mia | eleven months

Dear Mia,

Yet another eventful month has passed. In the last week alone you cut your second tooth and went from just standing to walking across a room on your own. I knew once you let go that you would be unstoppable. You have not stopped practicing your walking all week and I think you are more proud of yourself than your daddy and I combined.

  

Just for the record, you have been sleeping worse than you ever have in your entire life. And I don't just mean for a night or two. I mean for weeks, maybe even months. Seriously, dear daughter, it is okay to sleep for eight, nine, ten hours in a row. I promise you will not miss anything and I will still be there when you wake up. No need to check in with me every couple of hours during the night. If you let me sleep, I promise I will be a much happier momma and maybe I will even give you cake.

Speaking of cake, you like it. And cookies and zucchini and bread and chicken and, well, pretty much everything I put in front of you. As long as you can feed yourself. You haven't been letting me feed you anything from a spoon lately. No, you want to operate the spoon yourself. And this is what happens when you operate the spoon yourself.

Oatmeal in every orifice, wrinkle, and roll. And this is nothing compared to what happened when you fed yourself yams the other day. For once, I did not take pictures of you eating.  You have no idea how many "eating" pictures I already have of you.  I can't help myself.  I love watching you eat.  And I love taking pictures of you eating.

You even tried to eat Cheerios with a fork. You were successful in getting them on the fork, not so successful getting them in your mouth.

Big sister has been warming up to you and even let you snuggle with her white blanket yesterday since we couldn't find yours. I almost fell out of my chair. Sister also likes to feed you, the problem is monitoring what she decides to put in your mouth.

You discovered coloring this week. I showed you how to make marks with a crayon and you are obsessed with getting your hands on anything that will write. You are also obsessed with eating the crayon box, but you've always had a thing for eating paper products. Don't worry, I pulled the slobbery wad of cardboard out of your mouth once I realized half the lid was missing.

You continue to jibber jabber regularly and can now say, "Dadadadada." And you say it a lot. When I ask you to say "Mama," you just smile and laugh at me. I'm not sure what that means. Am I just a joke to you? Or do you love me so much that just mentioning my name makes you burst with joy? I will believe the latter.

You still love to play peek a boo with your blanket over your head. You love Maverick, Laci, and baby dolls. You love to get your hands on Laci's toys, especially when she is napping and can't take them away from you. You give adorable, slobbery, open mouth kisses, mostly to me. I love them.

And you.

Happy eleven month birthday Mia.
Love, Momma