Eleven Months Old! (December 21, 2010)

Miss Scarlett is eleven months old, and what's even harder to believe is that in less than one month she'll be ONE YEAR OLD. Seems impossible. She's grown up quite a bit in the last month. She is communicating with us like crazy, both verbally and physically. She follows commands, like "put your arms up," "give me the toy," or "be gentle" when petting Winnie (poor, poor Winnie). She nods yes and no and says what sounds like "yeah" when you ask her a question (like "do you want another bite?"; we have yet to get a "no" or head shake to that one ... the answer is always "yeah"). There's no question that she understands her name, particularly when it is accompanied by the word "no." She'll usually turn to look at you, then turn back around to do whatever it is you just told her not to do, often with a naughty giggle. More often than not, she's making some kind of noise these days. When she's not babbling, she likes to squeal, grunt, moan, or growl depending on her mood.

She's on the move all the time, and stands every chance she gets. One of her favorite activities is to stand at a drawer in the kitchen that's filled with Tupperware and pull each and every piece out one at a time (pulling anything out of a container is great fun, apparently ... mail, laundry, the contents of my purse ... all fair game). She typically stands with one hand anchoring her to the drawer, using the other hand to pull out and dramatically toss the Tupperware to the ground. But a few times we've caught her letting go of the drawer and holding the Tupperware with both hands until it dawns on her that nothing is holding her up, at which point she either sits down or grabs back onto the drawer. So, no regular hands-free standing yet, but she's getting there. And she is now routinely cruising on furniture, so we figure walking could come any time.

If you ask Scarlett to give you a kiss, she'll either give you a quick peck, or if you're lucky she'll give you a big old kiss accompanied by a "mmmmmmwhah!" sound to really emphasize how much she means it. She'll kiss people, dolls, and even tries to kiss Winnie (poor, poor Winnie). And you can get her laughing really hard these days with a tickle attack. Just hovering over her and threatening to tickle her makes her lose it. She claps all the time and will "give you five" or "give you some skin" if you put your hand out. Our girl still loves to eat (she weighs 23 lbs. 14 oz. on the cat scale, but we'll get official measurements from Dr. Curry in a few weeks). Just the sight of her Yo Baby yogurt makes her squeal with delight and start clapping. She also thoroughly enjoys bath time, and continues to think that Winnie is awesome (although her love remains unrequited). She gets really excited at the sight of other little kids and dogs (she says "bah" for dog).

Here's sweet Scarlett on her eleven month birthday. (It was a beautiful day and actually got over 80 degrees!)