Eleven Months Old

I didn't forget Anna's eleven month post!  We picked a poor day for pictures, though.  The lightswitch in Anna's room wasn't working, so her room was a little dark.  Also, she woke up cranky and with a ferocious cowlick.  But we persevered--after all, a girl is only 11 months old for 4 weeks, so the month needs to be commemorated. :-)

This month stands out as the month Anna's stomach grew--the girl is a bottomless pit.  She is not very interested in jar food anymore and begs for our food instead.  One night on our recent Disney trip, she ate a Stage 3 jar of baby food, 2 handfuls of puffs, and 2 teething biscuits while we were waiting for our food.  Once my plate arrived, she ate a large piece of my cornbread, and she also ate about one-third of our (very large) slice of cheesecake for dessert.  Whew!

She is standing for 10-15 seconds at a time and can squat and stand back up.  She will take some wobbly steps while holding my hand, but isn't quite ready to step out on her own yet.  I hope she waits to do that until I'm back home after John's surgery--Will took his first steps while staying with Nana and Papa and I haven't forgiven any of them for that!

More pictures of baby girl:

Anna at 11 months old:

• Has 2 bottom teeth and 3 (almost 4) upper teeth.  She likes to grind them together, which drives us crazy.
• Occasionally babbles "mama", "dada", and "baby" (or more like "bay-bay").
• Loves to wave and can point out Daddy, Will, and me.
• Is still in size 3 diapers and 9-12 month clothes.
• Is eating anything we'll give her!  Lately, she loves diced chicken and cheese, but she'll try anything.
• Just tried her first bottle of formula at 11 months and 1 week old.  I sort of wanted to see if I could get her all the way to her first birthday on nothing but breastmilk, but realized I wouldn't be able to do it when I'm away from her this week--just not enough in the freezer!  I was a little sad to give it to her, but she didn't mind at all--downed one bottle and cried for more.
• Is driving us nuts by standing up in her highchair.  I tell her to "sit on your bottom!" and she just laughs at me.  She is also really, really wiggly while we try to change her diaper or her clothes.  Most nights she sleeps in her outfit from the day because we are too tired to wrangle her into some PJ's.  I remember the day I realized that Will was working with me, instead of against me, while I tried to dress him, but I can't remember how old he was at the time.  I do remember the relief I felt, and am looking forward to that day with Anna.
• Loves Will's dinosaurs, trucks, and Will's red chair.  She tolerates some plastic Disney princess toys I bought her in an effort to get her interested in some girly toys.  We'll be working on that in the future. :-)
• Is growing too fast!  I can't believe her first birthday is just around the corner.