11 months

Elizabeth turned 11 months old yesterday.  She has 4 weeks left until she turns 1.  ....sigh.

*insert cliche about time*

In the past week or two, we've all noticed a change in little E.  She's somehow beginning that transition from babiness to toddlerness.  The changes are subtle, but detectable.  Her face looks more defined now, her expressions are more expressive.  She tries to talk and she makes clear connections between things now.  She laughs at things that are funny and smiles when you do.  In fact, she still takes most of her emotional cues from those around her.  If Abby starts crying, E starts crying too.  She doesn't know why, but she always crawls over to where the commotion is and tries to crawl in my lap (usually while I'm holding Abby) for comfort.  Or sometimes, she'll cry and come over and try to touch Abby to see if she's ok.  Conversely, if Abby is running around jumping and laughing - E is sitting watching her cackling with laughter as well.

E is a great eater and will eat just about anything you give her.  She loves fruit and carbs (that's my girl).  She prefers finger foods to anything purred.  She's, luckily, not had any of the choking/gagging issues that Abby had when she was little.

I don't know how much she weighs.  My guess would be close to 20lbs.  She's in size 3 diapers and mostly 12 month clothing.  She has some little shoes that are size 4s that fit well, but other 4s that are too big, so who knows there.

She sleeps well, especially at night.  She goes down around 7 and wakes up around 6:30 most days.  Her naps seem to be shifting some, and we're trying to figure out what works best.  She usually still takes 2 naps a day, but the times change.  I don't think she's ready to go to one nap though - she seems to really need her morning nap.

She's a lot of fun to play with now.  She loves anything that involves peek-a-boo of course.  She's starting to stack blocks now (usually only 2, sometimes 3) and she's more and more interested in the book we read.

The girl is obsessed with climbing.  If there is a step, a box, a suitcase, a chair, etc...she's climbing it.  She has no fear of falling.  She's also pretty obsessed with getting in things.  Like, sitting IN the laundry basket, or taking the toys out of a drawer so she can sit in the drawer.  She often piles her toys in a basket and then uses that to climb on the couch....which pleases her immensely.  One day, I'm going to look down for 2 seconds and find her in the top of the pantry. The silver lining of having a climber is that she's very good at going up the stairs, and while we don't let her do it alone - if she were to escape our eyes and go for it - she'd be fine.

She's not walking yet, but she can stand unassisted and does a lot of cruising.  Abby walked at 14 months, but I wouldn't be surprised if E was strolling around before then.

Yesterday I was cleaning up after a meal and pulled E up out of her high chair.  She had food stuck to her pants and as I wiped her off I said "Yuck!"  She immediately mimicked me perfectly "Yuck!"  It was mostly coincidence, but very funny at the time.  She says ma-ma and da-da pretty regularly.  She can sign please and sometimes uses the "all done" sign

She's fun.

And with that, I'm out of time.  More on the older child next time.