Dear Lila,
You are 11 months old today, my little munchkin. I can't believe it's been 11 whole months since you joined our family, and I especially can't believe that in just one month you'll be a year old. Before we had you, we were warned over and over that it goes by so quickly. We had no idea how true that was until we had you! Right now you're in bed. Aunt Emily and I are in the living room, Dad is at his weekly church meeting. We had a bad ice storm hit us on Sunday night and Aunt Emily's apartment has been without power since then and it won't be restored until Thursday! So she's camping out at our place, and we're happy to have her. Dad worked from home yesterday and it was so nice to be able to have a little time with him during the day.
I feel like we laid low this month, but we did manage to stay pretty busy. We've done a lot of the standard: spending time with Uncle Mike and Aunt Emily. They like to visit you and play with you. If Auntie Em hasn't seen you for a few days, she tells me she misses you and wants to come over to see you. Uncle Jim, Aunt Angela, and cousin Emily joined us for Sunday dinner. Uncle Dan came to visit once too. We Skype with Granny and Papa (my parents) often and you love that. You get excited and point right at their faces on the screen. You love it when they play with the doggie and when Papa sings to you. You generally love computers--especially "typing" on them. Your favorite button is the Caps Lock because it has a little light on it; you gentle press it with your index finger to turn it on and off. You love to pull my clothes out of my dresser drawer (it's right at your height) and do so at every opportunity. (I don't mind at all--it keeps you occupied while I get ready for the day!) You go with Daddy to visit old people in nursing homes every Sunday, and they love seeing you so much.
Your love of books has grown immensely this past month. You definitely prefer looking at books to playing with toys. We're trying to add more and more board books to our personal library and check them out at the public library for you too. When we sit down to read, I lay out three in front of you and you pick the one you want to read. A lot of times you just like to turn the pages with your little thumb and look at the pictures. Books can hold your interest for a half hour or more.
Your sense of humor has developed a lot this month, too. When Dad and I make funny faces at you (we open our mouths, stick our tongues out, and say, "Blahhh"), you'll open your mouth and say, "Ahh" at us. You play peek-a-boo with us when you have a blanket. Just tonight, before bed, you and I were giggling at each other as we made funny faces together. It was awesome. You really aren't the serious baby you used to be. You're always smiling at us and scrunching up your little nose. You like to wave at us and follow us around the apartment. You're still crawling really well and cruising along furniture. A favorite game of ours right now is helping you practice walking. Dad and I will sit a few feet away from each other on the floor and we'll have you "walk" to us. It is so much fun for us! Occasionally you'll actually take a step or two, but usually you just fall forward and let us catch you. And then we cheer and clap and give you hugs and kisses; you love all the attention and excitement. It's a blast.
You're talking a lot more, though most of it is gibberish still. You say "mama" and "dada" on command. When I ask you where "dada" is, you look around the room for him. You still say "dodd'n" a lot, though we're still not quite sure what it means. It might mean dad or dog. Your new favorite thing to say is "duck-a-din dodd'n." Sometimes when we ask you to say "cock-a-doodle-doo" you will try your hardest to say it.
You had a bad cold this month that lasted a few weeks. It started with a fever--your first one. You were pretty miserable for a while, but you're pulling out of it now. Dad and I were sick too and it was pretty depressing around our house for a while. You have a tooth cutting through right now (your eighth one) and that's made you pretty crabby. We took you to the doctor's for a check-up and you are still above the 97th percentile for both height and weight. At 11 months, you weigh 27 1/2 pounds and are 31 inches tall. You really hate going to the doctor's office, especially being weighed and measured and having your ears checked. You're not a big fan of shots either.
You've become a lot more affectionate with Dad and I. Your version of a hug and kiss involves you pressing your face or forehead against our faces. It's a little uncomfortable on the receiving end, but completely adorable and we love it.
You're starting to become much more opinionated, especially about the things you don't like. You've started hating baths. When we set you in one, you scream and cry hysterically and have started throwing yourself backwards and hitting your head. So lately we've been showering with you and have to hold you the whole time. We sure hope it's something you'll grow out of eventually. You also are still not eating food! I could worry about this a lot, but I've decided to just relax. I don't want to fight about food with you and know that you'll eat when you're ready. We offer you a variety of foods every day, but you are generally not interested. At all. You'll nibble on crackers or chips or noodles still, but you lose interest quickly. You do love to feed Dad with a fork, though. I pray often that you'll start to eat soon. I want you to be healthy and normal and happy.
I love you so much Lila. I was thinking recently, since celebrating Valentine's day, how different the concept of love is to me now that I have you. It sounds silly to say, but I'm in love with you. I'm head-over-heels in love with you. Not in a romantic way, of course, but in a special way that only exists between mothers and daughters. When I hear love songs on the radio, I think about you. I look at pictures of you while you're sleeping because I miss having you near me. A few weeks before you were due, I was driving home from grocery shopping and heard the song "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train on the radio for the first time. It's a fun, silly love song, and I knew at that moment it would always be "Lila's song." It was a beautiful spring day, unseasonably warm and the sun was shining. I was so happy driving down the road, because the song made me think of you, my "soul sister" and daughter. I was so happy that I would have a daughter to dance with and play with and spend my days with. And then, after I had you, the words in the song meant so much more to me. "The smell of you in every dream I dream... watching you is the only drug I need... I knew when we collided, you're the one I have decided is one of my kind.." Our souls have indeed collided, Lila, and you are definitely one of my kind.
Hugs and kisses,
Love,
Mama
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