2011: A New Year of Adventures

A year ago, it seemed to me 2010 was the most anticipated year of my entire life.  I couldn't wait for it to actually get here - waiting for Miss Leah was the biggest thing I've ever done. 

When she was actually here, it seemed 2010 would go on forever.  My baby was just a baby, after all!  Now, here we are, welcoming 2011 and preparing for that baby girl to turn 1.

I can't believe it.  Time has simply gone too fast. 

So, in the interest of slowing things down a bit to drink in the moment, here are some noteworthy things about Leah at the beginning of 2011.  I totally dread cannot wait to look back and see how drastically this list has changed in another year!

On the first day of 2011, Leah...
*Is 9 months and 3 weeks old

*Has no teeth

*Pulls herself up on furniture pretty much everywhere she can

*Is practicing standing all by herself.  She wobbles for a few unassisted seconds and then plops on her bottom.

*Crawls her little heart out.  She has gotten quite proficient at it, and almost never does the army crawl she started out with at 6 or 7 months.

*Zips along in the basement on her walker.  Her stability is so much improved, I can't believe it.  She needs no assistance (other than the walker, of course!) as she walks along, and can even bend down and pick up objects as she goes. 

*I predict walking by/in February.

*Says only one word: "Daddy" (although I've caught a few "Hi"s as well)

*Gives five

*Claps when asked, and then grins maniacally

*Will find Mommy's nose when asked

*Climbs flights - yes, whole flights, unassisted no less - of stairs

*Beebops along to any music you put on and absolutely LOVES to dance!

*Favorite song: "If you're happy and you know it" (clap your hands!)

*Communicates effectively even though she can't speak.  She is very expressive and super verbal, even though it's not in word-form yet. 

*Wears size 2 diapers (let's not tell anyone that this will change as soon as we run out of this box of size 2's)

*Fits in most of her 6 month clothing, all of her 9 month clothing and wears 12 months, even though they're pretty big. 

* Has started on solid pieces of food, and eats organic puffs (fancy cheerios) like they're going out of style.

* Her favorite game is dumping out all of her toys and sorting through them.  Her favorites are "farmer John" and "moo cow," two "little people" toys she got for Christmas.  I though she's be too little to really play with them, and they turned out to be her favorites!

*She still nurses 4 times a day, and eats everything in sight when she's in her high chair.  She can often slam down 4 ice cubes-worth of food! 

*Has a sweet, inquisitive, funny personality.  She loves to give kisses, hugs, and she loves to make us laugh.  I am still in awe at what an overall easy baby she is, and I hope that will keep up into her toddler days!

Let me close this post with a little video that is so true to who Leah is.  We love that sweet baby, and can't wait to see what wonders 2011 has in store!