Eleven months old

Eleven is a really big number. It's so close to twelve.

And eleven didn't really start so well. . . turns out Gracie's "mood" was an ear infection. It was a rough week with Grace being extremely clingy, cranky and not sleeping or eating well. Finally, I thought she seemed much more miserable than with just a cold, so against instinct I called the doctor. Glad I trusted myself - she already seems a little happier, and hopefully after a few more days of antibiotics, our cheerful baby will be back.

Grace seems to be working on both language and walking. I remember marveling at some eleven month old friends when Gracie was nine months and thinking how much more coordinated and precise their movements seemed. Now I can see the same change with Grace. She pulls up on all sorts of surfaces, even very unstable things, and can sit down carefully if you let go of her or if she lets go because something new interests her. She climbs around and flips herself here and there to get at whatever she wants or needs. We got her a push toy, and she quickly figured out how to use it and walk all the way across the room, but she seems to lose interest fairly quickly so we'll see if that actually makes any difference in when she walks. She's also cruising a little more instead of sitting down to scoot over to the next thing or person of interest. She'll even walk if we hold only one of her hands.

Language . . . hmmm. We think Grace's first word was "uh oh." We started to notice that when we said it, we'd hear a little echo a few seconds later. She gets a kick out of saying it all the time - all. the time. But I also think she says it in context, especially when something drops or falls. For instance, the other day she tossed her sippy cup on the ground, and when I asked "what did you do?" she grinned and said, "uh oh!" Her absolute favorite sound remains "dada" and she definitely says it more to Steve and when he's around, so we think she has made that connection. I'm trying to think it's awesome. Occasionally if we say hello, she'll make a similar sound, especially while she's making phone calls. We also think that "na na na" means I want something that I don't have - usually it's her sippy cup while she's eating (and usually she has just gleefully flung it off the highchair after taking a drink). I've heard that language development/acquisition is one of the most amazing and fun times of parenthood and I can see it already. I'm so looking forward to it.

The other funny thing Grace has been doing lately, and this is just normal developmental timing, is using objects "correctly". She has a toy cell phone that she started holding up to her ear, and she does the same with mine. She also will put a brush or comb to her hair. Once her appetite is back, we'll try giving her a spoon to feed herself.

Oh, and she has started to wave more consistently for both hello and goodbye. She was avidly greeting people in the doctor's waiting room on Wednesday (I think actually that just being in the waiting room made her get better - she was sick when we got there and her happy self by the time we were called back). She was really friendly and smiley with the doctor (we'd never seen him before) and he said, "you know what, Grace? I think you like new people in your life." He had her figured out.

Here are a few snaps of her taking some calls on Thursday, her eleven month day.