11 Months and No Teeth

Today (sorry, yesterday) my little Grace turned 11 months old!

And she still has the cutest little toothless grin.

This month her personality is completely blooming.
She is a lover of shoes, purses, painted nails, and any jewelery.
She also loves music and was enthralled when her aunt demonstrated her skills at the Tenor Sax.

She also has a wicked scream that comes out when she feels we aren't paying enough attention to her.
AND she's mastered the art of crying with her lower lip to get her way.... like if I use the word "no."
What a cute little manipulator.... :P

11 Month Milestones include:

-Standing on her own, without support, and without pulling herself up. She'll even "sit" in squat position and then stand. I'm really impressed, even though I'm fearful of the walking stage. Monkey walked when he was 11 months, and I'm in no hurry for Grace to move around faster than she already is.

-Crawling like she's in a race. She learned to crawl over a month ago, but she keeps getting faster! She crawls with one knee down, and one foot down. And when the bathroom door is open, she'll get there in seconds, no matter where she was previously.

-Climbing the stairs!! One day I was downstairs playing with Monkey and Grace, and I guess I was paying more attention to him than her, so she made a break for the stairs. She was on the first step before I could stop her, so I followed her and she climbed both sets of stairs by herself! She's getting faster at the stairs too, although I definitely stay close behind her because she'll stop mid-climb and turn around or sit down... Silly girl.

-Eating like a horse! She even out-eats her brother some meals! She loves pasta, shrimp, cold cooked potatoes (eeeeww...) crusts of bread, and she even devoured the red pepper soup I made the other night. I love that she's so independent with eating. I've got to help both kids eat supper (Monkey sucks at using utensils) and I would like to eat food myself, so it's nice that I don't need to spoon feed Grace every single bite.

-Using a sippy cup and a bottle!! I know that some babies take a bottle from birth, but this girl has refused. I don't mind, because I'm still nursing her, but I had her with a babysitter for S3 days (job interviews... they didn't pan out, so I'm still at home!) and she wouldn't eat from a bottle on the first day, the second day she ate a bit, and the third day she was finally using the bottle. It gave me some independence that I've been craving, and made me feel like I can actually do things now outside the home.


I haven't taken miss Grace to the doctor lately, so I don't know what she weighs, but she's in 12 month sleepers and some 12 month clothes, so I know she's growing normally. She's a beautiful, happy, friendly little girl, and she completely fits her name. She is a wonderful example of the grace God has for us.

I can't believe next month she'll be ONE!! I guess I better start planning a birthday celebration!

~A