11 Months

Happy 11 months Ella Grace!  How is it that our sweet baby is in the last month of her first year of life!?  The thought of Ella being a "one-year-old" always seemed like a such a big milestone and so far away and now it's right around the corner.  We continue to love each stage of Ella's life more than the last and fall more and more in love with her everyday!

A few things I wanted to remember about this stage in her life:

• She still has NO teeth!!  What!?  I swear she's the only baby I know that doesn't have any teeth (or signs of any impending teeth) at her age and we're starting to wonder if she'll ever get them ;).  Luckily, she's pretty good about "gumming" her food.  
• Loves fruit - she'll often eat a whole banana for breakfast (plus oatmeal cereal and often yogurt too!).  She could eat grapes all day and also loves blueberries, watermelon, nectarines, and cherries.  Her favorite thing is to squish the fruit (especially bananas) in her fingers and then shove it in her mouth/on her face.
• Will often give slobbery, open mouth kisses upon request - the best kind!
• Is a speedy crawler, loves climbing up stairs (hasn't mastered getting down stairs yet), and loves hanging onto our hands to walk.  We've done lots and lots of walks up and down our street and my back is starting to pay for it ;).
• Is comprehending more and more.  It's amazing how much she learns every day and that you can see how she's understanding what we say.  I love watching her just play by herself, see her problem solve, show preferences, mimic what we do, and reach and climb for things she wants. 

  Is very into anything soft - she loves cuddling with, hugging, and laying down on soft blankets and stuffed animals.

 Loves reading her books independently (makes her teacher mama proud!).  She can often be found in her room pulling books off her shelf and turning the pages as she looks through the pictures.

Goes to sleep with one binky in her mouth plus at least one more in each hand.  We often watch her on the video monitor playing the "binky game" in her crib:  she'll sit up and rotate through binkies popping them in and out until she finds one she likes and then lay back down.

Loves, loves, loves Lily.  As soon as she gets up from a nap, Lily is the first thing we look for :).  She thinks Lily is pretty hilarious when she chases her tail and she loves sharing her cheerios with Lily.  I think the dog makes her laugh more than anything else.

 Will play peek-a-boo with any object she can hold up to her face.  She'll hold up a book/stuffed animal/toy to her face until we ask, "Where's Ella?" and then put the object down so we can see her with a big smile on her face.

I love this picture because it's very "Ella" :).  Love her sweet smile, expressive eyes, and cute curls.  So in love with this little girl!