11 months

Size: 3 diapers, but I think she'll be in size 4 soon. Wearing clothes ranging in sizes 6-12 month still. I'm constantly putting away clothes she doesn't fit into anymore though! Her next appointment where we'll get her updated weight and height is next month. 

Eyes: I think her eye color is here to stay...a dark blue/green/grey with some hints of brown. People comment on how uniquely pretty they are!

Hair: Her color seems to be lightning up a little bit. So it looks like a shade in between Steven and I's...medium/auburn brown?! It kind of looks like she has an A-line haircut, and it likes to stick out and/or curl out sometimes, especially if it gets a little wet. And boy does she have some awesome bed head when she wakes! Curls and craziness galore! Plus, her hair in front, bangs if you want to call them that, goes past her eyeballs, so she tries to rub/move them out of her face. It's like she's due for a hair cut already! (I'm not doing that yet though!)

Sleep: A couple weeks ago Ellie was taking longer to fall asleep for bedtime, so we decided to push it later by a half hour and therefore that had a ripple affect to her other wake/sleep times. We start her bedtime routine around 7pm now, and put her down between 7:30 and 8. She usually sleeps till 7:30am and we wake her if she's not awake already. We are so amazed she continues to sleep completely through the night, despite us traveling for the holidays and maybe teething? Morning nap target time is between 9:30/10am and we won't let her go past 11:30am. We have kept her afternoon nap the same (she needs it that way); putting her down between 2/2:30pm and waking her by 4:30pm if she's not awake already. So all in all we still have some control over her wake/sleep times, but it keeps things consistent and works best for her!

Eating: Ellie absolutely LOVES to eat solids and she lets everyone know it! She makes a yummm type sound pretty much with every bite of food. It certainly entertains anyone within hearing distance. She  also moves her hands and legs with excitement a lot of the time when you show her food and is first getting fed. I haven't introduced many new foods, except some that are mixed in to her puffs, which are broccoli and beets (not in the same kind of puff, that would be weird!) and salmon. She didn't like salmon the first time I gave it to her, but she took it the second time. I have given her more stage 3 foods (the lil' bits), fruit ones that is. She does not like the veggie or dinner type ones, I believe because of all the seasonings they put in them. So I'm trying other foods to give her, because she is definitely not satisfied with just a single stage 2 container! AND no teeth yet! I shouldn't complain because I'm still nursing her and I know that could be lame with teeth! Yesterday I started to wean her down one nursing session (she had still been nursing 6 times a day), and I will continue to drop one every week or two from here on out. I am so glad I've been able to nurse as long as I have, but I feel like it is time to work away from it.

Milestones/Accomplishments:

• Walks super great with holding just one of our hands. She has so much confidence when she's got that one hand grasped. But when you let go, she will only take one or two more steps on own, and then bends to floor to crawl. 
• Getting braver by bridging the gap between furniture with a step or two, without any hands
• Has taken up to 4 steps all on own
• Pushes/walks with her little toy stroller
• Puts her hands in the air when you say "yay!" and she'll kind of say it sometimes, too
• Claps when you ask her to, or will just clap after you start clapping
• Hugs her toys up by her head! It's so sweet! And the other morning she put a little blanket on top of the baby and rocked the baby, like I showed her!
• Will put a blanket over her face and then put it down, playing peek-a-boo
• Signs 'more' (looks like the sign for 'again' though), 'milk'-sometimes (does understand what it means when you sign it, without you saying it)
• Drinks out of her sippy cup on her own...but only one cup in particular

Likes:

• Making a type of roar sound when we are playing. Like instead of saying "boo" I would roar like a lion (oh the things you do to make your kid laugh!) and she started copying me
• BANANAS! She gets so excited when you get one for her and loves eating them
• When you stick your tongue out at her. She will want to try and grab it and sometimes she will copy you, by sticking hers out and plays with hers, like what is this thing?

Dislikes:

• Getting shampoo rinsed out of her hair. She does not like laying back in the water anymore, so trying to wash the soap out of her hair without it getting it into her eyes is quite the task. It's natural, tear free etc, but she does not like water going down her face, understandable. I try getting her to tip her head back, I tired the cup thing that molds to their foreheads, but those don't work well. If Steven is there to help it goes better, but I want/need to give her a bath without him sometimes!
• Refuses to give kisses any time other than when we are cuddling before sleep times. She will give lots of kisses then, but will ignore your request for them other times

Things to remember:

How she waves hi all the time! Will raise her eyebrows when she's talking all serious to you. How she snorts sometimes when she laughs super hard! The way she lights up when she sees her daddy. When I am putting her books back on the shelf, she'll stop what she's doing to come back over and "help" by putting them back on the floor.

Only one month left and then I will say we have a one year old!?!? Wow. It's shocking, but going to be good!