Happy ELEVEN Months, Madeline!

As usual, another month has gone by entirely too fast. This one was on hyper speed because it was the month leading up to Christmas. We have had so much fun with you in the past month...visiting Santa, reading Christmas stories, seeing lights, watching you admire the Christmas tree, loving the spotlight at parties and just watching you grow and learn so much every day. There are times where I don't even realize just how intelligent you are! We decided to get an Elf on the Shelf and I told Daddy you wouldn't understand it this year, but we would still show you. Well, we named him Krinkle and would show you what spot he would end up in each morning. About a week later, we would come downstairs, I would say "Where's Krinkle?" and your eyes would start searching the entire downstairs. When you found him you would point and say "Kaaa-kle". We were absolutely AMAZED and thought it was a fluke for at least 3 days, but it became your morning routine....and it is kind of hard to explain to you that Krinkle is gone now. Your language skills are astounding and you try to repeat and identify almost everything we say. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I talk to you all day long.hehe.  We love to hear your words and we are constantly trying to teach you more... Even though you try to repeat anything we tell you , the words you say and associate with items are... duck and you show a duck, light and point to the light, fan and point to fan, Josh when your brother enters the room, Daddy when he comes home, ball and hold up a ball, truck and grab a Hess truck, tree and point to the Christmas tree, Bop-bop when you see or want Be-pop!! There are so many things that you say and "Wassat? (what's that)" AND "Look", followed by your pointing at the item you're curious about, happens to be my absolute favorite. You truly are a little sponge, just absorbing every little thing around you. I am so proud to have such an inquisitive little baby girl.

The way you maneuver around furniture with ease has us thinking you will walk soon, but you happen to be very cautious, so maybe not! You are definitely able to get where you want to go and actually have been crawling this adorable scoot type crawl since you were 5 months old. Well, one day you just decided to get up on all fours and really crawl! It is the cutest little thing because you look like a wind-up toy, very precise with each movement.
Your favorite toys are puzzles and balls....oh, and the Hess trucks we put out at Christmas. You even have a little chick that is your favorite puzzle piece you carry around all day and I end up searching the entire downstairs for every night. Santa also brought a ball pit that you have been completely obsessed with over the past couple days....you climb in and out SO many times that it wears us out just watching.
You love other children and are such a social bug at our Mommy groups and parties! It surprises me the way you go to other people with ease even though you are with me all day long.
There are FOUR more teeth on top that have made their way through, not all the way, but just about.
We are captivated by your personality, amazed by your intelligence, melted by your cuteness and just can't get enough of you! What else can I say but Happy ELEVEN Months, Madeline!