Sam at 11 Months

With just one more month until her first birthday, I am really starting to wonder what has become of my baby. She looks like a toddler, like a little girl with long blond hair and a strong personality to match her mom's.

This month has been the first real introduction to the will of Samara. And it is a strong one. She wants what she wants and does not want to take no for an answer. Try to take her toy away, listen to her scream. Try to not read a book she wants, listen to her scream. Try to move her away from something dangerous, listen to her scream. I know that overall this is a good thing, after all who wants a reticent, personality-less daughter, but as her parent, I can tell it is going to be a long haul. This Mama ain't exactly weak-willed herself. If this keeps up, adolescence is going to be one long battle. And I can't wait.

Sam has also abandoned her little frog-kick swim crawl completely. I miss it. Now she crawls up on all fours. She is like a fast moving bulldozer, plowing over all small objects in her path. I am now starting to get very stressed about baby proofing because she is fast, faster than me sometimes. She also like all the predictably dangerous things: electrical outlets, stairs, ice picks. We have to baby proof and we have to do it yesterday.

Her vocabulary expands everyday and now it sounds like she is babbling a strange, foreign language with a lot of L sounds in it. She seems to have a lock on the B-words: ball, balloon, bubble, baby. She also says Mama and Dada, although not always with just two syllables, but she seems to know which to say depending on who she is with.

Sam continues to like all food, including a new favorite this month: lasagna. Cheerios are a bit passe in favor of Pirate's Booty and Veggie Booty.

Now if you ask her to point to things (cheerios, baby, ball, Melvin, Rocky, Daddy), depending on her mood and current desire to impress, she can point them out. But Sam does nothing on command so most party tricks just end up embarrassing us when we ask her to perform and she stares at us, mouth agape, drool pooling on her chin.

She is starting to pull up to standing more, although she is not steady at all on her feet and tends to wobble and cry until someone helps her down.

This month has heralded the first string of illnesses, first a cold, which was followed by her first ear infection. She had her first round of antibiotics and mommy had her first experience with having a sick child. Not pleasant. Not at all. I am hoping that things are getting back to normal, now. With the weather, my morning sickness and her illness, leaving the house has been a rare and much heralded event, but I am hoping that will change this week.

We are celebrating Sam's birthday early so that her aunt can be there. On the 13th we will gather with 30 other babies and parents at an indoor playspace we have rented. It should be fun, stressful and chaotic. I cannot believe it has been almost a year. She has grown faster than I ever thought she would.

See! She is already driving (and is a very good parallel parker):



Bulldozer baby:



Actually enjoying her bath: