Grace is 11 months old!

Grace turned 11 months old last Thursday.  It is really hard to believe that in less than 1 month she’ll be 1 year old!!

She was sick on her 11 month birthday, so this is really the best monthly chair picture that we got.  She is doing much better now, but she does not handle being sick well at all.  Eli has been sick with colds since starting school, and Grace and I have gotten sick as well.  This was her first official cold and it was a little rough.  So glad my sweet girl is feeling better now.

She is sick in this photo, but I wanted to record how she holds her blanky with her right hand and sucks her thumb with her left hand.  She has recently become obsessed with her blanky and if you give it to her, she immediately does this.  It is quite adorable.

Grace is such a character.  She was doing this with her cup for awhile and it was so funny. This is also a good picture of how mobile Grace is.  She is officially cruising around furniture and pushes our kitchen stools around the kitchen as she walks. 

Grace is outgoing and quite communicative.  She says, “Mama,” “Dada,” “Baba” (for bottle & Eli), “Hi,” “Bye,” “Baby,” “Ball,” and “Hat.”  She sings ball and hat, and loves to wave.  When I sing or when she hears music she dances and sways back and forth.

Grace gets into everything.  You seriously can’t take your eyes off of her for a minute.  She is fast and loves getting into things she knows she shouldn’t be around.  She particularly loves this drawer on the TV stand, the dog’s water dish, the trash can, electrical cords & outlets, and remote controls.

She loves her brother and wants to do whatever he is doing at all times.  Here she is helping him unwrap a birthday gift.  No matter what he is doing, she is right by his side.  So is relentless in her pursuit of his cups, food, etc.  He is doing pretty good with her, but he says, “No baby” many times a day.  Usually, if she is bothering him too much he just walks away.  The minute he abandons the toy, book, etc., she has no interest.  She just wants what he wants, and when he doesn’t want it anymore, she could care less about it.  I think it is sweet and that she is the perfect sibling for Eli. 

Now that Eli has preschool 5 mornings a week, Grace and I have some one-on-one time.  After we drop E off at school, Grace naps for about 1 hour and I get some work done.  When she wakes up she has a snack and we play and usually do a few chores together.  It is a special time for us, and I am so thankful to have this sweet girl to keep me company while E is in school.

One really exciting thing that happened this past month, is that Grace is finally getting into books.  She has always played with books and tried to eat them, but now she actually will sit and seems interested when I read to her.  I try to do a lot of that while E is in school and it is really a sweet time. 

Grace tends to be a bit demanding and has a tendency to be quite loud, but she brings us so much joy and happiness. On a daily basis I am beyond thankful that God has blessed me with such an amazing daughter.  I love her so very much.