Newsletter: Month Eleven

You turned 11 months old a few days ago and when I realized this fact, I was honestly shocked. The very idea that you are approaching a year takes me aback every time that I realize it. A year! I just can’t believe that you’ve been in our lives for nearly an entire year. I know, I know. This shouldn’t come as a shock. I’ve spent every one of those days with you, cradling your tiny body and washing your little fingers when you smoosh fig newtons between them and rocking you until you finally succumb to sleep. I guess that it’s hard to see them all added up, though, and realize how much each of those days has changed our life.



Those days often begin in a very lazy way. You wake up ready to nurse every morning; you often sound quite perturbed at the idea of waiting even two seconds before you get your fix. But once you’ve gotten it, it’s not uncommon for you to fall back against me and back into sleep. I started noticing this and so now, we nurse in the morning tucked into lots of blankets and pillows. The wonderful thing about this, at least in my estimation, is that I often get another hour or two of sleep. It’s interrupted, somewhat, by some thrashing and baby snores and waking that’s immediately satiated by latching you onto the breast. When you do wake up, for good, you’re often still game to cuddle into the covers at intervals. You’ll sit up, and poke around for a few minutes, and then lie your head down on my leg or my torso or the pile of pillow—really whatever comfy place is most accessible. Then you’ll crawl around a little bit more and then lay your head down, on and on. At some point that becomes tedious to you and then we’re up and at ‘em.



Breakfast typically comes next, another rotating portion of our day. You eat in a small but seemingly never-ending trail. You’re almost never in your high chair for longer than five or ten minutes. When you’re done, you make that clearly known. You had a high chair that we’d been borrowing from the Dougalls but it had a tray that you could push off with a few hard shoves. We’ve finally replaced it and meal times have been going much more smoothly. Your food repertoire continues to broaden but you still love your standard fare; you’ll almost always gobble up bananas, cheese cubes, avocado, or applesauce. You also signal when you’re done by spitting out any food that’s put in your mouth. You do it so efficiently too, with a deft movement of your tongue.



The rest of your days are spent playing, reading, cuddling, and trundling off to wherever your imagination takes you. The first time that I realized that you’d just taken off into another room, I followed your little noises and found you in our bedroom, removing books from the shelf one by one. Thankfully, when we moved in to this apartment, I made a concentrated effort to put things away in such an order that when a baby joined our family, we wouldn’t have to baby-proof everything. I did this in the kitchen specifically and it has turned out to be one of the most brilliant things I've ever done. It is helpful beyond words to be able to clear the dishwasher or get dinner going while you go from cabinet to cabinet, removing dish cloths and cookie cutters.

The truth is, though, that you’ve absorbed the constant refrain of “gentle, baby girl” and treat most everything with care. I should say baby care because at times, I’m surprised how fine your coordination has become and yet, at the same time, your exhuberance can appear at any moment. You’ll be carefully turning the pages of a book and then squeal and try to remove the cover. But you’re learning. Sometimes you learn the hard way. You've sustained more bruises in the last few weeks than I remember getting in at least a month. I suppose we both have the clumsy gene in common. But it's learning none the less, even if it is literally from the school of hard knocks. All of those interactions with the things and people around you teach you new lessons. Watching your brain work through each of those tasks is truly as wondrous thing to behold.



That brain of yours seems to be developing at lightning speed. There’s been a definite shift in your interaction with the world over the last few weeks. You’re so much more participatory in everything going on around you. And you want to be in on the action. You’ll crawl over to see what’s going on if you hear a noise. And you’re so fast at it now, too! We’ll hear your little hands padding on the linoleum and then the next thing we know, your little face will round the corner and be all smiles to see us again. If there are children around, you’re very attuned to what they are doing and seem to want to find a way to be involved. And you are more tuned in to inatimate objects as well. You always seem to be trying to figure it all out. You often do, too, which often creates unintended messes all over our house and wherever else we take you. You’re just so present now. As Grandma put it, “She’s a really a player now, isn’t she?” And you are. You’re a definite player in every aspect of our life. Welcome to the party, baby girl!