My sweet baby has been very busy during the past month. She has begun walking - she took her 1st real steps July 25th, and then stood up in the middle of the room and took 3 whole steps to me the next day. She is now moving so quickly on her feet, and although she still crawls a little I can see that those days are ending shortly.
During her 10th month she cut another tooth ... her top left, one over from the center. I was a little unnerved by this seemingly haphazard order of tooth arrival; however, her left center tooth came in just about a week ago and now her right center tooth is also making an appearance. This is good because Katie recently really choked for the 1st time - seems not having quite enough teeth to chew up a teething biscuit can lead to large chunks breaking off and not getting swallowed correctly. Anyway, I had her out of her high chair so fast and leaning forward ready to begin back blows when she coughed up the piece, spit out a chunk, and refused to let me take the last bit out of her mouth. Unshaken by the whole event she was mostly concerned about being allowed to swallow the mouthful of biscuit that nearly killed her. Daddy finished dinner and when I was done snuggling my baby and trying not to make a big deal about things I finished my dinner as well.
We haven't been to the doctor in a while so I have weighed and measured Kate at home and the estimation at this time is that right around 11 months she weighed 23.5 pounds and stood at 32.5 inches. She's mostly wearing 12-18 month clothes but also has a few tops that are 18-24 month. It has been good that the weather has been hot during this phase of growth. She needs 24 month pants for length, but she has a waist of the 18 month size. Shorts have worked out well, and lots of skirts and dresses. I LOVE dressing my precious baby doll! I just hope I get to enjoy seeing her in all her fall 12-18 month clothes - I fear the weather will not turn until she's long outgrown them. I pray her overalls don't look like capris by the time she tries them on.
Today Katie had the 1st food I could not taste first before giving it to her. I'm allergic to oats and for breakfast Kate got to eat Cheerios - she loved them. She had more at dinner and couldn't seem to get enough. She signed "more" repeatedly and when Daddy didn't get them to her fast enough she screamed - of course Joe told her "no screaming", but I lost it and totally started laughing. She is still mostly getting milk for sustenance, but loves yogurt or "yo-yo" which I started calling it so that she wouldn't know what I was talking about - she has however caught on to that also. She has eaten banana, yogurt, grapes, cheerios, mozzarella cheese, turkey breast, mahi mahi fish, egg and a few little bites of a few other things I cannot remember. Today she tried a fresh tomato from our garden while we were picking the ripe ones. She chewed it for a long time and eventually spit out the skin, but all the pulp was gone. She is doing very well trying new foods, but cannot stand anything that is cold. She makes the most horrible face and gags!
I ordered Katie's 1st pair of gym shoes - an adorable pair of Nike's that ended up being too small when they arrived! My baby's 1st pair of gym shoes need to be size 7!!! She got a pair of Striderite sandals from Grandma that are size 6.5 and LOVES them. I think she would wear her sandals all the time if I would let her. She knows when I put them on that we're going outside (and gets quite excited) and when we get home from being out she is happy to walk all over the house in them. She thinks that she's a big girl now with her walking and wants to walk in stores, but she's still very good about riding in the cart or stroller.
Tonight we took Katie to her 1st movie - Toy Story 3. She was amazed by the big screen and enjoyed the cartoon story. The movie started at 7:20pm and she made it through at least an hour of the actual movie. Poor little girl missed her afternoon nap, and was trying to fall asleep in my arms but it was just too loud. She was happy and smiling when we left in the middle and sound asleep in the car by the time we pulled out of the parking lot. I carried her into the house and laid her in bed all without her waking. She went to the movie dressed in her pajamas because I thought something like this might happen. I was just shocked by how soundly she was sleeping when I carried her in. Usually it doesn't work out quite this well. Mommy and Daddy are both very proud of her for being so attentive during the movie and incredibly well behaved. We will definitely be taking her to another movie sometime in the future.
Sadly, this week Katie threw up for the 1st time. Poor baby just wasn't feeling very well. She also smacked her head on the coffee table and it left a dent (last night). We iced it while she screamed and it's looking much better today. She is a wonderful child who LOVES reading books, can play by herself for at least 30-45 minutes at a time, and is learning her letters and sounds by reading and watching her LeapFrog video. She can say the words - mama, dada, up, bye-bye, hi, more but it still sounds like bore, duck which is more like duh, and dog which is daw. She can raise her arms up when I ask "how big is Katie" ... "so big" and she will hold up one finger when asked how old she is. She is often too busy acting cute (smiling shyly with her head to the side) with strangers to actually wave bye-bye or perform when I ask her to but she does say HI on the phone. She is learning to be obedient and understands "no-no" even pulling her hands back when initially reaching for something. It makes me so proud to watch her make good decisions at such a young age. My Katelyn is a blessing far better than I ever could have imagined. I love her so much and look forward to our life-long journey together as Mother and Daughter.
