11 MONTHS

Bentlee seems way too little to be pushing 12 months, but on the other hand she is learning more and more each day. I am finally convinced that she is talking. My mom claimed that she was back in January, when she would say "hi" and "kitty". Yesterday, when we were at my Aunt Lisa's, her cat ran by and Bentlee pointed and yelled "kee!" According to the books we have with different animals, all seem to be "kee" or dee". But tonight she was correct in calling my Aunt Linda's dog "dee', and we had lots of fun chasing her chase IT all night long until it finally escaped outside....

...which broke her poor little heart!

For a while she copied me when I would say "uh-oh" (she pronounces it "uh-uh") and now she says it on her own and in the right context. She's copied "thank you" a couple times, and "mama" and "dada" are being used more in the right context. I laid her down for a nap the other day and she kept wailing "Mama" over and over. Needless to say, she received some extra cuddles. Yesterday she pulled everything out of her diaper bag and when she found my comb she put it right to her head. She's doing little things like that every day, I just forget most of them.

She still pulls herself up to things all day long, and will occasionally let go and stand for .01 seconds. Unfortunately for Kyle and I, she learned to climb stairs while we were in Michigan and that is now her second favorite pastime (the first is still hanging out in the bathroom).

This is something that amazes me, and I have yet to record it. Since she started giving kisses (I think between 9-10 months) she also seemed to learn sympathy. One day I asked for a kiss and was shot down. I pretended to pout, not really expecting it to make a difference, but she leaned right in! And it has continued to work every time. I hope she's always sensitive to other people's feelings, and I hope she is always so friendly to others. Everywhere we go, people get the biggest kick out of her. Strangers will stop us in stores and comment on what a happy baby she is after witnessing only seconds. While waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store the other day, she waved at literally every person in sight, which was a LOT. She waved extra enthusiastically at an older man with white hair and a long white beard....coincidence? She is so stinkin' cute and fun to take to stores now because she rides in the front of the cart like a big girl, yet she looks so tiny. My favorite is when we are minding our own business and someone walks by and says hi to her. Their reaction is always funny because they don't expect her to respond, but she almost always does with a big grin and sweet little wave. Oh, and if she just hears a child, just HEARS them, she perks up and starts looking all around until she spots them. I swear the girl could go a full day with no food or sleep, and still be happy as long as a child were around. I will never conduct such a test.

......but if I did I'd bet a trillion dollars.


I'm also amazed at how well she's copying hand motions. I'm sure it's normal at this age, it just doesn't seem possible that my baby is old enough to be doing such things. My mom sang her the bumblebee song (Bumblebee bumblebee come from the barn, gonna get Bentlee under the arm...and you wave your finger around like it's a bee) and after only a few times, Bentlee started waving her finger. The next day all my mom had to say was, "Bentlee is the bumblebee going to get you?" and she grinned and immediately started waving her teeny little finger! Kyle and I also sing her the 5 Little Monkeys swinging in the tree song and she caught on quickly to that one as well. She knows which parts comes next, and "helps" me make the motions.

I could EAT HER.

I don't know what it is about scrambled eggs but she always manages to get some on her head

Bentlee has gotten really cuddly the last couple weeks. She almost always will fall asleep in our arms after she's had a bottle. But even when she's not tired, we have been getting random hugs and kisses from her throughout the day. She's gotten more affectionate with her dolls and stuffed animals also. She hugs them to her, and has even started saying "Awwwww" which of course is the response she always gets from us. Now that I think of it, maybe she's just plain mocking us. I hope not, because the other day the sweetest thing happened and I just about melted in the Walmart parking lot. She was sitting in the cart and I started reaching over her to pull bags out of the cart. I felt her tiny little arms wrap around me, then pat me as she goes, "Awwwww." I may have reached over to grab imaginary bags just to hear her say it a few more times. And then when I picked her up out of the cart she wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me the tightest little hug! Imagine how hard it was to put her in her car seat and drive home after that.

Believe it or not, Bentlee is capable of cocking an attitude every once in a while. I can think of two specific occasions and that is when she's really hungry and sees her food but has to wait not-so-patiently for us to make it, and the other is when I de-snot her nose. I still use my bulb syringe we got at the hospital and luckily it works great, but you would think I'm holding up a knife the way she thrashes around dramatically when I come near her with it. Oh, but Kyle informed me the other day that she doesn't move or cry at all when he does it. I made him prove it and sure enough, she was perfectly still, staring adoringly at him while he sucked away. Whateverrrr.

This is her famous scrunchy face that every one loves (I can never capture it fast enough for the pictures to be in focus)

Climbed stairs almost effortlessly for the first time at Grandma Vibber's!

Upside down but I'm too lazy to fix it

If this gives any indication of Bentlee's antics, Kyle pulled a binki and small bottle of baby shampoo out of his shoe in our closet today. Between climbing stairs and getting into bathrooms, kitchen cupboards, pantries, closets, etc. she sure keeps us busy. But she also keeps us laughing and loving more than ever and we can't get enough of our little monkey!