1.07.2015

Eleanor at 11 months

Eleven months old!  Eleanor sat surprisingly still for these photos, especially given her crazy non stop movement for her 9 and 10 month pictures.  

Eleanor now has 2 bottom teeth with no others in sight.  She loves eating sweet potatoes, avocados, farro, bananas, oatmeal, any kind of meat and her spinach/mango/pear pouches.  She has quite the appetite and sure lets you know if she wants more food.  Eleanor loves drinking water out of cups and will always beg for you to share your glass with her. 

Sleep continues to be great at night (pretty much 7 pm to 7:30/8 am with one morning feeding at 6 am) but only takes 2 one hour naps during the day.  

She stopped army crawling around 10 months and is now a speedy little hands and knee crawler.  She is much more adventurous and will wonder from room to room.  Her favorite stops are watching the dryer, climbing up to the bathtub and trying to open the refrigerator.  

Eleanor's best trick is her kisses.  We usually have to ask for them but we feel like a million bucks when she gives them of her own account.  She'll occasionally grab our faces and give us 5 kisses in a row.  It's the best.  She is especially loving to Aaron when he gets home from work.  You can tell she misses him during the day. 

We are still going as strong as ever with nursing and I don't know how we will ever wean.  I am planning to start cutting back feedings at 12 months and slowly work our way from there. But in the mean time, Eleanor continues to LOVE nursing.  And I don't mind the cuddling, slow time either. 

Eleanor makes all sorts of sounds now and carries on full conversations of gibberish with herself.  She's been going strong with the dada's and mama's for a couple months now (although she only rarely seems to use them in reference to me or Aaron) but around Thanksgiving time (at 10 months) she woke up making all sorts of different noises. It sure makes me excited for the conversations we will one day have together. 

While she still loves being held and played with, Eleanor is surprisingly great at playing independently.  She'll usually go for a 20 minute stretch in the morning, just reading herself books and pulling herself up on things in her room.  She loves pulling herself up on her crib and grabbing out her little soothie blanket.  No signs of walking yet, but she really is a pro at standing and moving along things. 

Maybe the most surprising development this month though has been her opinions.  She is opinionated!  She is developing quite the dramatic little tantrum (usually when you try to change her or when she is ready to get out of her high chair).  Aaron and I are bracing ourselves for the next year (and onto her teenage years), hoping that these tantrums ease up.  We are finding ourselves saying "No" more and more and I have even said "Eleanor, use your words" a couple times this week, which is silly because she has no real words as of yet but it just seemed like the right thing to say, you know?  

With all the highs and lows of every day though, Eleanor continues to light up our lives.  Her personality is more and more apparent and she continues to be a source of laughter in our home.  We couldn't live without her. 
 ^^I love it when she puts her hand on her knee like that, as if she's purposely posing. 
 ^^Blurry but these pictures above and below are Eleanor's smile and personality to a "T." I love her sweet grin so much. 
  ^^Again with the chair modeling bit :)
 ^^Drumming away as usual
 ^^Her hair is growing!  It's longest behind her ears and when the head band isn't there those wisps flip out in the cutest way.
 ^^Most pictures don't show it well but she really does have a lot of hair (for being a blonde baldy ;))!


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