Eleanor :: Eleven Months Old
Little crumb, it is hard to believe you are eleven months old.... my big girl!! Broken record again, but how in the world does time fly by so quickly? I literally feel like I was recapping your tenth month yesterday... but then again, you have grown so much that looking back to when you were about 3-4 months old seems like forever ago... you have changed and grown SO much - I just love being part of your days! Good thing next month is your last month picture in the chair, you are OVER IT. I mean, you couldn't even crack a smile for me (that is, until I started to let you crawl, climb, take off your bow, eat the sign and daddy came in... grrr). 
You are still a crawling machine... you are fast and furious and it seems like you always are going 100 miles per hour.... you are pulling up on EVERYTHING, opening every cabinet (or trying to) that you can, cruising between the coffee tables, chairs and sofas on your feet as long as your hands are firmly in place and you have taken a FEW steps on your own... literally a total of 3, all by accident, but we were completely pumped. If we hold out one of our hands, you will take it and walk to wherever we are, but if you know we are trying to get you to walk you automatically squat down to crawl... but soon, we are sure you are going to be a running little maniac.
Unfortunately, we have found that "I don't think so...." or "no, ma'am" doesn't really work for you... you definitely have a mind of your own and are quite strong-willed (wonder where you got that from?)... sometimes, you are deliberately defiant and it is just crazy to us that you are SO small and just learning what things are / do and yet, you already know when you are disobeying (and sometimes get a kick out of it). You listen to daddy a lot better than momma, so unfortunately, you have had your first forms of discipline this month... yikes! You definitely don't get it, and kind of laugh, but we are starting to teach you now so that it doesn't come as a surprise later when you get in trouble for doing something wrong!
Your routine is still just the best... again, like clock-work!! You are up between 7:30-8am every morning (with the occasional sleep in until 8:30!), eat 6 oz and eat oatmeal, nap from 10am-12pm, eat 6 oz and eat veggies/rice cereal blend, fruit and sometimes another snack, nap from 2-4pm, eat 6 oz and snack on little munchies, PLAY hard until about 7pm when you have another 6 oz, eat fruit/veggies/rice cereal and then we get ready for bed about 7:30pm.
Some of your very favorite things to eat are cheerios, PUFFS (you go crazy for these, still), cottage cheese (your favorite big food), all vegetables, all fruit (except watermelon and lately you don't like blueberries), cheese, yogurt.... and of course, anything that momma and daddy eat. You are such a mooch. Especially when it comes to our drinks - you will whine like crazy until we give you a sip if we have a straw... luckily, we mostly have water, but when momma wasn't looking the other day you did steal a swig of her coke. Lovely. 
This has been the HOTTEST summer that either Momma or Daddy can remember, so this means we have not been able to do as much outside with you as we would like... but to keep yourself busy, you LOVE to read (Doggies and But Not the Hippopotamus are your favorites), you play in your mini-kitchen for hours (literally), you still love morning / evening walks, exploring different rooms of our house, banging on pots / pans / drums... more than anything, you LOVE LOVE LOVE to swim. You have absolutely no fear in the water - going under doesn't scare you, either.... you will kick your feet the whole time, splash your arms or relax in your float.. you LOVE it. So of course, we take a lot more baths now, too. 
You are little miss chatterbox.... and apparently, fluent in japanese because we have NO clue what you are saying, but you babble ALL. DAY. LONG. You will say phrases like you are in conversation and repeat them over and over, sometimes sing them, sometimes scream them and every once in a while you throw in a word we know... like Momma, Dadda, DotDot, Pawpaw, Pup, or Baba (for milk). Otherwise, a whole lot of gibberish, but it is really cute... once you learn the english language, I have a feeling you will be telling STORIES!
You hair is still kicking up some curl, but for the most part, we find that it really only stays when it is wet. By the time it is dry, it sort of waves to straight.... it is getting SO long on the top, but you are still bald as all get out on the sides and in the back... it is a reverse mullet. 
You STILL do not have any teeth, but you have started rolling your tongue over your bottom gums and sticking it out constantly... I think you feel something happening, so you are letting your tongue over it. But who knows, you may not get any teeth for a few more months, oh well. This tongue thing, however, is your new favorite thing... you love sticking out your tongue at us.
We weigh you at home every once in a while (when you will sit still) and you are still weighing at 16lbs.... you are still in size 2 diapers, but you have graduated clothes sizes!! You are now wearing 6-9 months, and SOMETIMES 12 months (mainly dresses and pajamas). 9 month pjs are definitely getting too small in length, but your 9 month swimsuits just swallow you.... you tall, skinny girl!
