Eleven Months

It can’t be true. We simply cannot be one month away from Bridget’s first birthday. Crazy.

It’s been a big month for us in that she walked for the first time last week. She’s still not a dedicated walker. She prefers to crawl when she can because she can get there faster. That surprises me. I guess I just assumed it was like sitting up - once they figure it out, they do it constantly. But no, she’s still not sure she wants to be doing this whole walking thing.

I’m constantly amazed at how purposeful everything she does is. From choosing a toy, to picking up pieces of food from her high chair tray, it’s like there is an inner monologue going on in her head. “OK, now I’ll pick up that cheerio with my right hand, because it’s the biggest cheerio on the tray, then I’ll take that piece of cheese with my left.  After that, I’ll pause for a sip of water, then chuck the cup across the room and see how long it takes for them to pick it up for me…..”

Recently Bridget has started to cut down on her formula intake significantly which I guess is what she’s supposed to do, but it worries me. I never feel like I am feeding her enough of the right things. How often can I give her turkey and cheese? And buttered toast only goes so far.  She’s a great eater and has never turned down anything I’ve put in front of her. But how much of it actually goes into her mouth rather than into the dogs’ mouths is the big question.  I guess this is just how feeding is going to go for the next few months. I probably need to relax and let her eat more things but I am so afraid of her choking. In fact, she has often choked on goldfish and I’ve had to stick my finger in her mouth to pull them out. Those moments scare the hell out of me and I worry that if I cut her up a hot dog, I’ll just be fishing that out of her mouth too. What on earth do you people feed a baby?

Oh, did I mention that we are phasing out of two naps per day? She still goes down for two but one is usually significantly shorter than the other. I only wish if we were going to phase one out that it would be the morning nap. Thankfully she plays and babbles happily in her crib so I let her do it. My rule is always going to be that she’ll be in her bed for nap times. Whether she sleeps or not is up to her. We’ll see how that works at age two.

Bridget is genuinely a happy baby. She rarely cries and if she does, it’s not for long. I went out of town twice this month and I worried that the change in routine would be hard on her, but she didn’t miss a beat. I think that makes me happy and sad at the same time. It was definitely harder on me than it was on her. But I would always prefer for it to be that way.

We’ve also been experimenting with sign language. I guess she’s ready for it, since she’s been waving bye bye and for months now she’s been clapping when you say to her “yea!” or “good job!” I guess we’re successful but it does seem odd to see her make the sign for “more” when I am changing her diaper. What exactly does she want more of?  I’ve not figured that out exactly yet.

Anyway, all in all it’s been an exciting month, just because she’s so much fun to be around.  She makes me laugh and she laughs and waves to everyone, pets included. I love to hear her little voice babbling. She sounds like she is telling you a full story. I am still not sure if she knows exactly who “mama” and “dada” are but she says it all the time. And I love to hear her say it.

The next time I write this will probably be the last, as I vowed to do this for her first year. I’m in awe of this motherhood thing and I look back over the past eleven months and wonder exactly how I made it through to this side. There have been many times when I thought I couldn’t handle it. But I did and she did and all in all, it’s been the best time of my life.

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