Eleven Months Old!

Caroline Hope, you are eleven months old today!  You have absolutely blossomed this month.  You are so much more interactive and doing so many more things than you were even just a month ago.  It is so fun to watch, but bittersweet as well to see our tiny baby growing up!

~ You now very clearly say Mama and Dada.  Not always on command, but when you say them you mean them.
~ You have a new favorite sound to make: "Hoo Hoo Hoo" like an owl.  You pucker up your little lips and will keep saying it over and over again whenever you are really excited about something!
~ You can stand up all by yourself without holding onto anything.  You still grab on to furniture to walk around but you stand for little stretches unassisted.
~ You still love to play phones and baby dolls with various objects.  You also love to play tea party now and know just what to do with the cup and teapot!
~ You love to wave hi and bye-bye to everyone you see.  You usually pretend to be shy for a minute when we talk to people, but then you reach out and give them a big smile and a wave!
~ You have recently developed a love for books.  You love sitting and listening to us read stories to you and will even sit through 5 or 6 at a time.  Your favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Go, Dog, Go (just like your big sister!).
~ You are FINALLY sleeping unswaddled.  It was not easy to break you of that...we have tried multiple times over the past 5 months or so and given up each time.  But you haven't been swaddled to sleep now for 2 weeks!
~ Speaking of sleeping, you are also putting yourself to sleep without being nursed or rocked.  Don't get me wrong, I still nurse and rock you, but I have been putting you down awake instead of asleep.  We went through a tough week or so where you kept standing up in your crib and throwing your paci out hoping we would come back (which we always did...), but you rarely do that anymore.  Usually you just roll over and go right to sleep, or you sit for a little while talking before you collapse!  You still wake up 3 times a night to nurse, but we might start working on that soon...
~ Now that you are unswaddled, you have started to develop more of an attachment to your purple blanket and your pink teddy bear.  It is so sweet to see you roll over and cuddle them as you fall asleep.
~ I just realized the other day that you haven't been to the doctor in three months, and even that was just for your 8-month well visit.  So, really, you haven't needed to go to the doctor since May.  Which, for my sweet little baby with allergies and skin issues, is really exciting!  You are doing so much better as long as you and Mommy just stay away from dairy, eggs, and peanuts.  We will go back to your allergist soon to see if you have started to outgrow any of those, but for now, we are doing just fine and your skin is beautiful!
~ Your hair is still growing in quite curly, especially around your ears!  It's one of the first things people comment about when they see you - "What cute little curls she has!"
~ You are doing so well eating just about anything we eat at the table.  You would MUCH rather feed yourself finger foods than eat off a spoon.  Your favorites lately are black beans and frozen peas.
~ You had started to throw food off your tray when you get full, which is a no-no, but you have now learned to sign "All Done" and that is helping immensely!
~ At last month's update you had four teeth, and you now have seven!  You have all four across the top and three on the bottom.  The fourth on the bottom should be coming soon!
~ You are quite the climber.  You LOVE climbing the first three stairs up to the landing in our house, but you can't make it down them.  We have a baby gate after those first three, but we can't gate off the bottom part, so I have to be extremely vigilant!
~ You love music.  You love listening to Mommy play violin, or Daddy play piano and sing.  You dance right along and clap your sweet little hands!

Here are your pictures!

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

 

Five months

 

Six months

 

Seven months

 

Eight months

Nine months

 

Ten months

 

Eleven months!

and how about big sister in the same dress =)

Sweet Baby Caroline, watching your grow and change this month has been so fun!  You light up our lives, and truly are our "Joyous Song of Hope", just like your name means.  We can't wait to celebrate one whole year of life with you next month.  We love you more than words can say!