Over the last few months, really noticed this month, you have seemed to get over "stranger-danger"... you definitely are still a Momma and Daddy's girl, choosing us if we are in the room, but you will go to all of your grandparents, Aunt Katie and Aunt Kristen, friends and even the nursery without even blinking an eye... sometimes you will jump out of my arms to get there. Especially if we are somewhere with other little kids... you absolutely LOVE to play with friends... older and younger, you are so social! You just want to love on (sometimes kiss, yikes!) and play with anyone that will entertain your advances...
We kept Kaci and Chloe this month for Mindy and Josh.... let's just say you LOVED it. Every time you woke up in the morning or from a nap, you immediately started looking for the puppies (making your monkey - hoo, hoo noise). They kind of got over you quickly, so you were often frustrated that they just didn't want to play with you!
We are still pretty sure that you are either going to be a dancer of somehow involved with music... literally, it could be a rap, country, classical or pop song and you will sway, clap and move along with the music... when standing, you have recently started to bounce or stomp (almost like your kicking from when you were younger!) to the beat.... you love music. And luckily, so far you have great taste!
When you get excited about ANYTHING (like, seeing Momma or Daddy for the first time in a day, going swimming, seeing a friend or puppy...) you close your fists, put your arms bent by your side and scream "DI-DI-DI-DI-DI" at the top of your lungs all while squishing up your face.... it is a mini-freak out, and it is AWE-SOME. Maybe the funniest thing you do.... you get super intensely excited and apparently cannot control it... it is hilarious!!!
One little thing that I have been meaning to record for the last six months or so, but we REALLY appreciate what an easy, happy baby you are... Eleanor, it is unreal. I can count on one hands how many times I feel like you have really had a crying fit and we are so blessed that to date you have not ever been sick.... these are really big things to new parents, so we definitely count them as blessings. I mean, I just figured it would be harder to put a baby to sleep, per se, but you can be mid-conversation, game or activity with 10 people, I pick you up, change your diaper, say a a bedtime prayer with you, lay you down and before I leave the room you are asleep.... no tears, no whining... just content to be in bed. If you aren't asleep, you sit there with your paci quietly until you fall into slumber... so so sweet.
Your little bottom is just too cute...and apparently while swimming your suit often shows it off... whoops, plumber girl!
Momma is still working part-time, and since Dot Dot had knee surgery to fix her other knee (she has 2 new knees now!), your PawPaw comes to play with you every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday if I have a wedding.... BUT, Momma just let work know that as we approach BR #2 arriving, I am transitioning to a stay-at-home mom... so, 5 weddings (November 1) to go until it's me and you, kid (and kid)! We are trusting Jesus BIG TIME on this one, but Daddy and I both feel like this is where the Lord wants us to move.... and Momma wants nothing more than to spend my days with YOU!
You are still fascinated with remotes, phones, computers... basically anything we really wish you would not touch.... you just can't get enough of them. There have been multiple times when mid-show, you change the channel on me.... rude, haha!
You have VERY distinctive facial expressions... you definitely have the fakest smile I have ever seen, a "who, me??" face, a mischevious "I am going to do it even though you told me not to" face, a monkey face when you get excited about something or someone (in which you also say "hoo, hoo, hoo", you make a face where you look just like your daddy (biting your side lip), your "I am judging you, momma" face, and a full-face when you are done with your bottle or food. You will block your mouth with your hands and then push the bottle as fast as you can away from you... all while clinching your mouth tightly shut.... Eleanor, we get it.
Not the thing I am most proud of, in fact a BAD habit we are trying to break, is that you have found your nose. Not the outside, but the inside... and you love to stick your fingers up it. Especially in public. Awesome. For Momma's close friends, they will know what a travesty this is for me... I am working through it, but obviously trying to break the habit. quick.
We still catch you sitting up in your crib, asleep, often. You will also stand up in the middle of the night, let out a little noise and sit back down to fall asleep.... so daddy and I have come to the conclusion that we MAY have a future sleepwalker on our hands. Regardless, the monitor usually provides really great entertainment at some point almost every night.
