little black journal

Happy 11 months, Jules!  Ooooohhhhh, 11 months – I can feel that first birthday looming on the horizon!  But we won’t go there yet – instead, let’s talk about about my sweet little, little, baby, mmmm k?

I mentioned in month 10 that Juliette was becoming increasingly strong-willed and determined – she continues to keep us on our toes.  Her daily written reports from daycare often include adjectives like “vocal” and “expressive” and, my favorite, “spicy”.  We’re rolling with the occasional hissy-fits, though, because for the most part it’s a blast to see our girl’s personality really shine through.  Mealtime has become The Juliette Schnell Variety Hour, as Shane and I are constantly chuckling over her myriad of facial expressions and hand gestures and exclamations.

She’s a fast little bugger now, zipping all over the house on her hands and knees.  We installed a baby gate upstairs so she’s free to wander between her room and ours while I’m getting dressed or putting laundry away.  She loves hide and go seek – I’ll call to her from the other room and then listen for that sweet clomp-clomping sound of her top-speed crawl.  She grins when she rounds that corner and sees me crouched by the bed, arms open.  Then she’ll climb right into my lap, give me a good three-second snuggle, and she’s off again!

She’s pulling herself up to standing now on any available table/chair/couch/drawer.  And she’s standing up in her crib nearly every time I go in to get her after naptime, looking very regal with her sleepsack draped around her feet.  We shall call her Queen Jules.

Juliette has become quite the little water bug, thrilled with any opportunity we give her to splash and swim and eat sand.  She got a kick out of being sprinkled at the Pratt spray park a couple of weeks ago.

And now that Lake Washington has warmed up a bit, she loves sitting on the beach at Madrona or Seward and feeling the waves wash over her legs.

We headed over to Seward Park on Monday for an evening dip to beat the 90+ temps – Jules was thankful for a respite from the heat.

And on Saturday we hit the pool – Jules happily cruised around in her little floaty for 45 minutes.  When I first blew up that dinky raft, I couldn’t believe I’d spent $15 dollars on.  Turns out it was totally worth it.

I feel like we’re daily watching our words and our actions and our rituals make a little more sense to her.  Her plastic comb has always been one of her favorite things to chew on, but a couple of weeks ago she actually used it to comb her hair.  Yesterday we watched her pick my sock up off the floor and try to put it on her foot.  Pretty soon I’ll be sending her into the kitchen to make her own dang dinner!

She’s become very resourceful, too, often making use of her mouth as a third hand so that she can hang onto her favorite toy while still crawling about!

And then there are the sweet little remnants of babyhood that still bring us so much joy, like her signature snort and squishy face.

And the way she’ll often fall asleep in my arms while nursing, and then snooze with her head against my shoulder before I lay her down in her crib.

And the chub!  Those rolls are the stuff of a mama’s dreams.

Those baby blues are as blue as ever…

Swing-time shenanigans!

And my word, she’s still so beautiful.  Happy almost-year, baby.