Eleven Months (and one day) old!

Gabriela seems to be understanding much more lately. She says dad, mama, ball, and her personal favorite, dog. She also loves puppy dogs! We always see them on walks and at the park. We have a library book right now that has a photo of a dog and every time we get to that page, Gabriela gets really excited, KISSES the book, and says dog. She won’t kiss us, but she’ll kiss a dog in a book. We’re not jealous.

In the past week or so, Gabriela has really picked up with her signs. Her favorite sign is MORE. She used to just sign for more food, but she’s started signing for more books recently too. Last week we realized this wavy gesture Gabriela was doing was actually her sign for water. And just last night, she actually signed "more water". Her first combo sign! She signs for milk all the time too. Another favorite is waving bye. Gabriela signs bye to everyone that gets off the elevator and everyone we pass on the street (usually when they are already out of sight and missing out on the supreme cuteness). When I pick her up from daycare, she crawls right to me, and the instant I pick her up, she is already waving goodbye to all her little friends.

She also started pointing her finger to her ear when she hears a loud noise. She raises her eyebrows, does the sign and looks at us. Usually it’s an airplane, so we tell her we heard it too and do the sign for airplane.

Gabriela is eating more and more table food – pretty much whatever we eat. And it’s finally getting easier again to put her to bed at night. We were totally easy breezy until Gabriela learned how to stand up. She used to take a little rest when she got home from daycare, but we axed that nap and she cuddles with her Grover doll after story time and mostly goes right to sleep.

She loves to take walks in the baby carrier and look at all the trees and flowers and watch the birds. Gabriela is just fascinated. She points to everything, asks to see more flowers, and even shows me birds that she notices before me. She gets so excited she practically laughs when she sees all this fabulous nature.

I’m a little freaked out that 30 days from now I will have a ONE year old. It’s time to start planning a birthday party.