Mary at Almost Eleven Months

I apologize for the paucity of pictures lately! Chris has been out of town for five days and during such time I usually reduce myself to doing just the basics.

Mary will be eleven months old in three days. She continues to learn to walk, and is up to four steps in a row now and will stand for increasingly long periods. She cut her fifth tooth this week.

She is making attempts at language beyond "mama" and "dada." With a mother's intuition and understanding, I think Mary is trying to say "kitty" (also one of John's first words), [granola] "bar," and "trees." She loves to chase Missy the cat while shrieking the same kind of sound John used initially for "kitty": tss-tss! And one day this week John was asking for a granola bar and when I got it out of my purse, Mary said, "bar," quiet and quite clearly, several times in a row! Then she got bashful, laughing and hiding her face from me. Another time we were on a walk and she kept pointing to the trees questioningly, so I said, "Trees! Those are trees." She repeated very close to "trees" several times in a row. I wouldn't say she has those words yet, but she's making attempts at labeling things and saying words.

Mary is learning how to play, such as vrooming a toy car along the ground and making the brrrr sound. She loves to take baths and showers (she isn't bothered by the shower spray on her head). She loves eating whatever food is on my plate and so far has rejected only one flavor of an amazing myriad--and that is cow's milk!

I've noticed in the last couple of weeks that John has transitioned from talking almost exclusively about Mary to talking to Mary. He's now conversing with her, as if expecting her to be able to engage in conversation. What is neat about that is that she really is only a few months away from having enough and signs words to start to "converse."

Also Mary is showing the beginnings of toddlerhood. When I don't let her do or have something, she arches her back and throws all her weight back on me while shrieking. Let the fun begin!