Crawling, Scooting, Climbing, and 11 Months Old!

It blows me away that Brooke is almost 1 year old! Didn't I just have her???

It's so awesome and fun to see her grow and learn, and she already wants to follow her sisters around and do what they do! At the same time, I'm really sad that she isn't a little baby anymore. Still a baby, but almost a toddler really! And Brooke was the sweetest little baby. And now that stage is gone... Brooke will never again be a little baby. {Sniff!}

But no more sad stuff... Introducing Brooke at 11 months old!!! 

*She's always been my smallest baby.  Brooke is in the 80'th percentile for height (both of the other girls were always in the 90's) and she's only in the 20'th percentile for weight.  She's 18 pounds!  Still easy to carry around.  Except... she never wants to be held anymore!  Just wants to be down on the floor exploring the entire world!

*She's always on the move!  Crawling!  Scooting around!  Exploring!  So much that she doesn't really want to go to bed and has a hard time falling asleep.  She usually only takes one nap each day, and it's less than two hours.  Doesn't seem like enough to me!  But she goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps through the whole night!

*Brooke has a really unique and funny crawl.  She started scooting around at 9 months, and she has kept up the same scoot-slide style.  She looks like a baby seal pulling herself around, especially when she's headed toward the water at a lake or beach the way she loves to do.  She's gotten fast at it too!  She can crawl the regular way and sometimes switches off between the two, but she seems to prefer pulling herself around rather than crawling.  It really looks funny!

*She goes NUTS for water.  As long as she sees water, no matter where it is, she goes for it!  She loves baths, swimming pools, absolutely anything, and she'll splash and squeal and just have a total ball!When it comes to water and just trying to dive right in, that girl has NO fear!  It's a little frightening!

{Brooke the baby seal!}

*Diapers- Size 3

*Clothes- She's kind of in between sizes.  She still wears 6-12 month clothes but also fits into 12-18 months.  She's just now starting to wear the Carters 12 month outfits.  Pants tend to be too big and will slide right off her while she's crawling around.

*Shoes- I really don't put shoes on my babies until they're walking.  So I don't know her shoe size.

*She's still a very social, happy girl!  She loves to make eye contact with people, and she laughs so easily.  She's still easygoing as well, and doesn't have stranger anxiety.  She likes exploring the baby childcare area at the gym, and isn't afraid of babysitters.  Score!  :)

*Her new favorite trick is... climbing ALL the stairs, bottom to top, over and over again!  She automatically heads for the stairs every chance she gets.  And she climbs them fast!  She gets really excited while she's climbing and makes funny babbling noises.  She also pulls herself up to stand while holding onto things, and then cries because she thinks she's stuck and hasn't figured out how to get back down.

*She loves car rides and still loves being in her infant seat!  Pretty sad that she only has about a month left in it, because she calms down quick if she's upset and then gets put in her infant seat.  She's always quiet and good in the car.  SUCH a blessing!

*Brooke loves bathtime, of course!  Now that she sits up on her own so well, all 3 girls get to take baths together.  It's a party in that tub, that's for sure!

*She's started becoming fascinated with all the food we eat.  She wants to grab everything and try it herself!  So far she only eats soft things like crackers, bread, bananas, stuff like that.  And still lots of baby food!

*Brooke finally had 2 teeth break through (her bottom teeth) just a couple of weeks ago.  So she was almost 11 months old before she got any teeht at all!  She's working on the top teeth too now.  She's a much calmer teether than Natalie was!

{Me & my baby!}

She hates. . .

*Being left all alone in a room.  She doesn't want to miss any of the action!

*Getting her hair combed, especially after a bath {sigh... it never fails.  All my girls hate having their hair combed.  I'm getting tired of it!}

*Too many kids getting in her face.  A baby boy kept giving her kisses at a playdate a couple of weeks ago, and she wanted nothing to do with him.  She cried every time he came close to her.  It was pretty funny!

*Not being able to climb something she's just dying to climb.

*She sleeps with a binky most of the time, but never uses it during the day at all.  Each of my babies is becoming less binky-obsessed than the one before!

*She's very independent, confident, and not much of a cuddler.  She doesn't want to be held very much, and is always on-the-go.  Kirsten thinks she can carry her around because she's "so strong!" (her words, not mine!), so she'll pick Brooke up under the arms and carry her short distances.  You can imagine how thrilled Brooke is by this!

*She gets annoyed with having things on her head.  She pulls hats right off, and tries to pull off hairbows, ponytail holders, and bibs.  I have to use the bibs that snap, or they're gone quick!

*She's a photogenic baby, that's for sure!  It's easy to get her to smile and laugh and pose for photos!  {Wouldn't it be great if that lasted???  By the time Natalie was 18 months old, she was done smiling for photos!}

*She has a total blast on the swings at the park!  Doesn't want to get out!  She'll crawl around an entire playground, just exploring it all, and she always sees the swings and heads straight for them.  Unless there's water at the park, and then it's a whole different story!  We had such a nice summer of the older two girls playing at the playgrounds while Brooke sat on a blanket with me and I chatted with friends.  It's a good thing summer's over, because I sure do have to keep a close eye on this little one now!

*Fun fact: When Natalie was the same age as Brooke is now, I was already pregnant with Brooke!  That seems so crazy, I can't even imagine being pregnant again now!  I was a little freaked out when I found out the two of them would be so close in age, but Brooke has been such a blessing in our family.  From day one, we love her and need her so much!  Can't imagine life without her!