Personalized onesie made by Amber from The Cotton Cupcake Shoppe! |
It’s almost the end of January and I realize I still haven’t published Kate’s 11 month post yet! Luckily I take good notes on all her adventures so it’s easy to remember the details. One of the biggest changes we’ve seen in Kate this month is her increased desire and happiness to play independently. She’ll easily play for 20 minutes, 30 minutes–sometimes even an hour!–all on her own, just as happy as can be. Of course G and I still hover in the wings, because even though she doesn’t need us to entertain her, we still find watching her to be our favorite form of entertainment.
Kate falls more and more in love with her books each month. She has always loved being read to, but now she is starting to sit down and flip through her books on her own, babbling as she turns the pages and pretending to read. She even knows to turn the book around if it’s upside down! She is so much fun to watch! She enjoys her books more than her toys lately, so that’s what we’ll toss in the diaper bag for her to play with when we’re out and about. Here’s a video of her “reading” in her carseat on our way home from lunch one day:
I mentioned last month that Kate lost a lot of her speech after her cleft palate repair, but I’m happy to say she’s been quite the little chatterbox lately! G and I have been so thrilled to hear her voice again. She’s also been giving the most glorious, slobbery open-mouthed kisses. Oh it melts my heart! I ask for “kisses please?” and usually she just moves her face a little closer to mine so I can give her a kiss, but sometimes she surprises me by attacking my face with that big slobbery open mouth–and she doesn’t let up either! She’ll hold her little mouth–open as big as she can get it–on my cheek, nose, forehead, neck, etc. for as long as I let her, which is usually only a few seconds before I erupt into laughter and start smothering her in kisses instead. She is so much fun!
Another one of her fun things to do is “Sooo Big!” which her Grandma Pam and Grandpa Steve taught her. We ask, “How big is Kate?” and she throws her arms up in the air as we reply, “SOOOOOO Big!” She just loves the reaction it gets!
More big news this month is that Kate is getting more confident standing on her own, and her balance is getting much better. She also had a big teething month and popped through her 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th tooth–four teeth all at the same time! Those were not our favorite days, but thank goodness for bibs and teething rings!
Kate’s 11 Month Stats
Bedtime: 6:30pm. We had been trying to gradually push Kate’s bedtime later to 7pm so we’d have more time with her in the evenings, but after a couple of weeks it became clear that she still needs her earlier bedtime. Once we returned it to 6:30pm she began sleeping a lot better again.
Wake Up Time: 6:30/7:00am.
Naps: Two naps per day for approximately 3 hours/day.
Bottles: We weaned Kate from her daytime bottles this month, which surprisingly was a piece of cake! She’s now down to just two 7.5oz bottles per day–one when she wakes up and one at bedtime.
Meals/Solids: Breakfast at 8/8:15am, lunch at 12:00pm, and dinner at 5:15pm. We also introduced snacks this month which replaced Kate’s daytime bottles. She now gets a snack when she wakes up from her morning nap, and another snack when she wakes from her afternoon nap.
New Foods: Tomato, grapes, fish, cranberries, mandarin oranges.
Developmental Milestones & “Firsts”: First Christmas, and first New Year (although there was no way that little girl was staying up until midnight!). She is standing on her own, and now has 8 teeth.
Favorite Toys: Thanks to Christmas, Kate has lots of new favorite toys! She loves her Chatter Cookie Monster and her Chatter Elmo (they both get big laughs!), her Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Activity Table (the laptop is a big hit; she loves to open and close it), her Fisher-Price Learning Home that she got from Grandma and Grandpa, her B. Zany Zoo activity cube, and any book she can get her little hands on!
Kate & The Dishwasher
Kate’s First Christmas
Happy Holidays
My 2010 Resolutions
CUTE!!! Love the pics with the shoes! Oh man!! I’m going to miss doing monthly onesies for Kate!!! I guess it would be a bit much to do 13m – 24m yet?!
She’s so cute D!!!
SOOO BIG! SOOO CUTE!
I love that she’s loving reading already… I’ve been a bookworm since I was two. Whenever you have to take older Kate to something boring, like a long road trip or a car auction (I remember when my parents took me to one.. I almost died of boredom), just give her a book and she’ll be happy. Easy!
Hi Dusty-
I’ve been following your blog for awhile…my daughter just turned 10 months old and I’m trying to come up with some food options that are more interesting for her. Do you mind sharing what you give Kate for meals…just looking for some more ideas!
Thanks!
She IS so big! Wow, 11 months. She’ll be asking to borrow your pretty shoes here in no time.
jbhat
Another lurker delurking to comment on the cute videos! She’s getting so big (and looks so happy)! It’s great to hear she’s back talking again.
Hi!
I’ve been following your blog for well over a year now, loving your story and learning about sweet Kate’s monthly developments. My husband and I have been planning for a family and have had some exepected things happen…I digress.
Watching Miss Kate “read” her book is such a joy! I could watch that for hours. It is so special that you are documenting all of this for her: taking videos, journaling, and blogging. Just wonderful.
Okay – going to crawl back into my “cave” now and continue lurking.
Eva
So big! Adorable! I’m glad to hear that she is coming back to chattering, I bet that is just music to your ears. Love you both!
OMG I die at how cute those videos are!!!!! Argh when is my girl going to get here??? (due yesterday!)
Happy bday to Kate this month
Love your Kate updates! Sounds like you are all having a blast together!
Happy 11 months Kate!! I love watching the videos D, they were precious!!
Just came across your blog through ‘New Mom in the City’…it’s awesome! Your daughter is adorable Love your love of wine and that you have a baby Kate as well (ours is a year and a half) Looking forward to reading more!
I just wanted to ask what a typical work day is like for you. I’m going to be a first time mom in May and am curious how you balance motherhood with work. Do you typically work 8-5, come home at lunch, etc? I read the post you wrote about going back to work but was wondering more about specifics and how Kate’s schedule works with your and your husband’s work schedule. Thanks Dusty!
~ Molly
Thank you so much everyone!
@Amber–It’s been so much fun getting your onesies in mail. I’m going to miss the fun surprises! Thank you for doing such a wonderful job on all of Kate’s shirts–we will cherish them forever!
@Anonymous–Thanks for your comment. I’d love to share some of my favorite recipes for Kate; thank you for the idea. I’ll try to get some posts together soon–stay tuned!
Thank you so much Eva; that is such a lovely comment. Kate’s only one year old now and it’s amazing how quickly you forget things! I’m so glad I’ve kept a good record of it all. Best wishes to you and your husband!
@Ginger–EEE, how exciting!! I hope you are doing well!
@Megan–Wonderful choice in a name for your little girl.! 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
@Molly–I work 8/8:30am-4:30pm, Tuesdady-Friday. Kate goes to daycare on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, and stays home on Wednesdays when G’s mom comes to take care of her. On days Kate goes to daycare G usually leaves with her at 7:30am (he does the daycare drop off), and I leave shortly after they do. G also picks Kate up from daycare and they’re usually home by 5/5:15pm so I make sure to be home by then, too. I plan on doing a series of posts on “A Week in My Life” so stay tuned for those for more information if you’re interested.