Mary's 11-Month Update

Mary is 11-months old today, and the boys are getting pretty excited that she is going to be 1 soon instead of 0 (as Jack puts it).  The countdown begins to the next family birthday party!  Here is her monthly photo:

The week of July 6th Mary pulled up to stand in her crib for the first time.  I can't remember the exact day it was, but it was right after she turned 10-months.  She hasn't done it since, and she will only pull up holding our hands.  It's kind of a trend with Mary that she'll meet a milestone one time and then not do it again for a while.  She rolled over for the first time when she was 4-months old, for example, and she didn't do it again until she was 8-months.  She just kind of hangs out and plays.  In the picture below she pulled up on Jack's hands and then just stood there 'talking' with him.

Mary finally started commando crawling forward on July 20th.  On occasion she'll get up on her knees, but the commando crawl is her quickest mode of transportation at this point.  She'll come find me in the kitchen, and sometimes she'll head down the hallway toward the play room on her own.

Mary wants to walk so badly, but I think it's still going to be a while.  She can stand up holding onto only one of my hands and is pretty stable.  If you hold both of her hands she'll take 4-5 steps.  She gets so excited about it, but she's still pretty wobbly.  She's taken an interest in the walker, but she usually pushes it out in front of her faster than her feet can keep up and she falls.

Mary loves to dance, and when a song comes on with a good beat her body just starts moving.  She likes to link her hands together and put her arms over her head to dance.  She also loves to play peek-a-boo, and she's super cute when she plays.  She only covers one of her eyes and giggles like she's sneaky.  Then she brings her hand down quickly and starts laughing.

When we're outside Mary hangs out on the side playing with her toys.  One day I zipped her up inside the trampoline while the boys were on the slip and slide, and she had a great time.  It was like a make-shift playpen.  

I usually take a bath with Mary if she's in the big tub so she doesn't slip or fall over.  The boys are much too rough for her to join them in the bath.  This is the first time I put her in the tub by herself.  She was a little bit confused by it.

When the boys are napping/having quiet time and Mary's awake I can usually get things done by giving her a few toys next to me.  I was on the computer trying to pay some bills one afternoon, and she kept trying to hit the buttons so I gave her the toy computer.  She sat next to me the whole time pressing her own computer buttons happy as can be.

We went to our neighborhood splash pad on Monday, and we put Mary in her swimsuit to splash in the puddles.  She had a great time getting lightly sprayed and sitting in the water.

I can't believe how quickly Mary's first year is passing by.  I'm looking forward to celebrating her first birthday next month!