Eleven Months of Bliss

Holland as an eleven-month old:

• Will only eat things that she can put in her mouth herself. Lately her diet has consisted of chunks of cheese, spiral noodles, green beans, pieces of oranges and cheerios. If we try to spoon feed her she raises her hands up, closes her eyes tightly, and starts moving her face and hands so that it is virtually impossible to get the food in her mouth. On the rare occasion that we do sneak in a spoonful, she gags – no matter what it is!
•  About 90% of the time she poops in the middle of her nap - it does not matter if it is her morning nap or afternoon nap. So frustrating, and I honestly have no idea how to change that. I even asked the doctor and she had no ideas for me. Ugh. At least she sleeps well at night…poop free.
• Has started crawling like a stinkbug (with her butt in the air) whenever she is on a hard surface. Smart, really. We thought she was going to walk a couple months ago, but that has yet to happen. She still uses the stool, and now her highchair, to cruise around the kitchen.
•  "Dada” is heard coming out of her mouth pretty much constantly. We think it not only means daddy, but also things like, “hey, look at me.” “I want out of my crib.” “I’m tired.” “I’m hungry.” “Don’t eat that (insert edible item) in front of me without sharing, please.” “Can you hear me?” “That boy over there is pretty cute…” Among other things.
• The bottle is now the main source of milk during the day, while breastfeeding is still her preferred method first thing in the morning and right before bed.
• A few of Holland's favorite things these days include:

o   Being tickled – and we just can’t get enough of her cute laugh

o   Being held upside down – she thinks it is totally hysterical

o   Taking her nightly bath

o   Flipping through books – sometimes we’ll wonder why she is being so quiet and we find her turning the pages of a book

o   She also loves to be read to…as long as she gets to turn the pages!

o   Lately she enjoys “baby in a box” – we stick her in an empty diaper box and she chills in there with a few of her toys until she finds a way to tip the  box over and crawl out. She thinks it is so funny to be in the box.

o   We let her watch a little TV (gasp!) some mornings – Super WHY or The Cat in the Hat. She thinks its pretty great when we let her sit on the bar stool to watch. She always turns around and looks at us beaming with pride. She’s way too squirmy to last long on the stool, but while she’s up there she obviously thinks she is pretty hot stuff.