Basically, you our are busy little bee... and you just couldn't be any sweeter. We love you so so so much and it is just crazy that a month from right now you will be over a year old.... writing that just brought tears to my eyes. I am planning your first birthday party now.... oh my word, I can't handle the speed in which our life is passing us by... the days are too short with you. We cherish the little things about you, the big things, the changing things, the things you have yet to figure out... oh Eleanor, you truly are the light of our days. You will always be daddy's little "munch'n punch" and Momma's "little poop"... even when you are 16. Sorry.
You are still a crawling machine... you are fast and furious and it seems like you always are going 100 miles per hour.... you are pulling up on EVERYTHING, opening every cabinet (or trying to) that you can, cruising between the coffee tables, chairs and sofas on your feet as long as your hands are firmly in place and you have taken a FEW steps on your own... literally a total of 3, all by accident, but we were completely pumped. If we hold out one of our hands, you will take it and walk to wherever we are, but if you know we are trying to get you to walk you automatically squat down to crawl... but soon, we are sure you are going to be a running little maniac.
Unfortunately, we have found that "I don't think so...." or "no, ma'am" doesn't really work for you... you definitely have a mind of your own and are quite strong-willed (wonder where you got that from?)... sometimes, you are deliberately defiant and it is just crazy to us that you are SO small and just learning what things are / do and yet, you already know when you are disobeying (and sometimes get a kick out of it). You listen to daddy a lot better than momma, so unfortunately, you have had your first forms of discipline this month... yikes! You definitely don't get it, and kind of laugh, but we are starting to teach you now so that it doesn't come as a surprise later when you get in trouble for doing something wrong!
Your routine is still just the best... again, like clock-work!! You are up between 7:30-8am every morning (with the occasional sleep in until 8:30!), eat 6 oz and eat oatmeal, nap from 10am-12pm, eat 6 oz and eat veggies/rice cereal blend, fruit and sometimes another snack, nap from 2-4pm, eat 6 oz and snack on little munchies, PLAY hard until about 7pm when you have another 6 oz, eat fruit/veggies/rice cereal and then we get ready for bed about 7:30pm.
Some of your very favorite things to eat are cheerios, PUFFS (you go crazy for these, still), cottage cheese (your favorite big food), all vegetables, all fruit (except watermelon and lately you don't like blueberries), cheese, yogurt.... and of course, anything that momma and daddy eat. You are such a mooch. Especially when it comes to our drinks - you will whine like crazy until we give you a sip if we have a straw... luckily, we mostly have water, but when momma wasn't looking the other day you did steal a swig of her coke. Lovely. 
This has been the HOTTEST summer that either Momma or Daddy can remember, so this means we have not been able to do as much outside with you as we would like... but to keep yourself busy, you LOVE to read (Doggies and But Not the Hippopotamus are your favorites), you play in your mini-kitchen for hours (literally), you still love morning / evening walks, exploring different rooms of our house, banging on pots / pans / drums... more than anything, you LOVE LOVE LOVE to swim. You have absolutely no fear in the water - going under doesn't scare you, either.... you will kick your feet the whole time, splash your arms or relax in your float.. you LOVE it. So of course, we take a lot more baths now, too. 
You are little miss chatterbox.... and apparently, fluent in japanese because we have NO clue what you are saying, but you babble ALL. DAY. LONG. You will say phrases like you are in conversation and repeat them over and over, sometimes sing them, sometimes scream them and every once in a while you throw in a word we know... like Momma, Dadda, DotDot, Pawpaw, Pup, or Baba (for milk). Otherwise, a whole lot of gibberish, but it is really cute... once you learn the english language, I have a feeling you will be telling STORIES!
You hair is still kicking up some curl, but for the most part, we find that it really only stays when it is wet. By the time it is dry, it sort of waves to straight.... it is getting SO long on the top, but you are still bald as all get out on the sides and in the back... it is a reverse mullet. 
You STILL do not have any teeth, but you have started rolling your tongue over your bottom gums and sticking it out constantly... I think you feel something happening, so you are letting your tongue over it. But who knows, you may not get any teeth for a few more months, oh well. This tongue thing, however, is your new favorite thing... you love sticking out your tongue at us.
We weigh you at home every once in a while (when you will sit still) and you are still weighing at 16lbs.... you are still in size 2 diapers, but you have graduated clothes sizes!! You are now wearing 6-9 months, and SOMETIMES 12 months (mainly dresses and pajamas). 9 month pjs are definitely getting too small in length, but your 9 month swimsuits just swallow you.... you tall, skinny girl!
