Mila is 11 Months!

Dear Mila,

Today you are 11 months old. I can't believe you're almost a year. It's crazy how this year has flown by!

This month you've started babbling a lot... you started saying "dah-dah" and "dah-doh"... it's so funny! And now you've started saying "teta" which, in spanish means "tit"! It's sooooooooo funny when you say it! I never say that word, it's really just an evolution of your babble from "dah-dah" to "dah-deh" to "deh-deh" to "teh-teh" to "te-tah". You have no idea what you're saying, even "dah-dah" doesn't have a meaning yet really. It's hilarious when you say teta though... you scream it, you walk around repeating it over and over "teh-tah, teh-tahhhh, teeeeeehhhh-tahhhhh", but the best is when you whisper it... "tehhhhh-taaaahhhhhhh"... omg, you do it all the time and it makes your daddy and I are laugh so hard! Dah-dah is more "dah-doh" these days, so your daddy and I have decided he is "dah-doh" and I am "teh-tah"... so fitting! Hahaha!

This month we started giving you more chunkier food, and you HATED it! You cry and gag on it. You only want to slurp up everything, and at the pace we're going, you're going to be drinking all your food for the rest of your life! We thought we might start giving you those little round puffs, but you only flick them off your high chair or you try putting them into your hair. How nice. Right now they are more of a toy than food, LOL.

You're eating breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner and still breastfeed after each meal. For breakfast you have oatmeal, lunch is usually some kind of fruit and dinner is a veggie and a little bit of fruit. You looooove fruit! Apples, bananas, apricot, plums... you can't get enough of them. Veggies are a little more hit and miss, but you love sweet potatoes (your favorite) and you love peas in any form, practically mixed with anything. Right now you prefer it as peas and brown rice... pureed of course!

This month, after talking with our friend Lily (Porter's mommy) about potty training and how she's been potty training Porter since he was 6 months, we also decided to take out your potty. It's been a bit of a challenge to get you to do anything with it but it's a start. And it looks awfully cute in our bathroom, haha! (Thank you to Mily!) We need to get cracking on this though. Mila, this is our next project!

The sweetest thing you do now is you ask to be picked up and put up your arms. You also realize when we're about to walk away and you'll grab our legs and won't let us go anywhere! It's so sweet, but kinda rough when we need to go to the bathroom, haha... The separation anxiety right now is a bit rough. You really don't want us to leave your side, even if we're still within eyesight.

This month has also brought not so sweet things... like some grunting and whining when you don't get your way. You're pretty determined when you want something and if you can't have it, you'll grunt (ummm, you may have gotten that from mommy! eeek!) or you'll whine until you either get it or forget about it.

Napping and bedtime has been a bit of a challenge this month. We've noticed a trend that during months with major growth spurts or developments, (3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 11 months...) that you'll have a period of a week or so where you don't sleep through the night anymore. You're usually pretty good and sleep from 9:30 or 10:00 pm until about 7:30 or 8:00am. But this whole month has been really bad! You're waking up 2-3 times a night! It's hard to go back to waking up during the night when we're so used to you sleeping straight through. And napping during the day can be tricky, but you still nap 2-3 times a day. I hope you're not trying to drop a nap yet - that's the only time I have a chance to get for a little break!

Thankfully, you also still enjoy being in the Ergo baby carrier. This has been the most useful baby product we've bought so far. You'll nap in it while we're out running errands or if we're on a playdate...

and you'll hang out in the backpack when Mommy needs to get stuff done around the house! I couldn't live without my Ergo!

This month has just really flown by... and with the holidays coming up, I know it's going to be a busy month. Your Daddy and I are so excited to celebrate your first Christmas! And Santa will be coming too! Oh boy!! :)

Great big hugs to my sweet little girl!

Your Mommy