Dear Ana,
Today you turn eleven months old, which is so close to a year that I can’t even wrap my brain around it. When you turn a year old you will become a toddler and no longer be a baby. So this is officially the last month we get to use the excuse that you don’t know any better because you are “just a baby” so make sure you use this last month well my friend!

While the big news last month was the fact that you are mobile, this is the month you got really good at it! You can make your way around the house like a pro. You crawl only as a means to get to something you can pull yourself up with and then you walk around the entire house. You have even figured out how to climb all the way up the stairs! Tables, chairs, walls, even the animals, are all just tools to help you in your quest to continually be in motion. But while you have gotten better at getting around, you sure haven’t gotten much faster. You are very deliberate with your mobility and don’t take a single step without thinking it through. I think it is because you hate falling or slipping more than anything! So much in fact, that you very gently lower yourself to the ground to transition from standing to crawling. It is so cute and just about the most prissy, girly thing I have ever seen you do.

In the last couple days you have increased your confidence in yourself and started standing. That is, letting go of my hand (or the nearest piece of furniture) and standing all by yourself. The first couple times you did it were entirely on accident: you would be standing up and holding on to something then pick up a toy and without realizing it, you would let go of the furniture entirely and stand all on your own. Then as soon as you realized you were doing it, you would panic and grab on for support. But now you have started doing it deliberately and even get excited and squeal with happiness, knowing what an accomplishment this is.

Even though you have started standing, you are still using your hands to steady yourself as you walk around the house the majority of the time. So you needed to figure out how to bring your toys, or whatever you happen to be playing with at the time, with you. Ever the little problem solver, you started using your mouth to carry your things. Let me tell ya, you are one creative little girl… that or you have been paying a little too much attention to the dogs.

Watching you eat has become quite the entertaining event at our house. There are some days you will only eat food you can feed yourself, which makes for some rather mess meal times. As the meal progresses, and you get more tired, you start rubbing your eyes and ears, and more often than not your hands stray into your hair. Once there, you run your fingers through your hair and depending on what you have eaten, create some pretty interesting hair styles. But seeing how proud you are when you finish all your peas, carrots, cheese cubes, and pasta makes the clean-up totally worth it.

As your developments increase and your abilities broaden, you are becoming quite the analytical little girl. You are always concentrating and studying the world around you. Just like your Auntie Jeni and your Daddy, when you are really focusing on something your “thinking tongue” comes out. Your father and I are always looking at you and wondering what is going on in that head of yours, but before we know it you will be talking and I am sure you will be more than willing to tell us every little thing!

My favorite quirky think you are doing this month has to do with when I put you down in your crib. For awhile there as soon as I would lay you in bed, you would stick your feet straight up in the air, drop your legs over to one side and curl up to go to sleep. While you still do this, you have added a little more to the trick: now you curl up, then tuck your legs under you and end up in the crawling position. Most of the time you squirm around enough that you end up sleeping on your stomach, but sometimes you are so tired you just fall asleep, with your butt up in the air, as if you are about to crawl away. All I know is you are lucky you are young, because if I were to sleep like that I would be so sore the next day I wouldn’t be able to move at all!

Oh Ana, I just love you and all your little quirks so much. You amaze me in so many ways. I want you to know that while this is technically the last month that you are a baby, just know that you will always be my baby.

All my love,
Mama