Dear Eleanor and Violet,
NO!! Where did the time go!?!? Ho do we only have one month left in your first year!! I'm heart broken by that thought! I wish you could both stay babies for a bit longer! Watching you too though, it's clear that you are becoming more toddler like than baby. I just can not believe how quickly this year is flying by!
We had a very big month for both of you! Let's start with Ella. The most exciting thing...YOU'RE WALKING!!! I can't believe my little baby girl is walking already! Over the past couple of months you have been practicing standing a lot. You got really really good at just standing up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything to push up on. On Oct 21st I made a note that you were practicing standing up a lot that day. Doing it over and over again in the middle of the room! I noted that I thought you were going to just take off soon. On Oct 23 you tried to take a step for the first time. You were on the floor with me, and you stood up and tried to take one. You didn't actually take a step, but you got close! For the rest of the week I would watch you lifting one foot like that, almost taking a step, but not quite having the guts to go all the way. Then the night of Oct 28th came...Nannie and Papa were down for a visit, and we were all in the living room talking. You kept doing your standing up, lifting one foot up thing, but not stringing it to another step. We all had our camera's out, because we just had a feeling it would be that night...and you didn't disappoint! One time you stood up, took one steps, and then another, and then fell! We were all so proud and cheering for you! You seemed pretty proud yourself too, with your adorable big grin across your face! Unfortunately, while Mommy thought she was recording, it actually wasn't! I'm so crushed I missed you first steps on film! I'm so sorry sweetie! Over Halloween weekend you practiced as much as possible, taking 1-3 steps at a time. You practiced a bunch at the Little Gym party, showing off to everyone your new skill! On November 2nd, you started stringing more steps together. At one point I saw you take 7 steps in a row! You picked it up really quickly! I'm so proud! Over that week you got really good, and now...well now you are trying to figure out running! Last night we were all hanging out in the bedroom laying together, and you kept getting up and walking around as fast as you could, and kept tripping over your feet because they weren't moving as fast as you wanted them too! You are just so cute! Your main mode of transportation is shifting over to walking now. You still crawl some, but it seems less and less every day. I can not believe you are a walking girl already! You will be running in no time!
In other news for this month Ella, you got four new teeth this month! Tooth #3 was discovered on Oct 18th, while we were in a Woodstock bookstore! It was already put was out of the gums, so who knows when it actually cut...but there it was! The funny thing is, it is your top left lateral incisor (By your view)...the one next to the top middle teeth, which you didn't have at the time! On Oct 26th you cut teeth #4 and 5, discovered at the same time! Both of these are the top middle teeth. Then last night, Nov 15th, I discovered tooth #6...your right lateral incisor! You've been working on that one for quite a while now. I know it's been bothering you, you you've been wearing the amber teething necklace lately. For the last 3 days I've been expecting to feel that it had finally cut the gums, and finally it did last night! Poor girl...that's a lot of teeth in one month!
The other exciting new thing you started doing this month, you learned to click your tongue! On November 8th you just started clicking it all the time! Violet has been clicking her tongue for months now, and I've been waiting for you to figure it out...and you finally did! (There is nothing wrong with it taking you longer to figure that out by the way sweetheart, you are a lot more movement focused, where as Violet is more verbal focused, which this fits into!) Your click is a little different than hers...yours is farther back on the tongue it seems, making a deeper, rounder sound. It's so adorable! You've also been making kissy noises this month, which are equally as cute!
Now Violet, your month has been just as big as Ella's, but in a different way!! I said above that you are more verbally minded, and this month that was more true than ever! You said you FIRST WORD!! BEAR!! Actually, you may have said it earlier, but we discovered you were saying this in relation to a stuffed bear for the first time on October 18th! You had been saying that sound "Baahr" for a couple weeks, but on the 18th you started focusing in on bear toys when you said it. We tested it all day that day, trying to make sure it was your first word. We are still not 100% sure, but any time we put a bear toy in front of you, you would say "Baahr!" Then for like a week after that, anything furry was called a bear by you, including the cats! You don't say it as much anymore, and I have unfortunately never gotten it clearly on the video camera. :(
But your words this month don't stop there! On October 27th you said "Hi" while waving to Orion! Then on November 1st I swear you said kitty while playing with me, Ella and Orion on the bed in the morning! I keep hearing you say that one, even now! Then on November 6th I also think I heard you say "baby" (while you were signing it for the first time...more on that later!) I have also heard you say what I think are book and Daddy! Not to mention "whoa" is your favorite thing to say right now! I have also heard you say "Uh Oh" a couple times! What a big month for you verbally!
You also had a big month with signs Violet! On Oct 21st you signed "more" for the first time! This is the sign you've come to use the most now. Then like I said before, on Nov. 6th you signed "baby"! We were playing in bed, and you started rocking with your arms in the baby sign position, which of course got me excited! I started signing the "Baby Signing Time" theme song to you, and we signed "baby" together! And I think I heard you say it too! Now you will sign baby every now and then when I ask you to! I can't tell you how exciting it is to me that you are signing! We are up to baby, more, milk and eat now. I'm so proud of you learning these!
One of the most exciting things you've started doing this month Violet is blow kisses! It just melts my heart! On November 6th you did it for the first time. I was going to bed with Ella and Lily, and was blowing kisses to you, when you blew one right back! It was adorable! You blow kisses all the time now! It really is the sweetest thing!