Over the last few months, really noticed this month, you have seemed to get over "stranger-danger"... you definitely are still a Momma and Daddy's girl, choosing us if we are in the room, but you will go to all of your grandparents, Aunt Katie and Aunt Kristen, friends and even the nursery without even blinking an eye... sometimes you will jump out of my arms to get there. Especially if we are somewhere with other little kids... you absolutely LOVE to play with friends... older and younger, you are so social! You just want to love on (sometimes kiss, yikes!) and play with anyone that will entertain your advances...
We kept Kaci and Chloe this month for Mindy and Josh.... let's just say you LOVED it. Every time you woke up in the morning or from a nap, you immediately started looking for the puppies (making your monkey - hoo, hoo noise). They kind of got over you quickly, so you were often frustrated that they just didn't want to play with you!
We are still pretty sure that you are either going to be a dancer of somehow involved with music... literally, it could be a rap, country, classical or pop song and you will sway, clap and move along with the music... when standing, you have recently started to bounce or stomp (almost like your kicking from when you were younger!) to the beat.... you love music. And luckily, so far you have great taste!
When you get excited about ANYTHING (like, seeing Momma or Daddy for the first time in a day, going swimming, seeing a friend or puppy...) you close your fists, put your arms bent by your side and scream "DI-DI-DI-DI-DI" at the top of your lungs all while squishing up your face.... it is a mini-freak out, and it is AWE-SOME. Maybe the funniest thing you do.... you get super intensely excited and apparently cannot control it... it is hilarious!!!
One little thing that I have been meaning to record for the last six months or so, but we REALLY appreciate what an easy, happy baby you are... Eleanor, it is unreal. I can count on one hands how many times I feel like you have really had a crying fit and we are so blessed that to date you have not ever been sick.... these are really big things to new parents, so we definitely count them as blessings. I mean, I just figured it would be harder to put a baby to sleep, per se, but you can be mid-conversation, game or activity with 10 people, I pick you up, change your diaper, say a a bedtime prayer with you, lay you down and before I leave the room you are asleep.... no tears, no whining... just content to be in bed. If you aren't asleep, you sit there with your paci quietly until you fall into slumber... so so sweet.
Your little bottom is just too cute...and apparently while swimming your suit often shows it off... whoops, plumber girl!
Momma is still working part-time, and since Dot Dot had knee surgery to fix her other knee (she has 2 new knees now!), your PawPaw comes to play with you every Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday if I have a wedding.... BUT, Momma just let work know that as we approach BR #2 arriving, I am transitioning to a stay-at-home mom... so, 5 weddings (November 1) to go until it's me and you, kid (and kid)! We are trusting Jesus BIG TIME on this one, but Daddy and I both feel like this is where the Lord wants us to move.... and Momma wants nothing more than to spend my days with YOU!
You are still fascinated with remotes, phones, computers... basically anything we really wish you would not touch.... you just can't get enough of them. There have been multiple times when mid-show, you change the channel on me.... rude, haha!
You have VERY distinctive facial expressions... you definitely have the fakest smile I have ever seen, a "who, me??" face, a mischevious "I am going to do it even though you told me not to" face, a monkey face when you get excited about something or someone (in which you also say "hoo, hoo, hoo", you make a face where you look just like your daddy (biting your side lip), your "I am judging you, momma" face, and a full-face when you are done with your bottle or food. You will block your mouth with your hands and then push the bottle as fast as you can away from you... all while clinching your mouth tightly shut.... Eleanor, we get it.
Not the thing I am most proud of, in fact a BAD habit we are trying to break, is that you have found your nose. Not the outside, but the inside... and you love to stick your fingers up it. Especially in public. Awesome. For Momma's close friends, they will know what a travesty this is for me... I am working through it, but obviously trying to break the habit. quick.
We still catch you sitting up in your crib, asleep, often. You will also stand up in the middle of the night, let out a little noise and sit back down to fall asleep.... so daddy and I have come to the conclusion that we MAY have a future sleepwalker on our hands. Regardless, the monitor usually provides really great entertainment at some point almost every night.
Basically, you our are busy little bee... and you just couldn't be any sweeter. We love you so so so much and it is just crazy that a month from right now you will be over a year old.... writing that just brought tears to my eyes. I am planning your first birthday party now.... oh my word, I can't handle the speed in which our life is passing us by... the days are too short with you. We cherish the little things about you, the big things, the changing things, the things you have yet to figure out... oh Eleanor, you truly are the light of our days. You will always be daddy's little "munch'n punch" and Momma's "little poop"... even when you are 16. Sorry.
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