1) She is awake for 60 minutes on the dot before she takes a hard core morning nap. (Except this morning of course, since I need her to be while I blog this.)
2) She is still eating some baby food for our convenience but mostly people food. Favorites include avocado, banana, any crackers or starchy thing like bits of wheat bread, yogurt and any type of meat (my little carnivore, for sure - Matthew wouldn't touch anything besides bits of chicken, maybe). We haven't tried milk. She gets formula in her bottle - and won't do the sippy (unless by "do" you mean bang it around and throw to the floor, that she'll do.)
3) Her favorite thing in the world is the cat. Hands down, bar none, I've never seen a child react like this to an animal. She squeals, grabs the fur, but also rolls her face on her, makes this sort of humming noise of happiness, and then rears up on her knees, puts her arms up in the air roller coaster style, SCREAMS, then flops on kitty full force. For more "love." And to answer the inevitable next question: yes, the cat actually tolerates it, for a while, before bolting, after which point, Rachel will try to dive off the bed, couch, wherever, after her, head first, no thought in the world about falling. She probably wouldn't care, either because ...
4) Rachel seems fearless - especially of us or any sort of disapproval or discipline. By that I mean of course the most basic stuff - Rachel, no no, do NOT go in that dog bowl. RACHEL NO! NOOOO! I have definitely turned up the intensity, more than I ever had to do for Matthew, and it still does NOTHING. The girl turns, grins, maybe even laugh in our face, and double down on whatever naughty/dangerous thing she was doing. She is absolutely our wild child. As she played with the fireplace gates the other day, and Mike is pulling her away repeatedly, I heard him say "Why are you so attracted to things that are bad for you?" and had a foreshadowing of conversations we'll probably be having in her 20's.
5) She is a happy, happy child who loves to laugh. I was speculating last night about whether she missed me on a short biz trip this week, or not. (I'd much prefer not - no ego on this, just want kids happy.) Mike shakes his head and smiles, "I don't think so ... Rachel always just has a good time, honey." As he's saying this she's laughing feeding spaghetti to the dog. Once again, I'm picturing my baby daughter as the someday life of the party in her college years and loving it.
6) She is now playing with that same little Fischer-Price musical "house" that "Santa" brought Matthew for his first Christmas. My first big gift to him that I was so excited to give him, and now watching her crawl back and forth through the door is just adorable, and ring the doorbell, and play with the clock. So many hours spent with her brother doing the same thing, it just warms my heart. She just gets such a kick out of you playing peek a boo through the door and windows, and it's just so cute when she ...
7) Giggles. This is by far the BEST part of having a little girl besides the clothes. Her sweet little girl giggles are different than Matthew and so special to me. She's my daughter, I think when I hear that little voice, that reminds me she's going from baby to little girl much quicker than I can imagine or would like.
8) Her hair is growing longer and sticking out in crazy directions above and below her ears. She's got that frumpy "why do they not FIX that?" look going but like many of you with little girls before me, I can't bear to cut it. We'll just see what happens and hope it grows quick. I still can't figure out barrettes (help needed).
9) Her night sleeping is awesome. Finally. A few months ago, there was a period of waking up 3, 4, 5, 6 (!) times a night for a paci. Not a big deal but layer in the regularly scheduled wakeups around here already for Matthew night terrors, dog whimpering, cat yowling or running, some animal puking ... etc. ... plus getting to bed around midnight for a while there when we were both really busy ... and I was zonked. But for a couple months now, she's goes down at 8 - 8:30, maybe 1 or 2 very quick paci-related wake-ups during the night, and goes until anywhere from 6:30 - 8:30 a.m. (depending on if we're up banging around or sleeping). Big side note: It usually takes her about 2-3 "rounds" of being put to bed to get her down. More often than not we hear crying at least twice within the hour of her going to bed, and take turns going in to find her standing at the end of the crib waiting for us. She doesn't need anything other than to be put back down with her paci, polka-dot blankey along her left side so she can hug it, and big fluffy blankey with the satin trim (that she likes to rub between her fingers) on top of her. We don't have to pick her up usually, but it's a high-maintence, multi-stage tuck in most nights.
10) She is cruising, climbing, practicing letting go and standing with her arms held straight up in the air "look at me!" style - but just for a second. But not walking or standing. People tell us, "Oh, she's just about to walk any minute" but Mommy has a feeling she might stick at this phase for a while. She is hard to predict. At 11 months old, she's totally physical, crawls fast as anything, and loves hitting anything like a bat or golf club to anything like a ball ... but when she doesn't feel like doing it - ala refusing to hold her own bottles STILL - she won't.
11) Her number one most favorite toy - besides the kitty, her brother, or us - is this squeaky old and deadly creepy dolly. That was mine. Something possessed my mom to go out of her way and MAIL this doll to us recently. I wasn't sure why she was so intent on it when Rachel has a zillion toys but maybe she knew something I didn't because Rachel loves this thing. Squeals at it, crawls toward it and even crawls around with it in her hand - pretty impressive coordination, actually. It's the one sure fire thing we can bring when we're out and about to keep her entertained, and for that reason I'm terrified of losing it. It's become the one thing that brings a smile and a screech every time.
Well, that was harder than I thought to contain to 11. Looking forward to 12 more next month ... though NOT to my sweet angel turning one, already.
Happy 11 months, my baby girl!
