You, little munchkin, are 11 months and one week old. You are closing in on one year! It's hard for us to think about you being a year old without our heads exploding, so let's just focus on 11 months, shall we?
In fact, you are growing up before our eyes. You have learned to stand up all on your own. You get up into a squatting position and then stand right up, not holding onto anything, with a look of surprise and glee on your face. You took your first step from that position last Saturday, but haven't shown much interest in repeating it. You sometimes leap ahead and do something once or twice and then back off until you feel confident that you really know how to do it. You also really like to know how to do all the parts of an action before putting them all together. You practiced crawling with all your different appendages before you tried to move forward. We know you'll walk when you're ready. We're not in any hurry for you to do it, actually!
Even if you're not quite physically ready to walk just yet, you are very mentally ready. This makes you feel frustrated. You are a cranky, cranky girl these days! It seems to us like you just want to get going, but you also don't want to at the same time. This leads to lots of shrieking in frustration. You shriek if we put you down on the floor, but then you also shriek if we don't put you down. You want to be walked around with someone holding your hands, but you also want to crawl on your own. Your brother put on a show like this right before he learned how to crawl, so at least we know what's going on. We're looking forward to the return of your sunny disposition after you get started with walking.
One other complicating factor for your mood is the fact that you're teething again. It's a double whammy with the walking thing. Whew! Maybe Mommy and Mama should buy stock in children's ibuprofen and teething gel.
Now that we think about it, this past month has really been an explosion of learning. You're starting to make sounds that correspond to objects - maybe the beginning of words? You've stopped staying "ah-dah" for bye-bye and instead will say "buh-buh" or something like that. You routinely say Mama for both your parents and often say "ba-ba" to Mommy when you want to nurse. Another fun thing is that you will try to repeat words if we say them to you. The other day, Mama said "kitty" to you and you said "kih...kih..." Since we're a little more experienced this time around, we can recognize the beginning of language development better than we did with your big brother.
Speaking of Mateo, you want to play with him very badly. When he has a friend come over, you follow the two of them around the house, crawling as fast as you can to keep up with them. You want to touch him and play with all of his toys, usually while he is playing with them. He's learning how to share, slowly but surely. Sometimes things are great between the two of you and we watch in admiration as you play together. Other times, there's lots of crying and shrieking and pushing going on. Guess that's part of life with a sibling, eh?
On that note, you have just now gotten the hang of stranger anxiety. You mostly you like having your moms hold you these days. And your Apa. You often want to go to him right away, as did your brother at this age. It's very cute and heartwarming for all of us!
Finally, since the weather has been so nice lately, we've all been spending tons of time outside in our yard. You've been enjoying the kiddie pool and exploring the grass and swinging on our new swings.
Natalia, we think you are the cutest, smartest, funniest, cuddliest, and most fabulous little girl in the whole world. We love you thiiiiiis much!
love,
Mama and Mommy
1 comment:
I cannot believe that she is going to be one in only a few weeks! What is happening here?? Our kiddos are getting so big, so fast!
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