11 months old

Sweet Emily is 11 months old already!

Some of my favorite things this month are:

The way her little eyes light up when she sees me and crinkle when she laughs.  Her toothy grin.  Waving bye-bye and giving kisses.  Her excited squeal.  Dancing to music.  Clapping her hands as she says, “Yeah!!!” Her flat little Flintstone feet and chubby knees.   Shaking her head ‘no-no.’  Her little voice when she babbles or tries to say words.  How proud she is of her new ability to cruise.

But the destruction, oh my word, the destruction.

She leaves a path of chaos in her wake.  She may only be crawling, but she is fast!  She dumps out the napkin drawer, races for the bathroom so she can pull up on the toilet and splash, shuts her fingers in the kitchen cabinets (which are child locked, but she can still crack them just enough to get her little fingers in), dumps out the laundry  basket, breaks for the gate at the bottom of the stairs as soon as she sees it open, grabs dishes as I load the dishwasher, knocks over speakers, empties toy boxes and book shelves, sticks her fingers in my glass of tea, pushes buttons on the electronics, shreds any paper she can get and tries to eat the markers dropped during art.

Now, if I can just make the next month slow down, I am not ready for my baby’s first birthday!