Friday, September 12, 2008

11 months

Hard to believe one month from now Miss Molly is going to be turning one. Time flies!

Molly is a crawling machine and loves to pull herself up on things and even take some steps (furniture surfing) while holding on. She hasn't taken any steps on her own yet, but I'm sure she will when she's good and ready. The Little Gym has been great at exposing her to new things. She loves to do somersaults and loves to explore all of the equipment in the gym. This week we did some peekaboo on the high bar and she balanced herself on the balance beam. She's great at doing the skills when she doesn't realize she's doing them. If it's a game she laughs and laughs and has a great time. If you just try to get her to do the skill and she knows it she sometimes gets upset.

Molly also loves to study every little thing. She watches everything you do and once she's figured it out she'll mimic you. She's also a great mimic when it comes to sounds. I've had several people stop me while we're out and about to comment on Molly's "talking". Oh yeah, she's going to be a talker. There's no doubt about that.

Molly also has some pretty fine motor control skills. She doesn't just grab the remote to drop it and make a noise (which she sometimes *does* do). She grabs it and presses each individual button with her fingers. If we're not careful one of these days she's going to reprogram our entertainment center and lock us out!

Molly still loves bath time and any time she gets to spend in the pool. N recently lowered the temp in our hot tub so she could go in. He went out to check on the levels and Molly saw the water and practically threw herself in. I'm pretty sure we'll be signing up for some winter swim lessons once her current Little Gym session is over.

Another thing that Molly does that warms my heart is read. Well, it *looks* like she's reading. She'll take one of her hard board books or soft bath books and will sit there and study each page. Then when she's done she'll turn to the next page. She also has the book right side up about half the time now. :-)

The very best thing she has learned so far has to be the word no. It takes about three times for her to fully realize something is off limits, but one that registers she usually won't go back to it. The exceptions are night lights (shiny) and the new entertainment stand and tv (shiny *and* bright). Those are her temptations. She knows she's not supposed to, but she'll try when we're not looking. Still, a stern "Molly" usually does the trick and she'll back off.

Another thing that cracks me up is that she loves to close doors, but then cries the second she does. Even when you're on the same side as her. It's hilarious!

Molly still just has the bottom two front teeth. She gnaws on everything, but nothing new has broken through. Which is fine by me since she's still getting boob time about 4-8 times a day. I stopped pumping in the mornings about a month ago when she really kicked her eating of solids into high gear. I used to get a solid 8-10 ounces each morning, but then it dropped down to about 4 and it was starting to get a bit more uncomfortable since I was no longer getting really engorged so I just stopped. I still have plenty in the deep freeze downstairs when she needs a bottle and I'm not around. She usually feeds first thing in the morning, right before her morning nap, right before her afternoon nap/quiet time, and then right before bed. Some days she wants it more often, but at the bare minimum it's those 4 times.

As for eating she still loves her veggies! Freeze dried peas and corn are always a favorite and she goes through jars and jars of sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, squash, lentils, and rice. I got a butternut squash and pureed it for her, but I think there was still a bit too much texture. I added some more water and liquified it and that seemed to do the trick. I'm going to try doing this for a few more veggies to make sure she'll take them that way and then try to back off on buying the jar foods. Still, they are handy when out and about and I'm sure we'll always have some veggie ones on hand.

Another new favorite are graham crackers. She had her first one when she stole it from Robert when he spent the day and now she's hooked. I think they might have surpassed even her love for cheerios. I try to use these as a last resort or dessert after a meal, but once she spies them she will *not* be deterred. Still, they were a life savior when we were driving back from Santa Barbara and she was done being in the car around Gilroy.

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