Miss Madeline – Eleven Months Old

Could it be possible that she’s going to turn one in a month?  Whoa.

Madeline has mastered clapping and most often does it when she wants you to be done with something, like changing her, or when she’s excited about something.  Nick had his Christmas concert last week (snow delayed the first one back in December), and every time the audience clapped, Madeline excitedly joined right in.

She knows what “Where’s Nick?  Where’s your bottle?  Where’s the kitty?  Where’s Eli?  Where’s the duck? and Where’s the monkey?” all mean and can go find whatever it is you’re asking for.

She has taught her cousin how to stand up in a restaurant high chair, seatbelt be darned!  And her cousin has, in turn, taught her how to turn around and come down steps (and anything else) butt-first.  She first put that into practice when she decided she had had enough of a doctor and started to get down off the exam table two weeks ago … and later that day, her changing table.

She has so far retained her nickname as Dennis the Menace in a girl body … always with a mischievous little glint in her eye.  She’s also our little alley cat baby, routinely getting caught rummaging around in the garbage cans or picking up the tiniest speck of nothingness off the floor.  Her brother was never like this!

She loves spaghetti with red sauce and will yell for it as soon as she sees it on the table.  She also loves black beans and fresh fruit just as much.  Heck, there isn’t any food item she won’t eat now.  Many months back, the only food that she wouldn’t eat were mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and squash, but she has given them all a second chance and now likes them as much as anything else.

She is a climbing machine and will climb any surface she can reach her knee up to.  That picture up at the top?  It’s Nick’s desk where he does his homework.  The drawer was up a smidge, just enough for her to pull it open enough to put her feet into it.  Once firmly planted in the drawer, she climbed up onto the chair, all to snag a pretzel rod.  Little stinker.

She loves having her back rubbed, particularly right on the skin, and having lotion put on her.  She will get the stillest I’ve ever seen and practically hold her breath while she gets a mini baby massage.  Nick loved the same thing when he was a baby too.

With Madeline 11 months, that means my niece, Sophie, Madeline’s partner in crime is now 15 months.  Sophie has as voracious an appetite as Madeline does, and can polish off two bananas in one sitting (so far, Miss M stops after the first one, although Banana Bread is a new favorite).  Sophie gets around like nobody’s business and is getting more vocal and interactive with each passing day.

PRINT