Larkin at 11 Months Old

And then, suddenly, my baby was 11 months old. Only weeks away from a birthday. Nearly a year since I was meeting her for the first time. How wistful and tender that makes me feel. 

But then again, what a marvelous little person this girl is, and every month reveals more and more of her personality. Raising children is pretty magic... truly. Look at this girl! 

{Larkin is wearing a sweet vintage baby dress I bought four years ago at a Vintage Market Days... And I finally remembered to use it! I used Elmer's glue to glue the bow in her hair because I was out of Karo syrup and because the sweet tiny bow seemed to suit her dress better than one of her many headbands.}

 

For this month's photos, I anticipated her escapism and tried both a chair (when they're still new at cruising, chairs can often "keep them in place" because they sense that they're not on the floor and it might be hard to "escape". But make sure you are spotting them the whole time, because they will also sometimes just pitch themselves off with no regard for consequences.) and a fun "primitive" basket I've used as a prop for years. She did okay with both, but got more upset at the chair because of that nervous feeling. Still, going between the two "containment props", I managed to get so many sweet photos, even when they also show her curiosity and eventual frustration. 

(Standing and "yelling" at me.)

Sweet baby girl! ♥

 

A glimpse of life with Larkin at eleven months:

1. Larkin is now entirely comfortable cruising and pulling up and moving around. She is pretty great at not bumping her head on furniture so far, and she is definitely already practicing climbing, though she hasn't mastered the couch just yet... mostly just things that are one or two steps high. 

2. She hasn't shown interest in trying to stand alone yet, and can't be bothered to have her hands held to practice walking. She's content to crawl like a champ and to cruise everywhere. 

3. Last month I reported the things she loved to get into... Since then, I've gotten pretty adept at thwarting her trouble spots: I've figured out that I can put a baby gate in one hallway and block the other doorway access to the stairs with some kitchen chairs, so I can keep her away from climbing our stairs that way. When she's awake, I put the cat dishes up high (sorry Fiona!) and close the bathroom door, and I recently moved the DVDs to a new shelf that she can't get to. I'm CERTAIN she has more mischief ahead I haven't even thought of, but for the moment I'm ahead of her. 

4. She is cutting her top two teeth right now, and they are swollen and look painful. The left one has barely broken through, but it's taking forever. Still, I have no doubt she'll have some teeth up there to show off for her one-year photos!! 

5. The teething has directly affected her sleep. Gone are those "sleep through the night" weeks. She's back to waking once a night for sure, and sometimes twice. I will feed her one time, but the other time(s), we wait her out and she fusses herself back to sleep. Poor girl. I have to think her teeth just ache when this happens. I have been giving her Motrin off and on. 

6. She's been sleeping in recently--- sometime waking at 6:00 or so for one little bottle, but then sleeping til 8:30 or 9. Hooray for me, because my other kids are sleeping that late too... But boo for Larkin's naps being a little hard to predict because of it... Sometimes she'll only take one good nap when she sleeps in too late. (And boo for having to adjust to no more sleeping in in just one week. ACK. School starts one week from today!)

7. Her hair continues to grow steadily in. I bet if I went and bought those tiny rubber bands, I could get her hair in one or two top-piggies. I need to try that. In these photos, it's resting pretty flat and wavy-- the weight of the growing length taking away her "superman curl"... but when it gets humid outside, her whole head of hair gets a loose curl to it, and it is so cute! 

8. She LOVES to dance and wave her hands in the air-- especially when we put on the "Trolls" soundtrack. She is hooked!

9. Perhaps the most charming developmental milestone for her right now is her "talking". She is very good at call-and-response baby chatter... When I imitate her, she copies me right back, and we can have a whole "conversation" this way. She loves to get loud, too, and I think she either learned it from her loud siblings, as she tries to keep up, or she is imitating me when I get loud just to be heard over the other kids' chatter. 

10. Additionally, she is attempting some words, and they are still new and cute. She will mimic "uh oh!" and "hi!"... She seems to say "dadadada" for Joe, not just as a babble noise like it initially was. And she has mimicked monkey noises and LOVES to "roar" when we roar like a lion for her. It's really fun to see her "getting it" and learning to attempt words back to us. 

This girl of mine is SO MUCH fun, even when she takes both of my hands and all of my concentration just to keep up with her. She loves her siblings and adores her daddy, and I can't believe we've gotten to have her in our family for nearly an entire year already. I love seeing her grow, and am so lucky to be her mama. 

♥

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(Photos taken on Larkin's amazing bird quilt made by my friend Melanie Hess of Thoroughly Modern Minis, on Etsy. See her 1 month photos HERE, her 2 month photos HERE, her 3 month photos HERE, her 4 month photos HERE, her 5 month photos HERE, her 6 month photo HERE , her 7 month photos HERE, her 8 month photos HERE, her 9 month photos HERE, and her 10-month photos HERE. )