Eleven Months Old

These months have just been getting more and more fun!  I can't believe I'll have a one year old in less than a month!

 

Stats: At 10.5 months old, Matilda weighed 17 pounds (19th percentile).  She's filling out her 12 month clothes nicely.  It's about time to start stocking her closet with 18 and 24 month clothes.

Matilda also got her first tooth (bottom right) on Valentine's Day.  I think her second one will show up here shortly.

Sleep: This past week Matilda finally learned to roll from back to belly, and now she prefers to sleep on her belly (usually with her head on the opposite side of the bed than we lay her down on).  After seeing her laying on her back, pretty much in the same position for months now, its so funny to see her on her belly and in other positions. 

The floor bed is still working out.  She now knows how to crawl out of it, and usually when she wakes up she'll either just sit beside her bed waiting for us to come get her, or if she's feeling adventurous, she'll start playing with her toys.  She's even managed to learn to crawl out of bed wearing both her brace and sleep sack which is pretty impressive.  I keep waiting for the day she fights sleep and crawls/ walks around her room instead, but luckily we haven't dealt with that yet.

She still takes three naps the majority of the time and wakes up twice at night to eat.

 

Eat: Matilda eats solids at least three times a day.  Her favorites are still fruits and veggies, but she also likes eggs, rice, beans, and Cheerios.  Still not a huge fan of meat.  We also tried to introduce iron supplements this month, but have had absolutely no success in actually getting her to take them.  In the meantime, we've just tried to up iron rich foods like Cheerios (which are iron fortified) and spinach. 

She nurses 5 times a day (morning, noon, evening, and twice at night).  We've officially cut out the mid-afternoon feed since she was hit or miss about it.  Instead she just gets a pretty good solid food snack at that time.

Play/ Milestones: Oh my baby girl is so silly.  This month has been filled with funny faces, silly games, and neat "tricks".  She loves to make funny faces and sounds.  Her favorite face is a mean little scrunched up face that she has perfected.  She even taught one of the other little girls at her music class how to do it.  She will also stick out her tongue back and forth at you and imitate sounds you make like raspberries, squeals, and even some words.  She loves to wave hi and bye at everyone, including animals, voices on speaker phone, and inanimate objects.  She gives high fives, claps, and shakes her head no.  She plays a silly game where if you say "bonk," she'll pat her head (or your head if you let her). 

Matilda loves her books this month.  She'll crawl over to her book shelves and take them down to look at.  She loves to be read to and has really started to study the pictures in them this month.  I think she's even starting to recognize some of the pictures and understand the words associated with them (cow, horse, etc.)  Matilda points at everything (usually accompanied by her saying "dat?"), so some days we feel like dictionaries constantly putting names to objects.  Walks around the neighborhood have turned into a conversation full of:
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree"
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree"
Matilda: "dat?"
me: "tree, maybe house.  I can't tell what you're pointing at."
over and over again.

Matilda can crawl, pull up, and climb over things.  She treats anyone sitting on the floor like a jungle gym. Some days all she wants to do is to be physical and has no interest in her toys unless she can use them to try to stand up on.  The bumps and bruises have continued into this month since she just won't sit still. 

 

Despite the yo-yoing weather this month, Matilda still got out and about plenty.  We've been going to church fairly regularly, she's been to the zoo and arboretum, and we attempted a camping trip but then decided it was too cold.  We still got a few fairly decent hikes in though.

 

Hip Dysplasia/ Leg Update: We got great news at her hip checkup two weeks ago.  She had ex-rays, and the orthopedic surgeon said everything is progressing nicely and her angles are in what's considered a "normal range" for her age.  He's said for her to wear her brace just three nights a week for two more months, and come back in four months for another checkup. 

When we asked him about her potential hypermobility, he said it's really hard to diagnose at this age, but based on her mobility progress, he thinks she'll be ok without physical therapy. 

So good news on both accounts.  We aren't completely in the clear though.  Her femoral heads aren't ossified yet, which is ok for her age.  However, lack of ossification in one or both of her hips at her next few checkups could be a sign of avascular necrosis (AVN), which is basically where the blood flow to the femoral head has been compromised.  Depending on the severity of the AVN, it could result in the need for future surgeries.  Hopefully we'll never have to deal with AVN, but it is a very scary complication that can arise from hip dysplasia and the treatments for hip dysplasia.