You also have been aiming to give Mommy a heart attack this month! You learned to climb the stairs a couple months ago, but this month you started climbing the whole flight in a blink of an eye! You did it for the first time on Oct 26th. I can't leave you near the stairs at all anymore, because that is the very first thing you do...head right up to the very top! The speed that you get up there too is just amazing! Sometimes I just turn my back, then turn around again, and you are sitting at the top of the stairs laughing down at me! It's really impressive actually, how good you are on them...but terrifying none the less!
Like Ella, you got another tooth of Oct 18th Violet. I discovered it right at the same time as I discovered Ella's, in the book store in Woodstock Vt. Yours was the second top tooth in the middle! Now you look a little more even! :)
We have had a couple big poop incidents with you both this month...that are just to funny to not record. I think these happened the same day, or around the same day. Violet, on November 8th, you pooped in the bath tub for the very first time! That was one milestone I had hoped we would have avoided! Thankfully both Ella and Lily had already gotten out of the tub...but talk about a mess! Yuck! And even worse than that was the day before, or earlier that day (I can't remember, and never wrote it down) I had striped you Ella after a really messy lunch, and left you bare bottomed down stairs, while I ran upstairs to start the bath. When I came down stairs, I found you sitting next to a pile of soft poop, and you were playing in it, like it was the funnest toy you had even seen! I caught you just before you tried to taste it!! Yuck yuck yuck! That was quite the mess to clean up!!! Thanks for filling our lives with messy and funny poop stories this month girls! Keeps us humble!
Another wonderful milestone you both hit this month was offering things to people. Violet, you started handing me toys and food on October 22nd. Ella, you started just a few days later! It's so cute, when eating you both will hold up a handful of food to me, then take it away when I put my hand out to take it! "You want it Mommy? Here you go! Oh...Too slow!" You bot h love to hand me toys too, and we pass things back and forth between us like a game! Very fun milestone to have reached girls!
For food this month, you both are loves eating mostly solid foods now. chicken nuggets (cut up tiny) are your favorite easy go to meal. You also love spinach pancakes, bread, and cut up bananas, and yogurt is of course a favorite! I even gave you linguine with butter the other day, which you both loved! It's exciting that you food horizons are broadening! I just have to get more creative now with healthy meals to give you girls!
For sleep this month, we have been having some good days, and some bad. Both of you will go a few nights of horrible sleep, where Daddy and I have to bounce around beds, and I nurse all night long, going back and forth between you two. Then we'll have a few nights where you suddenly both remember how to sleep in your cribs, and we all get well rested again, just in time for another string of bad nights with one or the other of you. I blame teeth, especially with Ella! I notice the days you sleep better this month have all been right after a tooth finally broke through the skin. I know we had your last tooth take a really long time to cut, and for almost a week we kept thinking that that day would be the day it finally cut through. We had the worst nights of sleep last week because of that. Then suddenly last night it popped through, and we finally got a full night sleep!
Right now I wouldn't say you girls have a particular favorite toy, but you both LOVE to empty the toy box together! And pull down books and movies from the book cases! You just plain love to make messes together! It's very funny, maddening, and cute! Violet, I have noticed you love to play with mommy's old animal toys a lot lately, particularly the polar bear! You carry that little baby cub around with you a lot, chewing on it. I guess the textured plastic to make it look like fur must feel good on your gums! Other than that, you girls both do love to play with the musical instruments, and the blocks, and Lily's play food and kitchen!
Now we do have only little problem that has gotten worse this month. Violet, you are becoming a little bully to poor Ella! Any time she has a toy you want, or a bottle, or food...you go over, pull her down, and steal the desired thing from her! :( Poor Ella! You can be pretty mean about it too Violet, knocking her completely over to get what you want! Sometimes you'll even already have the exact same thing, but you just want hers. Like the other night you both were eating apples. You each had one, but Violet, you kept going over to Ella, knocking her over, and taking her apple! If we try to hold you back, you get very very frustrated and scream. I hope this behavior isn't something that lasts, because we don't particularly like it! And your poor sister, getting knocked down by her little tiny sister! Remember Violet, just because you are smaller, doesn't mean you have to make up for it with attitude!
And now for my favorite story from the month, about how much you love each other, from just yesterday! Yesterday, Violet had a really bad diaper rash, and every time I changed her diaper you would cuddle me for a long while. One time while cuddling you, Ella got jealous I guess, so I picked her up too, and then Lily climbed up too, so I had all three of you sitting one me. Suddenly you two look at each other, open your mouths, and both say "Ah" and move into each other and give each other a big kiss! You did this over and over and over again, laughing each time! You were having a blast giving each other kisses! Then you both started giving me and Lily kisses too! It was such a fun moment between all 4 of us, laughing and giving each other kisses! I've catch you giving each other kisses often today too! Very very sweet how much you love each other!
As always, we are very very proud of you both! This month has been so big for you both, one learning to walk, and the other learning to talk! It's been so exciting seeing you figure these new things out this month! You both should be very proud of how you've grown in such a short time! I can not believe in one short month you will be 1! This year has really flown by, even more so than I could have ever imagined! Please please please stay my little babies for just a little while longer? I can't stand how eager you are to grow up and catch up to your big sister! Just slow down please!! :) We love you both very much, and always will!
Love,
Mommy
Violet 11 Month Pictures:
Ella 11 Month Pictures:
