11 Months

My baby is going to be a one-year-old in less than a month?  No way.  To be fair, she really isn't much of a baby any more.  In fact, she's full of all sorts of toddler style attitude and mischief. But she's still my baby girl.

We all got dressed up and went to a Christmas party a few weeks ago.  Elaina didn't seem to care that some random guy in a funny red and white suit wanted to hold her.  It looks like she just wanted to drive her imaginary sled.  Or maybe she was giving two fist pumps of approval.

My brother Daniel's band was the live entertainment for the party, and after they finished their set, there was some mingling music.  We remembered to get some footage of Elaina in her fancy outfit enjoying the tunes.

This kid likes to dance to all sorts of music.  I think she loves music as much as her big sister.  If she hears a rythm or melody, she starts grooving, and sometimes she tries to sing along.


This small little person has a lot of attitude.  She definitely will let you know if she is displeased.  We've been working on having her sign "please," instead of just grunting and whining, and it does work sometimes.  Buuuut, sometimes she's just a little grumpy pants.

She can be a really sweet and affectionate baby when she wants to be.  One of her favorite games is sharing her pacifier.  She thinks it's especially fun when we play along.

Elaina is officially talking.  I'm having trouble deciding what her first real word was, but I think I will settle on "tree."  She had said "mama" and "dada" many times, but really only ever with prompting.  She loves our pretty Christmas tree, all lit up with lights.  "Tse," she'll whisper, pointing her chubby finger at anything with foliage or lights.

She also started saying "uh oh," which is pretty adorable.


She still uses a few signs, and waves hello and goodbye.  She loves it when her daddy gets home from work.  She'll start squealing with delight and rocking back and forth, while frantically waving hello.  It's pretty sweet to see how much she loves her family. 

Elaina is becoming a picky eater.  She'll refuse cut up pieces of a sandwich, but be perfectly content to take bites of the same sandwich... with all two of her teeth.  She actually does surprisingly well with biting and chewing.  We gave her pieces of grilled chicken last night, and she gobbled them down. She's refusing almost all pureed baby foods in favor of real food; she loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, anything salty, and especially, chocolate cake.

Her daddy has taken to calling her "Bah-bahsh."  I think it has something to do with the little talking noises that she was making a few months ago.  I find myself calling her "'Laina," or "Lainy," a lot of the time, and sometimes we tag on other endearing names, making it "Lainy Pants," or "Lainy Bear."

The poor little thing had a fever on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so she was not very interested in all of the festivities.  So she just snuggled with all of her wonderful grandparents and aunts and uncles, and we opened a lot of her presents for her.

She perked up the next day, and seemed to enjoy interrupting her sister's new games, and did her best to taste test all of the new toys and books.

She's growing and changing and learning every day. My little Lainy Pants.  Or Lainy Without Pants.