Madeline's Monthly Message: Month 11

Dear Madeline Olivia,

Today you are 11 months old, and I am so addicted to your laugh, your smile, all of the little facial expressions you do. If I could just sit and watch you and hold you and kiss you all day long everyday, I would.

Two words to describe you at this age are "persistent" and "energetic". From the moment you open your eyes in the morning you are moving and ready to go, GO, GOOO! It takes all that mommy and Daddy have to keep you entertained throughout the day. Also, when you want something, you fight hard to get at it, and you don't forget about it with silly distractions from us.

Your favorite foods now-a-days are grapes, watermelon, blackberries, baby goldfish crackers, chicken, and you love all the Gerber baby snacks like baby puffs, and yogurt drops. Oh, the power of the yogurt drop. Thank you Gerber.

You can drink from a cup now, sort of. You always take an initial sip, but then you usually shake the glass and splash it all over your head and face or spill it on your tray so you can splash in it. You love water, especially ICED water. You gulp it down sometimes. You don't like juice very much, which surprises me. Juice is good.

You really dislike being put in your highchair. When we try to put you in it you usually straighten your legs and push the tray away with your feet. At times it takes both of us to get you in that chair. Sometimes if we put some food on the tray first you'll sit with no resistance. See, where there's a will there's a way. It's all about learning what will keep you interested!

You regularly put food on the floor. Especially if you don't like it. We usually go through a power struggle when this occurs... You drop some food. I say, "Madeline, do not put your food on the floor." Then you, while looking me straight in the eyes, slowly drop another piece of food on the floor. I say, "Madeline, do NOT drop your food on the floor! If you don't want your food just leave it on the tray, I will take it off for you." This happens about once a day - over and over again. You are not a light, submissive little flower. I have to admit that sort of makes me happy. I don't think you will ever just sit back and take anyone's crap.

You nurse about 3-4 times a day now, usually nursing more in the evening than any other time.

Tubby time has become a fun adventure. You kick and smile really big when I start to scoot your highchair toward the bathroom because you know it's time. You love to play with the water when it comes out of the faucet, you try really hard to stand up in the tub. I am constantly trying to get you to sit back down. You crawl all over the place though. A new thing you have been doing the past week or so is throwing all of your toys out of the tub onto the floor. I don't know what it is about throwing stuff on the floor. You also like to flick the washrag all over the place splashing water everywhere.

Changing your diaper is sometimes impossible. As soon as we lay you down on the changing table you turn over and try to get in the crawl position or sit up. I purposefully line up several of your toys along the wall only so you will have something to... YOU GUESSED IT... throw on the floor. I also have to let you hold something and push Elmo's foot so he is telling you a story while I change you. This all so I can get a diaper on you and get you dressed. Sometimes nothing helps and it takes two people to change your diaper. Dad will come in with us sometimes when he is here and jump all over the place or run in place or make a bunch of silly noises to keep you distracted. It usually works pretty good. I would let you just run around naked all the time but... look, I don't mind cleaning up food, or paint, or water, but pee and poo? I have to draw the line somewhere.

You still love Elmo. You love to play with your two Elmo dolls. We replace the batteries in them a lot. And at least once a day we watch your Elmo movie. I think we have watched that movie over a 100 times since we got it, and that is not an exaggeration!

Your communication skills are getting better and better. You don't form real words just yet, other than "Ma Ma" or "Da Da" sometimes. Most of the time you mumble, but you have discovered that if you point at something then we understand! So you point at everything. When we wake up, you point at the bathroom because you think your dad is in there. You point at kitty. You point at the TV because you want to watch Elmo. You point at your bathroom if you want a tubby. You point at my boob. You point at certain toys... It's kind of cool that you are beginning to understand. I love watching your little brain work things out and realize things.

One day at Walmart we bought you this little stuffed animal that, when you squeeze it's foot, does this really cute little laugh. It has quickly become your favorite toy and you love it. You give it hugs all the time and hold it, and you like it to be near you wherever you go. We named it "nubby".

