Miranda is 11 Months and Walking 2015

While we were staying in Charlottesville, Miranda turned 11 months old. But have no fear! I packed her month sticker!

My sticker says 11 months!

Her most noticeable change is that she started walking! She took her first steps on February 24, a few days after turning 10 months old, and just a few days later she was practically running around the house, turning corners with ease and even carrying heavy toys around with her!

Running with the bottle, March 4.

Now that she can walk she has a better vantage point from which to attack-tackle James. This might look cute in pictures, but she is BRUTAL to James. The problem is James encourages it and even laughs most of the time, but every now and then she really clocks him!

The anatomy of a tackle

The other amazing thing is that I was finally able to put her down for naps alone! She resisted this just like James did as a baby, but once I night sleep-trained her she got used to the idea that I wasn't going to pick her up after I put her in her crib until she slept. Besides, James used to throw up from anxiousness if I put him down for a nap. I found the fact that Miranda didn't do that to be very encouraging. My life is so much better now that she has a little alone time, and she actually naps better. Plus James hated being quiet while I held her, now he can be a little more active while she's in her room with the door closed.

In her sleepsack on a morning we woke her to get her on Daylight Saving schedule

Skills and personality: This baby has mad skills. She says dada (first word), mama (for me and for milk), and for a little while she said baba for ball. That's gone away now though.

"Baba"

She crawled, danced, and walked in that order. Her dancing is officially awesome. She drops her butt and bounces to the beat. She prefers funk music. She also claps when she really likes music. 

She points for things she wants. A lot. She's kind of running the place with her little index finger, actually. She also gives high fives though that's been going on for a long time.

She plays and copies us and James. She scribbles. She loves getting her picture taken and sometimes tries to see the result of the picture on my phone or camera.

Doing a little baking...

Stole James's Leapfrog but appears to be using it correctly

She has her own little sense of humor. She thinks she's funny. She kind of is. She's a little mean which is part of her humor, and she's very stubborn. She understands "no" and also that it doesn't apply to her.

Pretending to feed James a bottle.


Love this expression!

She's been giving hugs for a long time, but while we were in DC she started making kissy noises which I take to mean she is giving us kisses. So far I've only noticed her blow kisses to me and Kevin.

Best friends.


Maybe.

Love her like crazy!

James is 11 Months Old 2012!

Wow, James is almost a year old! How did that happen?  I mean don't get me wrong... it's been a lot of long days, but it's like Gretchen Rubin says, "The days are long but the years are short." So true.

James at 11 Months, March 20

Moving- He runs around the apartment like a crazy man. Full run. You turn around and he's zipped into the bedroom to admire himself in the mirror, or to the kitchen to look at my fridge picture-magnets. If you leave the bathroom door open, it takes him exactly two seconds to go in, open a drawer, and pull out my hairbrushes. If I let him be in his room for two seconds, he immediately starts yanking all the clothing out of his drawers, or EATING his books. Yes, his books look like they were attacked by starving mice. Teething has been hard for James.

Sleep- James is still sleeping through the night (mostly) and thanks to Daylight Savings, he now usually sleeps from 8:30 p.m to 6:30 a.m. Sadly, he still makes me hold him during all his naps which is a sad waste of precious recharge time.

About to grab my hair brushes, February 22nd

Eating- He eats anything you give him. Anything.  A short list of foods he's tried: beef, chicken, ham, turkey, egg, apple, banana, blue berry, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheerios, oatmeal, pasta, rice, wheat bread. That's just off the top of my head. He's the least picky eater ever (so far).  Note, above, he eats books. More interestingly, he can now grab little bits of food with his hands and shove them in his mouth, although he's not terribly graceful about it. Sometimes he ends up licking the food off the back of his hand. He also actually sips liquid out of his sippy cup, though I've limited him to water because he likes to drool it out wherever he's dragged the sippy cup.

Eating Cheerios (making a funny chewing face), March 14

Licking the mango baby food, March 18

Growth- I'm not sure because we didn't have a doctor's appointment this week but he's been outgrowing a few items of clothing here and there.  He has 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. He has 13 baby teeth to go!

Social- Oh boy. This is a mixed bag. He gives hugs and kisses sometimes, but it's not a daily occurrence. He shows the most affection when he "hides" behind you and you wonder out loud, "Where is James?" He run out and surprises you. He loves this game and finds it hilarious several times a day every day.  I think it's pretty great too.

On the other hand, he's learned to throw tantrums when the tiniest little thing frustrates him.  I didn't think that sort of thing happened until children were 2 and as it's impossible to reason with him I try to calm him down without necessarily giving him what he wants. That's not always possible though because if what he wants is to be picked up, it necessarily goes along with calming him.  In related news, my back is sore every single morning.

Oh and I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but when Grandma Kathy was here she taught him to shake his head no. So now when I tell him not to touch this or that, he shakes his head, and really his whole torso.

Getting a super awesome hug from James, March 2

He loves mirrors, maybe he needs some friends?, March 12

Language- Some days he says "mama" a lot. This isn't actually new to this month, but this month I became convinced that he meant something by it, if not precisely me. He either means me, milk, parent, or attend to me. I think he means something though. I've also started pointing at things more when I talk about them, so he points at stuff now too, though he points without any meaning behind it. He just randomly points. I try to respond to the pointing by telling him the name of stuff, but he doesn't actually care yet.

  

Close-up at the park, March 20