She will be 11 months old on Saturday (4/7) and this past month feels like it has flown by! It also feels like the month where she went from being a "regular" baby to a "grown up" baby...almost a toddler, except she is not toddling. Or crawling! Oh well. More on that in a bit!
When we entered month 10, Nora was doing pretty much all the things that babies do...sitting and playing, babbling, making us smile, etc. Of course we could tell she was learning things (peek a boo, a preference for cats and babies and books, could look at something we labeled like Daddy, etc) but this month...WOW! The girls' brain is on overdrive! I know for certain it was because she went through wonder week 46 as well...and once she came out of it, at 46 weeks, it was like the tiny baby had vanished and the big baby had appeared. Here are some of her milestones!
Talking: Nora was babbling and saying Dada, but now her vocabulary has expanded. She says "App-ay" (Happy- our dog), "Dada" (that one is obvious!), "Tat" (cat), "Hi", "Bye", "Uh-oh" (usually when she is about to drop her cup or spoon on the floor or has just done it!), "Mama" (only occasionally), "Baa-bee" (baby), and I think I have heard her say "up" a few times! Wow! Big stuff! Today she cracked me up when someone came to our door and she looked right at them and said "Hi!" and then when I was on the phone with LeGrande at lunch, I said "bye" to him before hanging up. The little monkey said "Bye-bye" as I did! When she sees a baby, a photo of a baby, OR her reflection, she will say "baa-bee!" and when she sees our Dog she will say "App-ay!" so I know she is talking and clearly identifying these words with the appropriate context! She has a HUGE receptive language too, and when you ask her to show you her hair, she is happy to do it! Jack likes to ask her to do this when she is eating!
Moving: Nora is not crawling or walking but I think she is CLOSE to crawling. We had to do a ton of tummy time to encourage this and she went for it. She can scoot and army crawl around now, and she loves getting around but it makes her mad that she is not fast. She is trying to get up on all 4's, and she really tries this in her bed. This peaked about 10 days ago and she hardly napped at all for practicing crawling. A frustrated and tired baby = a frustrated, tired mommy! Glad that seems to be a bit better! We do stand her up against the couch to practice her standing skills, though. My favorite thing she does in terms of walking is at the pool. She has a baby float where her legs go through to the water or the bottom of the pool. If she is in water that is shallow enough, and she usually is as our pool has a beach entrance, then she will push those feet against the bottom and walk herself around in the water like she is in a walker! It is SO CUTE to watch. She loves the water.
Eating: Nora is all but on table food now. She has decided that she can spit out what she doesn't want so I have to trick her and add whole cooked peas to her yogurt and applesauce to get her to eat them...or just put them on her tray first before offering anything else. She is the messiest eater I have ever seen. She loves to put her hands all over her face and in her hair when she eats. Jack thinks this is the funniest thing ever, and encourages it. Sigh! She is still nursing 4 times a day and I had gone down to 2 times a day with Jack at this age. She and I both love it and I know she's my last baby, so I am relishing it. There are 2 months till I go back to work so as long as she is weaned before then, we are good.
The other day she was having snack and finished and wanted more. She started screaming and I showed her the sign for "more". She ate more snack and when she was out, she signed it to me! Holy cow! She is fast!
Toys: Nora loves pretty much anything that Jack has! When he plays trains or trucks, he will give her one and she will push it, making the "brmmmmm" sound! It is so cute! She loves the music toys we have and will talk into the microphone on Jack's piano. She already knows what to do with a mike! Oh my! She also loves Jack's Curious George Monkey more than any other toy! I think it's because he has a human-like face. She loves her stuffed dolly toy so we will have to get her a real doll baby for her birthday. Nora loves to read and has her favorites for sure! She loves Good Night, Moon, right now and enjoys pointing to the balloon.
Sleeping: Nora REALLY extended her waketimes after WW 46 ended. All of a sudden, her great nap schedule went kaput and she was talking for 45 minutes before sleeping just 1 hour! Yikes! With some encouragement from the BW mamas, I extended her WT's and she is now able to stay up for 2 hours before her first nap, 2.75 between naps, and 3.5 before bed. This makes getting out to go to the pool in the middle of the day or running errands after the 2nd nap a real possibility now, and I love it! I expect that this schedule will work for a bit and then we'll start to need to shorten her morning nap as she needs it less and less.
Nora is still sleeping in the dining/living room in the pack and play, but I THINK I am getting braver about putting her in Jack's room. I think. We had her nap in the crib there twice this past weekend and she did great. I think the blackout curtains and loud fan in there really help, plus they both use white noise. We are close to this transition for sure. I am nervous about it but I think we will get through it. I am mostly worried about Jack waking her up when he goes to bed as he has a tendency to sing LOUDLY when he is settling himself down. That will have to be stopped.
Jack: Nora LOVES her big brother and he loves her. I enjoy seeing them together and they really do get along. Jack is careful to be gentle with her and when she gets a toy he wants, most of the time he will say "No ma'am, Nora" and give her something else! She loves to lean in and kiss Jack and make him laugh. When they start laughing together, I have to join in and I think I am the luckiest mama in the world for having these two precious ones!
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