11 Updates at 11 Months

1. She wants to “walk” everywhere. One finger or two fingers and she is off… She can balance on her own and has started to take one step between grabbing the next, but not quite walking yet. Jason and I have bets as to the day she will take her first step now also. It is close!!
2. She is so over baby food. I think I am done buying baby food… I have a few jars left, but she wants to eat what I am eating. Bananas, oranges, beans, macaroni, chicken, carrots, green beans…you name it, she wants it! She won’t eat everything, but she definitely is done with baby food.
3. She loves Logan and Loudoun! She just loves to “pet” them and gets giddy with excitement when she sees them every morning. She plays ball with Logan and she and Loudoun have a special bond!
4. Lauren likes to be outside. She gets so happy when we walk outside and the cold air hits her! She gets so excited with snow and cold air. It is too cute.
5. Lauren loves to “read” her books. She also likes to eat them! She pulls them all out of her bookcase, flips through the pages, “reads” outloud, and then puts them in her mouth.
6. Lauren has started to use utensils. She realizes food goes on them and then you eat it. A lot of times she will take a piece of food, put it on her spoon, smile with pride, then take the food off the spoon and put it in her mouth. Other times she will hold the spoon and put it in her mouth with or without food on it. So, we have some work to do here, but she is definitely making some connections. It is so fun watching her figure things out.
7. Lauren will now “shake, shake, shake” during her Little Gym song. Whenever I sing her song, she knows when to shake it! She is so adorable. She is really remembering things and recognizing patterns. She will also wave and clap when you ask her to- or whenever she wants to.
8. She gives kisses, and pets to people and things. She loves to pet daddy with his scruff or on his head since he has short hair. She also loves to pet the puppies.
9. She has her favorite snuggle toy- LaLa – or, as Aunt Tina calls it: the elephant head on a blanket! She also waits for you to cover her up at night with her crib blanket. Neither of these items are things she has to have, but she does snuggle up to them when she sees them.
10. She wants to be the center of attention. She is cute and she knows it. When we go to Target or are just out and about, she is so happy when people are oohing and ahhing over her. This happens most of the time. She will smile, wave and flirt with anyone, but particularly men. She even lifted her skirt up for the Tmobile guy! However, if she is not the center of attention she is very upset. She wants people to notice her!
11. Lauren is getting really good at getting on and off things – the couch, her chair, her riding toys. She also likes to put her head down on the ground so I can help her do somersaults. She is very active and into everything. Another favorite activity is emptying kitchen cabinets, pulling everything out of the dishwasher and pulling the laundry out of the baskets.