Eleven Months Old...

Only one more month before Jovie turns ONE YEAR OLD!?  Come on! 

Here are the giraffe comparison pictures to prove it: (I didn't want to edit this series because I think it so perfectly captures Jovie's little personality these days!)

  Her hands and feet are always moving

 It's very difficult to get her to sit for a picture

 Standing is even harder

 Telling me something very serious (perhaps: "I don't want to do this anymore, Mama")

 What a grin!  (see the Trader Joe's O in her mouth?)

 Happy now!  (If you look closely, you can tell she has two bottom teeth and the two top fangs.  That's it!)

 What's down there?  And, more importantly, can I get to it?!

 Ok, I'll stand still if you give me my cup

 Grinning at me behind the cup

But even though it's sad that she's so big, we are loving this age.  It's so much fun to watch her learn and grow!  She seems to learn something (or many somethings) every day.

She loves to play, with others and by herself, and everything is a toy or learning opportunity these days.  Her favorite things seem to be blue: her blue ball, blue stacking cup, even the blue page of her color book.

She still loves her books the most, it seems.  She pulls them off the shelf all the time, and will sit and read with us or look at them by herself for several minutes at a time.  Although, when she looks at them by herself, they are often up-side down.  :)

She also loves to pull her stuffed animals off her shelf 

 One by one

We are working on colors and naming the parts of her face right now.  The other day, I worked on "the cow says 'moo'", and when I asked "What does the cow say, Jovie?", she said "Mmmm"!  She did this multiple times throughout the day.  Such a smart girl!  We think she's added "this" and "that" to her word repertoire, but it's hard to tell.  Also, she has a specific word for Howie, not easily replicated.

Jovie is so sweet.  She gives lots of hugs and kisses, and her hugs are really tight.  She smiles so much and laughs, and she really does things for reactions now.  She'll laugh and look at everyone in the room with her eyebrows raised with a smile, waiting for them to laugh.  She'll do something and look up or over her shoulder at whoever's nearest, and waits for a reaction.  She dances now!  The first time she did it, she was gyrating her shoulders, and we thought maybe she had an itch.  But it's definitely dancing!  :) 

She really loves percussion, too.  She bangs on everything, and grins as she tries to keep a beat.  She bangs her toys together, her hands on a table or a box, on the wall, etc.  I know babies bang on things a lot, but she really seems to do so more than others.  Once something is in her hand she'll bang it on something else immediately.  Seems to be her favorite thing to do!

She's uber-mobile now.  She can crawl faster than I can walk, I think.  She can climb all the way to the top of the stairs from her room in the basement (and tries to multiple times a day).

 She pulls up on everything,

takes steps while holding our hands or holding onto something at the right height, and can stand for a few seconds on her own, not holding onto anything.  This mobility means that she loves to explore and she seems to get into everything (what baby doesn't, right?).  Technology and fans are especially tempting to her.  But, she's learning to respond to "Jovie.  No." in a firm tone, and she's doing relatively well with that.

All this mobility also means that our amazing sleeper is even more amazing than ever!  She sleeps a lot, because she plays so hard.  Although, lately, she clings to us before we put her in her crib.  She likes to get her snuggles in, especially at night.  Still, she often goes to sleep without a fight, and sleeps for twelve hours at night (often sleeping in until 8 or 8:30 in the morning) and about four hours of naps during the day.

She's such a fun, expressive, entertaining and sweet baby, and every time I look at her, I could swear that she's gotten even cuter than the minute before!