11 months!

My baby is 11 months old today! Some days I wish I could make time stand still. I feel like I'll turn around and she'll be 5. So many new milestones and developments this month.

• *Eliza is still doing the army crawl, but with extreme speed and determination! She can get to the dog food (which is now in my room so I can shut the door) in the blink of an eye.
• *When she gets within a foot of the dog food, she looks back to see if I'm watching her because she knows she's not supposed to get into it!
• *Eliza grew 4 new teeth this month for a total of 6 . Yikes! That was hard for both of us! While she was teething she was up at least 2 times in the middle of the night and her naps were shortened to 30 minutes in place of two, two hour naps.
• *Speaking of teeth, Eliza really loves her new additions! She is forever trying to get my finger in her mouth to bite me. The louder I yell OUCH, the more amusing it is to her. She laughs her little laugh, knowing exactly what she is doing!
• *Eliza is now taking a short nap in the morning, a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and sleeping 10-12 hours at night. She pretty much sleeps through the night, but every now and then wakes up for a bottle and goes right back down. She goes to bed around 8 or 9 pm wakes up anywhere between 7 and 8 am.
• *Missy Miss is now standing pretty sturdy while holding on to furniture. She has started to venture a bit and I think she'll be cruising within the next month.
• *Today she pulled herself up to a standing position all by herself. It's so cool to see her try to do something for a couple of days and then finally accomplish her goal!
• *I was so afraid that Eliza would forget about me while I was at work. Not so. I get a huge grin as she dives for me when I walk in the door. The other day I came home and she was asleep. It was all I could do to not run in her room and wake her up.
• *Eliza is eating everything I put in front of her. She is not a picky eater, but still does not care for fruit. She will tolerate bananas, but not any other fruit. I think it's the tart flavor that she doesn't like. Her #1 favorite food is string cheese. She can eat an entire cheese stick at any given time.
• *The sippy cup is a hit! The girl can guzzle water! I also put next step formula in a sippy for her. She loves both COLD, and if there is ice in it, even better!!! She still takes a bottle 2-4 times each day. I'm not in a hurry to transition her from the bottle to a sippy any time soon. She is starting to phase the bottle out on her own, but still likes one at night and I'd like to keep it that way for a little longer! She's so "busy" during the day (Ah, the life of an 11 month old!) that this is really the only time she will let me snuggle her.
• *My little stinker shakes her head "no" at everything. It is so funny. I think she knows what she's doing sometimes, and sometimes I think she just does it because I laugh. She does it after any question one might ask..."Do you love mommy?", "Do you want to take a nap?", "Do you need your diaper changed?", "Are you hungry?" or after any statement, "I love you so much!", "You are so cute!". I probably shouldn't laugh, or better yet, egg her on, but it is so funny!
• *Eliza is definitely a mommy's girl. When strangers come up to talk to her she usually buries her head in my chest and if the person is lucky she might flash a shy, little smile.
• *Eliza is quite the hit every where we go. People are constantly stopping us to comment on her beauty. Eliza agrees! She loves to look at herself in the mirror. We stop at the mirrors around the house and in stores so Eliza can smile at herself! What fun!
• *Eliza likes to be on the go, probably because I like to be on the go. It's been so cold here that we seem to be either in the house or at a store. It's kind of nice to get out and walk around with Eliza in the mei tai. Some may call it shopping...I call it bonding!
• *Besides vigorously shaking her head "no" at everything, she has added "more" and "milk" (signs) to her vocabulary.
• *She has great receptive language. She has started giving me kisses when I ask for them (after she shakes her head "no"). Today I said, "Awwww" when she laid her head on my chest. For the rest of the day all I had to say was "Awwww" and she would lay her head on me again. When I sing her our good night song before bed she starts crying, puts her thumb in mouth and leans toward her bed as if to surrender. And she, of course, knows exactly what I'm talking about when I say Signing Time. Smart as a whip!
• *Little miss has graduated from most of her 6-12 month clothing (that was fast!) and is on to 12-18 month size. I think my little one is going to be tall.
• *Eliza continues to be the light of my life. She is the most entertaining, loving, naughty, beautiful, smart person I have ever met.