Single Women Adopting Children: Mila's 11 Months Old

Mila turned 11 months old today. Hooray! I cannot believe she is almost 1....I still think of her as my little baby. Here are a few updates:

1. Mila is a bit of an "habladora" aka in English- "chatterbox." She is constantly jabbering although little of what she says in intelligible. I am constantly repeating what she says and trying to encourage language development. She does say "mama" but not necessarily in response to me:)

2. She weighed in at about 18 lbs, 6 oz during her last doctor's visit. Her eating has been up and down with her ear infections. Sometimes she eats a lot, other times not too much. Her new foods this month are chili, string cheese, broccoli, and cauliflower. Her favorite foods continue to be peas, black beans, pasta, yogurt, and of course cheerios.

3. She is crawling around like mad woman using her crab walk/crawl. She has taken a few steps but really is probably 1-2 months from walking. Her mobility has become a challenge as she's getting into everthing. The other day- when it was quiet- I knew something was up. She was pitching the Visine bottle into the toilet and trying to fish it out. Oh- fun time ahead!

4. She is definitely a mama's girl! Getting ready in the AM is a huge challenge as she wants to be with me/have me carry her. She also tugs on my legs during cooking. I am wondering how my friends who are single moms cook with 2-4 kids? One night- I put Mila in the hip hammock and we cooked together. She just wants to be with her mama (yes- not necessarily the safest thing to do).

5. Mila continues to sleep from 7 pm until 6:00 am. Mama is still working very, very hard at going to bed earlier but- with the Olympics it's been more difficult.

6. One of our new favorite "routines" is wrestling on mama's bed. She now crawls into my room and waits for mama to "throw" her on the bed and begin to wrestle. She loves looking out the window (same height as my bed) and loves to just rough house on my bed together. She often sits and falls back like those folks in the corporate retreats (aka "I am going to fall back- and I trust someone to catch me."). She must trust her mama to catch her.

7. Still no more crying in the car- hooray! I think part of it is that her dog mirror fell down in the back seat and now- she looks at the cars behind us (vs. a reflection of herself...not so fun for her)......I think she prefers it. Our biggest challenge this month (besides mama getting ready in the AM) has been diaper changing. She has always been wiggly during this time but now....she's getting really hard to change. One day I came home after Shanna had watched her and I went to put her jammies on. I noticed that she had a 1/2 thong going with her diaper. I asked Shanna what happened and she said "she was really out of control/wiggly - it was the best I could do." I understand - I am her mama and have a hard time. She has put her foot in her poop mutlple times this past month due to her constant movement. We definitely need an intervention....putting things in her hands to distract her is no longer working. Either way- she has to wear a diaper so - it's a battle mama will ultimately win.

My beautiful 11 month old girl!

Look at her eyelashes.....I would love to have those!

Of all the toys I have bought her- she loves the stacking blocks that were a bonus free gift with her car/stander - the best - who knew. I am ready to buy her round cups....these simple toys go a long way.

My cute girl and her blocks!

Want to play blocks with me?

Mila continues to be the drool queen of the universe! I think she could win a prize. She has 7 teeth and I think more are coming in all the time- I can't keep track.