11 Months Old

Well, this is officially Gabrielle's last "monthday" before she is a whole year old.....and before I'm the mother of a toddler!  She is still a very loving, happy, and energetic baby but also still definitely has her little diva attitude.  Nick and I are very committed to trying our best to raise a nice girl, so when we have moments of overloaded attitude we try and nip that in the bud.  Already, she listens to Nick about a million times better than she listens to me.  A lot of the time when I discipline her she either smiles at me and continues to do what she's doing, or she she arches her back and throws the biggest tantrum ever.  Nick will tell her no and she'll pretty much stop and look at him with a serious look on her face and then go do something else.  What the heck, right??  She really is a good girl though, and we are so lucky to have this special little lady!  A few things about her at 11 months old.....

• Is saying her FIRST official WORD!!!  I'm calling it that, anyway :)  Bop.  She will say it over and over....very distinctly...bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. 
• Another first - she is beginning to associate a word with a thing.  She knows "da da" as her daddy.  Every time he is around I will ask her where da da is and she will look right at Nick. 
• She stands up all the time by herself without holding on to anything and could really walk if she tried.  This girl definitely does things on her own time, though, so she walk when she is ready!  She might try and take a step or so, but that is about it.  She can walk with her walkers only hanging on by one hand, so she is definitely close!
• Tries to stack blocks in a tower.  The emphasis is on TRIES.  She just started doing this so it is definitely less than perfect :)
• Loves to put things in compartments.  She has a little baby kitchen with a microwave and stove and she will put small toys in them and shut the doors.  She also loves to put things in and out of her play mailbox.  She will also put toys on the seat of her airplane walker and push them around with her.
• Eats all sorts of things and is very open to most all foods.  Sweet foods are still a toss up though.  We haven't tried any highly allergenic foods such as eggs, seafood, or nuts yet.  We'll save those for after her birthday : /  She is pretty much over baby food...I can get her to eat maybe a half a jar per day.  She is liking her bottle a lot again (great, just in time to take them away) but I'm open to letting her keep one or two bottles a day until 18 months or so.  Formula will be weaned around 12 months and we are starting to introduce whole milk this week!
• Loves to climb stairs and would do it all day long if I let her.
• Wears size 3 diapers, 6-9 month pants, and can wear both 6-9 and 12 month shirts and PJs. 
• Her first tooth has broken all the way through her gums but it's still very short. 
• Sleeps about 11 1/2 to 12 hours a night, and takes two 1-2 hour naps during the day.

That is about all I can think of right now!  Here is a little video of Gabi showing off her awesome standing skills :)

We went outside to take her 11 month photos in the beautiful fall weather!

Haha, I couldn't help but love this face!