Ages and Stages: 8-12 Months

When you turned 8 months it seemed like you started to do everything! Crawl, clap, etc. You took your first steps at 9 and a half months but weren’t really that gung ho about walking until about 10 months. Then at 11 months it seemed like another developmental leap, particularly in communication. Now at almost one year, you are so smart! Your favorite thing to do is move. You want to explore, run, and climb. And boy does it make mommy a nervous wreck. You split your eye open at daycare, and then got a major egg from Amanda’s coffee table (I cried as much as you when that happened). You can mimic us and are starting to learn words! This morning you said cheese before I even said it. It’s so funny to year you try that one because it is just the “ch” sound for now. You will even say “moo” when we see cows or I ask you what sound they make.  You rock your babies/stuffed animals, give them kisses and even put them on a pillow to go “night-night”. You give kisses to your elmo seat too and even try to wrestle him sometimes! It’s hilarious. We have put the mattress on the floor now and you love to climb on it and wait for someone to come tickle you. Now that you can communicate more, it is pretty easy to tell what you want, the hard part is that sometimes what you want is not safe, and you don’t like it when you don’t get your way! You will sit down and put your head all the way down on the floor and cry in frustration. It makes me feel so bad to take something away or tell you no, but I try to remember that temper tantrums are a normal part of development that is very important and actually a good sign.

We ended up cutting your long front piece of hair at a little over 8 months because it was getting into your eyes, and then it was the same length as the rest of your hair-which has grown in so well since! It is a dirty blond/golden light brown color- very pretty. In some light it looks light and in some light it looks darker. And you are getting a few little curls in the back, they make my heart melt! Your face is looking more and more toddlerish each day. Especially when I look back at your pictures at 5 or 6 months, your face has thinned out quite a bit. Your one little roll on each leg seems to be going away too, but you still have a healthy amount of baby fat all over your body, and your little tummy sticks out a bit when it’s really full. You are the cutest, and soo pretty. Not that looks matter, but daddy and I can’t help but comment on it every night as we watch you sleep.

You love to read books. You will go over to the shelf get a book and come sit on my lap for me to read it. The ones you like best are the ones with real pictures of babies and animals and lift-the flap books, but there are some others illustrated ones you like too: Goodnight moon, Everywhere Babies, Time for Bed my Love, The Big Red Barn, Sleep Little Angel. You like a lot of books really, but there are definitely some you don’t care for.  You will clap and sometimes dance a bit when I sing a song or put on music. You can put all your rings on the peg, gears on the caterpillar and also like to play with your “Little people” School Bus set. You LOVE to play with the remote and phone, but you will settle on your own phone which you hold up to your ear the wrong way and say “hi” while walking around. One day you were walking around with your phone and a little purse and it was soo cute! You also like to pull your “Going to Grandmas” suitcase along behind you. 

Your still a good eater but seem like you might be starting to get pickier. You don’t like chicken or turkey as much as you used to. I think berries might give you diarrhea, Strawberries and Blueberries anyway. Your still breastfeeding in morning, after work, to fall asleep at night, and at least once during the night. On the weekends you probably eat two more times during the day. You have transitioned to one nap for 1.5 to 2 hours around 11 or 11:30am (I can't exactly remember when that stared but probably around 9 months with two naps a day once in a while). Bed time is usually around 8pm and you get up around 7am. You have two more teeth coming, the bottom lateral incisors. The right one has cut completely through and the left one is working on it.