Poppy is 11 Months

Man, oh man, I have been putting this off because there is so much to tell! But the kid's 1st birthday is in 3 weeks so if I'm gonna record 11 months, this is my chance.

So what is this age like? Darn cute, that's for sure. Also darn busy and darn smart! What she's not doing yet is walking or talking. What she is doing is just about everything else.

Poppy's favorite activities include:

• helping me unload the dishwasher (she hands me one silverware at a time and I put it in the drawer)
• playing with balls and balloons (either alone or with others)
• drawing/writing/coloring (just like a big girl!)
  
• cleaning! It's so cute - give her a paper towel or wash cloth and she will wipe whatever is near - high chair tray, counter, floor, or her own face or body. She knows just what to do.
• feeding herself with a spoon (it's a disaster but the smile on her messy face is worth it!)...or a pie server, whichever the case may be
  
• destroying piles of folded laundry
• taking a bath, especially with her sisters
• getting in the fridge
• putting things in and taking things out (here's a favorite - we call it "Citrus Transfer")
  






• playing chase with her sisters
• climbing anything
• shredding paper
• eating crayons...or markers, if available
• talking, talking, talking "on the phone" or anything small that could be a phone (remote, calculator, glasses case, etc.)
• reading books! She kind of played with them before but she gets down to serious business now, turning pages and narrating with excellent intonation
  
• ANYTHING her sisters are doing
  
Poppy's a great eater and currently loves: cheese, strawberries, pasta with sauce, spicy stuff out of my Chipotle burrito, steak and other meat, applesauce, yogurt, carrots, pretzels, Kix cereal, green beans (the real ones, not baby food), pancakes, pizza, bananas, and of course marshmallows. She did finally get around to rolling and uses it to sabotage herself going to sleep. Awesome. She cruises like crazy and the big new thing is climbing stairs. She is a stair-master, ho ho. Last two times we had babies this age we were in apartments with no stairs so this is new. I'm working on teaching her to go down backwards - the sooner that skill gets learned the better - but it's slow going and for now we do have to use gates and spotters. But wow, does she love to climb. Here's a video from a few weeks ago when the skill was brand new:




She is MUCH faster now and, by the way, that was the only time she's ever gotten hurt, thank goodness. Impressive considering we have a lot of hard wood stairs!


That is it for now though I think I forgot some things and will come back to add them in as I remember. She is a superstar and we love her more and more each day.