11 months!

Dear Lucy,

Almost a year old. I can't believe it. Last month you started gaining speed with communicating but this month you took off! You now sign "all done." But more than that, you have started extrapolating. We did "all done" after diaper changes and at the end of meals but you will do it now when you are tired of playing a game or when you you want to get down. You also started signing "milk" when you are thirsty for water at the table even though we have tried to keep table food and drink separate from nursings. This actually makes things more complicated but I don't mind that much since I can normally use context clues to figure out what you want and it is just one more piece of evidence pointing to your obvious brilliance :-)

You've added dada to your vocabulary. I will admit I'm a little jealous. The only times you say mama are when you are mad, like when you hurt yourself or when dad goes to comfort you in the evening and you push him away and scream mama. But when you say "dada" you point to him and get all excited and proud of yourself and smile and laugh. You love to look at the family pictures of us on the wall and have us say "mama, dada and lucy" over and over again.

But the best communication tool you have now is pointing. You love to point and say "da" (that?) until we name it. And you are really good at getting us to understand what you want. Sometimes it takes me a minute but once I catch on to what you want, I am amazed at how you figured out how to tell us.

Yesterday I was picking up your toys and asked you to help so we could vacuum. You immediately took off down the hall to the coat closet, pointed at the door and when I opened it, pointed at the vacuum. I couldn't believe it, I had to call your dad right then to tell him. And a couple days ago, you even asked to take a nap! We always start your lullaby cd before we got to take a nap and you kept pointing at the cd player. At first I thought you wanted the remote (a favorite "toy" of yours) but you kept pointing even after I gave it to you. But then I wondered if you were tired so even though it was about 30 minutes before we normally lay down, I turned on the cd and sure enough, you fell asleep one minute after we laid down.

 I love knowing more about what is going on in your brain. All this pointing has thankfully lessened the screaming. You still scream a little bit but not like the last month or two.

You also love to point to the door and go outside. All last week you kept pointing but it was rainy and cold so I kept saying no.

You love going outside, to look at the flowers and play with bubbles. You get so excited about bubbles you start shaking when I bring out the bottle although when one gets close enough for you to touch it and then it pops, you look confused and sad so I have to blow a new batch right away.

You love to stand now and walk around the house holding our hand. You have even walked around me just holding my shirt bottom or sleeve so I'm pretty sure you don't need any help with balance but you aren't confident enough to try. If we let go and you want to move forward, you just fall. I don't want you to face plant so I always catch you but if you would just move your feet, I think you would find you can do it just fine.

You have 5 teeth now and the 6th is sooo close to popping through. You are about 28 inches tall and around 18-19 lbs. You are long and lean, just like I was at your age. I miss your baby chubbiness and wish it would stay forever but as long as you have a chubby belly to blow kisses on, I can survive. Your hair is finally getting longer but not in the back. And in the front, you sometimes get what I call the "Mr. Lunt look"

but it also means I can have fun styling it after baths.

We are just about to move you into 18 month clothes but you don't particularly like to wear clothes. In fact, you will try very hard to get them off of you even though that sometimes means you get stuck in funny situations.

But you like to put other people's clothes on when you "help" me with the laundry. You put your dad's t-shirt on last week and got your head stuck in the sleeve. I thought you would be mad but you must have known you looked funny because you laughed and laughed until you fell over. I love seeing your sense of humor emerge. You know when you have done something funny and that cracks me up.

You love to look at books with real pictures, especially babies and animals. You also love book that inspire sounds from us, like animal noises, truck noises, and llama llama red pajama or knuffle bunny is lost boo-hooing sounds.

 You enjoy putting things in things, like blocks in a box or cheerios in a jar. And you enjoy playing with zeeba.

 You try so hard to be gently when we ask, you pat her nicely just like we have been showing you. Of course, then you turn around and kick her in the head as you crawl away but you gave good intentions. You are my sweetheart and I can't wait to see what the rest of your first year brings!