You still love walking around with your Dad. Sometimes when you are walking I will act like I am chasing you and you do this deep chortling squeal and you start running as fast as you can to get away from me. You love to be tickled, so I act like that's what I'm going to do if I getcha!
My mom used to hide behind a wall or on the stairs when I was small, and she would jump out and scare us and we would scream and run laughing down the hallway. I'm excited that you enjoy being chased and surprised... I stopped trying to scare your dad long ago because when I scare him his natural instinct is to punch.



Just this past weekend we bought you a little walker/stroller and you are able to hold it all by yourself and walk forward. You don't quite have turning under control yet so if you run into a wall or a door you may be stuck, but you are working on it. You're very brave and regularly try to balance on your own or just hold onto something with one hand. You will be walking on your own soon.

We did make it to the zoo once this month with Misty and Brooke when it was a little bit cooler, but we haven't spent a lot of time outside this month due to the hot, muggy weather. You really hate being hot and sweaty. It makes you grumpy and uncomfortable. I am right there with you! I can't WAIT for it to cool down so we can spend more time outside.

You still pester Kitty on a regular basis. You still try to pull her hair. But you love her so much. You also love her toys. If we start to play with kitty you will try to get her toys and play with them yourself. So when we play with her we usually hold you back and you enjoy just watching kitty jump around.

This month you had your first cold. You and me were both sick. Thankfully it wasn't too bad. I had to suction your nose a lot though and you don't really like that. I tried to make it a fun thing by acting like it was cool when we got some boogers, but that didn't do it for you. You are just now getting over the cold. It lasted about a week.

You have THREE new teeth. Two on the top and one of the bottom, which makes a totally of four on the top and three on the bottom. Seven teeth! You are so adorable with teeth. Unfortunately we are still having a problem with you grinding your teeth together. We give you things to chew on when you start to do it, but it doesn't always work. You usually do it at night or in the morning or if you are really bored. Thankfully I haven't heard you doing it in your sleep. I think it's a conscious thing and you are aware you are doing it.

Every night before bed we brush your teeth and then we read stories. You love being read to.

You like to point at the pictures and turn the pages. We try to tell you what everything you point at is. Sometimes all we do is just tell you what the pictures are that you are pointing at. The other day you figured out that three of your picture books have pictures of a kitty in them. You had each of them opened to that page and were pointing at them and looking at me like, "Mom! It's kitty!"

You are sleeping in your crib. Each night after our little routine we set you in the crib and tell you we love you and it's time to sleep. You immediately stand up and start messing with the animals hanging down from the mobile. You also like to scratch the wall. And you love to hold onto the side of the crib and jump up and down. Usually after about 10 minutes, if we have turned out the lights, you will lie down and go to sleep. There are those days when your very impressive willpower will last longer and your mad refusal of the crib goes on for longer than 10 minutes... but your dad and me are doing well at staying strong. We must win! You're doing pretty good. You still wake up once or twice a night, but usually go right back to sleep if I rub your back. Usually in the morning we will let you come to our bed.

You sleep in the most interesting positions. If you put up a fight and stand up and cry for a while you usually end up in this folded position.



There have been a couple times this month where I found you sleeping standing up. But your favorite position is on your knees with your bum in the air and your face in the mattress. That is most comfortable for you.

I love who you are. You are a fun, active, happy little girl who has the most amazing personality.

You are very affectionate. You hug me and your dad a lot and you like to give us kisses. Sometimes you just just go back and forth between us for several minutes giving each of us hugs over and over. I hope you always want to give us hugs. We love you so much Madeline and we are so proud of you and who you are becoming.

July was a difficult month for me Madeline, and for many of the people I love. One of my closest friends, at a very young age, passed away. I don't think I have had so many powerful feelings and thoughts surge through me in such a short amount of time as I did during this time. And yet, through it all, there was you. You, with your smile, your laugh, your soft hugs and kisses.

Without you and your dad, I would truly be lost.

Love,
Momma