Photo Friday - Eleven Months Old!

I can't believe how quickly this last month has gone by!  Baby G-O is now eleven months old.

I confess I am a bit sad.  I know this is the very last month before my baby girl turns one year old.  As I snapped several shots of her on her eleven-month birthday, I couldn't help but keep thinking it was the last time I would do it before she was one.  There's something sentimental about knowing your child has gracefully transitioned from one month to the next during her first year of life.  It's also a little bittersweet.  I have cherished every moment, but they were still so fleeting.  I wish I could just slow time down to enjoy each new milestone, each expression, each tender cuddle just a little bit longer.

All that being said, my oh so big little girl is now eleven months old.

Baby G-O, you continue to amaze your daddy and I every day.  You are adding so many more inflections and sounds to your vocabulary and you are trying to copy what we say more and more.  You are also mimicking us all the time and you are learning by leaps and bounds.  When I leave the room and turn the door handle, Daddy tells me you follow and reach to try to turn the handle to come with me.  When I record you on our little video camera, you pay attention and hit the exact same button I used to start it and you end up stopping the recording.  When I showed you how to use your hair brush, you immediately copied the movements and began brushing.

All this learning is also getting you into some mischief.  You now know how to open all our lidded trash cans and consider each of them to be a trove of hidden treasures.  Your curiosity gets the better of you and any time we block you from getting into something that could be dangerous or hugely messy, you attack the target that much more vigorously.  We know it's the explorer and adventurer in you and we are so blessed to watch your desire to learn blossom.

Mommy and Daddy especially love that books are some of your favorite "toys".  At least once a day you pull books off your shelves or out of your bins and just sit quietly, flipping through the pages and pointing at the pictures.  You are particularly fond of the Bible.  Any Bible.  Your Bible, Mommy's Bible, Daddy's Bible...you're not choosy.  I don't know what it is you love about them--maybe it's the smooth, light-weight pages?  Then again, we've prayed for you to have a love of God's Word, so perhaps that's it.

You've also recently become quite the Mama's girl.  You want to be wherever I am--at ALL times.  You can go from a smiley and happy girl to a blubbering mess of tears in 2.5 seconds if Mommy leaves the room to fetch something and is out of your sight line for the briefest time.

We love you, Darling! We are so proud of you and we are humbled and honored to be your parents.