Annabel is 11 Months Old!

Annabel is 11 months old today! She will be one in just a few weeks....WHERE did the time go? Well, I know where it went for the last six weeks- it all went to being sick and recovering, my poor family. But other than that, the last year just FLEW by! So now my baby, my baby, is 11 months old...and so begins the last month before the big ONE!

I have to say, in spite of all the sickness, this past month was a busy one for Annabel. She is learning so much so fast all of a sudden. It's been so much fun to see all the things Annabel is learning and all the new ways that she is playing.

One of the newest things we're seeing Annabel do lately is imitate us. She is always watching us and picking up on new things. The combing I shared a while ago was a great example, but there are other little things I can tell she notices and tries to do, especially when it comes to toys. You can just see her watching us play and interact with toys and then the next minute she's trying to do just what we were doing- like stacking blocks or driving cars and such. It's so cute and tons of fun to watch.

Annabel also loves giving things to us lately. We are having a lot of fun playing along with her. She makes the cutest little "excited" talking sounds when she gives us stuff, too. She's clearly very proud and excited to play this way. And if she isn't giving something to you, she's showing it to you- just as excitedly!

Annabel is also quite the collector these days. She always has more than one toy or spoon in each hand and this doesn't stop her from picking up/grabbing more- she will just keep adjusting the stuff in her hand so she can get more! It's pretty funny to watch. However, feeding her requires multiple spoons because she will undoubtedly take them all away. If she has a spoon in each hand already, this isn't a problem for her- she just puts both spoons into one hand and then takes the next spoon and she'll keep doing this. She can handle three spoons in one hand no problem! Aiyiyi. It's a good thing she's moving onto finger foods much more now.

Annabel also helps us clean up- at least it seems that way. Whenever Daniel and I are cleaning toys up, Annabel is right there helping us put the toys in the bin, box, etc. It's like she knows we're cleaning up and she knows how to do that. I love it! I'll start her early with that, no problem. Of course she often takes at least one toy right back out, but she does love putting things in containers, so "cleaning up" is fun for her.

Daniel's recent dancing phase is very exciting for Annabel, too, because she loves music. We think it's cute the way she "bounces" to music. She loves this kitty piano that we have- she loves to push the button to make the music come on, she loves to press the piano keys. Her face lights up with delight and she squeals with excitement when that kitty piano is on. It's the cutest thing!

Annabel claps all the time now, too. You always know when she's excited and happy because she's clapping. Her claps are just the cutest. And right up there with clapping and back to loving music, one of Annabel's favorite toys are the cymbals from the music kit Daniel got for his birthday. She just loves the things- she has the biggest smile whenever she hears these or plays with these.

And speaking of Annabel's smile, she's got quite the toothy smile! I think it's too cute! Annabel has two top teeth and two bottom teeth so far. Not sure when more are coming since I don't see any others coming up just yet.

Peek-a-boo has always been a favorite game of Annabel's, but lately, she will even cover us herself. And that toothy smile is always plastered on that face when we come out of hiding! Of course she hides herself behind things, too, and she loves when we find her. She was laughing so much the other day when we were playing peek-a-boo and it was the cutest thing ever. And this girl doesn't laugh much, which made those peek-a-boo moments even more precious.

Annabel is a pro at climbing the stairs now. She loves to climb the stairs. This also means she's become a pro at moving the gates that block the stairs. We are currently just using those flexible gates (the kind you link together that can make lots of different shapes- we put ours around the tree one year for Daniel) to block the stairs in the basement and the hall from the kitchen that leads to the main stairs in our front hall. These gates don't stop her at all! It's a good thing she gets so excited about what she's doing and starts making her cute "ooo-ooo" noises, so that we always know when she's moving the gates and heading up the stairs or down the hall! In any case, the gates slow her down for about two seconds and then we are always right behind her!

Annabel seems to understand us so much more now, too. You can tell things are just clicking in her brain when we are talking to her. She gets excited when we tell her what we're doing, what we're eating, etc. before we even get there- you can tell she knows what we're talking about. I love this! Annabel even seems to understand "no"- she will stop and look at you and even try to say the word occasionally "nanana" and then most of the time she moves on. She might go back a few seconds later or she'll at least wait until you notice her before further attempts (isn't this kind of her?!), but another reminder "no" with another fun distraction usually suffices. We'll see how long this lasts!!

I mentioned above that Annabel is moving onto finger foods much more lately. I'm really glad to be moving onto this stage finally! She is SO interested in our foods lately that we've been giving her small pieces of our foods, too, when they're manageable and safe for her. Annabel will even grab food out of our hands! She took a (homemade- yes I felt like baking today!) chocolate chip cookie RIGHT OUT of Ben's hand this afternoon and proceeded to eat it all! We kind of let her because it was so gosh darn cute! Don't worry- we watched her carefully, she took her time, very small bites and all- and of course I took lots of pictures which I'll share another time. She's getting really good at feeding herself big chunky things (such as her Gerber "crunchies") by taking small bites. Annabel did go through a phase of about two weeks where she didn't eat hardly ANY food (not even purees)- but I finally pegged that to her (probably painful!) double ear infection. In fact, when we went to the doctor yesterday, they weighed her and she'd actually lost a pound. Not surprising, but with how eager she is about food these days I have no doubt she'll gain that back just fine! Daniel is of course very excited that Annabel can eat real food, too. We're trying to teach him what she can have and what is still not safe, and how we can make the foods she can have safe for her and so on. I think it's working because when we went out to dinner at Patio the other night, Daniel took his french fry and broke off a teeny tiny (as he called it, and yes it was a teeny- about 1 cm) piece of his french fry for her! He was so proud of himself. I figured eh it's soft and it was small and he was so good about it, why not let her try it. Her first french fry. I didn't even have the camera! Annabel didn't think much of it anyway. Later, later, she can try again! Anyway, it's fun to have the adventure of giving Annabel new foods to try. So far she loves bread/baked (and sweet- ahem) anything...that's my girl!

And finally, the one thing that I'm most excited about lately are the kisses Annabel is always giving us! I love 'em!! She's sort of done them before, but now I feel like they really are kisses! I'll take 'em all!