but you've got time to let that grow on you. You looooooove sandwiches. We like that. Breakfast bananas and cherries with daddy is also a hit. So from here on out it's no more mush. Something tells me you'll be ok with it.

Eleven Months

I can't believe I'm sitting here doing this. I feel like we've already spent a lifetime together, but truthfully, this is where all of the fun starts. You've developed this awesome and sassy personality, I frustrate you daily- but you get over it. You got teeth 8, 9 and 10 this month. No stats until 12m, which will be more like 12.5 since we won't see your doctor until the middle of September, let's not dwell on that, let's just talk about how awesome you are. Ok?


Margaret can SAY:

• all done [ah duuuh]
• that [dat]

Margaret CAN:

• walk, not well. But she gets it done
• open and close doors
• flush a toilet, thanks honey
• climb stairs

Margaret likes:

• Taco Tuesday
• Despicable Me
• sprinklers
• hot dogs
• watermelon
• carrot cake
• slides!

Margaret does not like

• whole raspberries
• peas, we sort of knew that
• putting on shoes

I'm so glad you're here. You make some fabulous faces that make me make equally awesome faces. And while you're sometimes a challenge, you don't ever let me get bored. Thanks for that boo bear.

Whoooa Nelly!

You walked. Over 8 feet. Through the kitchen. You didn't even fall- you quite gracefully lowered yourself to the ground when you got to the end of the kitchen.

I'm in trouble now.

Well that's a relief, I suppose

You're headed back to normal- thank goodness. I couldn't take much more of that.

You had Roseola. It does make me feel better to have an explanation for all of the terrible of last week. I don't really enjoy that it could only be diagnosed AFTER the fact. But that's just the way it works.

If you wouldn't mind though, can we make it until your birthday without any other sort of ridiculous indecent? That'd be awesome. My nerves are pretty well shot.

This is my serious face.

You are very sick. You have a temperature over 103, you're throwing up- and the doctors don't know why.

You've got me more than a little worried at this point. So if you could do me a solid and knock it off, I'd appreciate it.

EIGHT!

The 8th means 8 teeth! You now have all four top and bottom teeth.

This is what they call, strong willed.

We'll blame it on that little bit of Livernois, because after all, there are fewer of them around to contest. You've clearly had your own agenda from the very beginning. You don't seem to have it written down though and most importantly, it changes frequently and often.

While all babies develop at their own pace and in their own time, you embody this in the most fantastic of ways. While I was pregnant, at the end I would have contractions that were 5min apart and lasting for about a minute. My doctors use the 5-1-1 rule; which is 5mins apart, 1min duration for 1h. They would only ever run for a maximum of 50min. It felt like you were mocking me silently. You showed me that you knew how to go, but you weren't done at the party yet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't annoyed.

When you were learning to roll over you'd get your torso turned but your hips and legs would be stuck. Almost as if your diaper was too heavy and you couldn't possibly move it. This went on for over a month, until one day you rolled. You rolled like you'd been doing it for years. Sometimes you'd catch me watching you and flash a proud smile. But those weren't terribly often.

Learning to crawl was terrible on everyone. You were so frustrated, you wanted to move. You were in the big baby room at daycare; so you saw all of them moving. You tried so tirelessly to figure out how to get everything to do what you wanted. You'd move a few feet and then plant your face in the floor to have a good cry. I think you wanted to cross the room in seconds and you couldn't figure out why you were still staring at the same old toys.

Once you learned to pull your self up cruising along furniture came within a day.

But walking? It's taking forever. You take somewhere between 2 and 6 independent steps a day. Some days you look so proud and amazed, other days you look down right terrified. You've been doing it for well over a month and you still insist on holding 2 hands when walking. If you're only given one hand to hold you get, mad. I'm not sure what the hang up is. But I know you'll get there in time. And I'll be watching with a happy heart the whole way.

Happy Independence Day!

Today you drank from a straw- it took a few tries but once you figured out that there was lemonade on the other end, it was over. You got to have your first Ted's hotdog too. Not a bad way to spend the 4th. We didn't try to go see any fireworks with you and thankfully you slept through most of the ruckus.

I'd say you had an all'merican day.