Julia Rose at 11 Months Old

It is unreal that Rose is 11 months old and in less than a month we will celebrate her first birthday.  She is such a light in our lives and fills our days with smiles and giggles and fun.  The biggest development for Rose in the past month has been her independent standing and first tentative steps.  It was almost like she woke up one morning about a week or so after turning 10 months old and just made up her mind that she was going to really start learning how to walk.  She has been practicing ever since, usually in the evenings when Paul got home from work and she could walk 4 or 5 steps between us while we clapped and coaxed and encouraged her to keep trying.  But I would say that it was really 2 days ago, on December 22nd (so about a week past her 11-month anniversary - this post is way behind schedule) that she really became a walker.  She just up and started going from the couch on one side of the living room to the chairs on the opposite side of the room or following Paul around while he held a big white teddy bar up just out of her grasp (she thinks this is the best game ever and smiles and giggles while she haltingly takes step after step after that bear).  And when she would start losing her balance she would check and steady herself, then get her momentum going again.  Or if she plopped down she would try to stand back up.  So I'm calling it and saying that we have a walker now. 

 

 

Another notable development is that we started transitioning Rose to whole milk instead of baby formula and she is doing great with that.  In fact, we are now on our last container of formula and don't plan to buy any more because of how well she is doing with whole milk.  The same goes for baby food - as we introduced more and more table food to Rose she started showing a strong preference for it until she was pretty much refusing any baby food so we have just phased that out and haven't bought any more.  I think I have a couple of squeezy pouches left for emergencies in the bottom of the diaper bag, but that's it.  And so far Rose is a pretty good little eater.  Easily her favorite food is raspberries or strawberries.  But she also eats cheese, breads (muffins, pretzels, crackers, toast, rolls, pasta, etc.), peas and edamame, and meat (chicken, ham, salmon, and beef) well too.  And it is so nice for me because now I can pretty much get her set up with tiny bites of food and she is happy to sit in her high chair and feed herself.  But this also ushers us into the era of food being thrown on the floor whenever she is done or gets bored with the current offering. 

Rose is such a snuggler.  Whenever Paul gets home from work and Rose is still awake (something that is hit or miss with her since she is usually more than happy to go to bed at 6:00 p.m. every night) she makes a beeline for him and immediately starts patting his back with her chubby little hands in an affectionate way as soon as he picks her up.  And she loves cuddling right in and being rocked just before or after naps or bedtime while I give her a bottle.  She lays her head on my shoulder whenever she is tired and sort of hums and drowsy little hum.  And speaking of humming, Rose is quite the little singer and gets very vocal whenever there are songs playing in the car or at church.

Rose has 8 teeth now that are all the way in and those teeth, combined with her general size and newfound walking ability make her seem like a toddler and not a baby anymore.  The other week Rose was practicing her standing while in the bathtub (this is a constant situation and soooo frustrating) and slipped and hit her tooth against the side of the tub.  It chipped one of her front little teeth - not much and she was totally fine a moment later, but my immediate thought was "oh dear, you are going to have that little chipped tooth for 5 or 6 years now!". 

Rose adores her big sister and loves to play with (and sometimes torment) her.  Rose often follows Clara around trying to get whatever Clara has, which Clara is sometimes good about and other times gets really cranky about because she doesn't want Rose sucking on Baby Zebra (a constant worry for Clara who has taken to placing Zebra up on her bed or on a table where Rose can't reach her).  It has been amazing watching a relationship develop between the two of them and every night when Rose is going to bed Clara gives her the sweetest kisses and hugs and Rose has started to reciprocate.

I can hardly believe there is only one more of these monthly posts to go!  It is seriously mind boggling to me that Rose is almost a year old already.  Gosh we love this little girl.