Just Powers

Emma turned 11 months old on Monday.

She is walking by herself. She looks like a drunken sailor, but she is doing it. Most of the time she walks by herself only when we stand her up and make her, but lately I have found her getting into a standing position by herself and walking just for the sheer joy of it. She also dances when we turn music on, although her gyrations usually knock her to the ground.

She has four teeth now - two bottom front and two top front - and they have not been kind to her. With each one she suffers through a lot of pain (it seems to me) tons of drool and a few sleepless nights.

The only baby food she eats anymore is the baby oatmeal she gets in the morning - but as soon as that box is finished we are going to move to the grown-up oatmeal. She loves cheerios and tofu and peas and squash, but her favorite thing is little baby goldfish. Oh and dog food, but we try to limit how much of that she gets.

She is so curious about everything around her and has started looking at people expectantly, waiting for them to make a face or smile at her. Because she is now mobile she has discovered that she can follow the cats wherever they go - including under the dining room table. To their credit, they are pretty patient with her and seem to enjoy the game as much as she does.

I feel like she grows and changes every day. I guess I have always felt that way about her, but there has been something about her development since about 9 months that has felt like someone hit the fast forward button. She is such a different person than she was at 6 months, and in some ways is so much the same.

As we approach her one year birthday I am blown away at how quickly it has gone. I look at the pictures of her as a newborn and little baby and realize I had no idea at the time how much fun she would be just a few months down the road. Thinking about how fast life has moved in the last year makes me realize that I don’t really want to waste time stressing about whether I am parenting “right”. I just want to enjoy every moment with her.