11 months and counting...

One more before ONE

We started this month with probably the biggest milestone yet- Walking! As you read from last month, we had a few steps here and there, but now we are at full on walking, even running status! While she was at it, she added climbing into the mix, sending up baby gates throughout the house. She's quite vocal about her displeasure with being contained. In fact, to quote her daddy, "I talk incessantly about nothing!" Right now, everything is "mom" or "mama". Everything and everyone is "mama". Can't say i'm disappointed with that ;)
Walking and talking aren't the only things on her agenda these days. She's really into clapping, pointing and dancing right now. You can easily engage her in a little dance session, which is quite amusing I must admit. She gets going where she bends her knees and moves her little body while clapping and smiling, it's really something. Best of all it usually closes out with a bang- literally. She looses her balance and falls then starts laughing.
I'm sure you are all eager to hear about her first Christmas. We had the tree protected by a baby gate, which for the most part was sufficient. She was able to occasionally reach through and get a-hold of a gift- which she would promptly take off with. We always ask her "where were you going to go with that?" I suppose the only answer would be something along the lines of, "Why, somewhere for me to tear into it of course!". Unfortunately our efforts to protect the tree weren't cat-proof. One instance of the cat vs. tree included an event in which the cat somehow flung herself into the tree causing an ornament to slingshot off of it onto our glass entertainment center, instantly shattering everywhere! What a mess! 
As for Naomi, the morning finally came that she got to tear into gifts to her hearts desire. She was able to help open a couple of gifts, but all of the shiny paper, new gadgets, ribbons and assorted other stimulus were too much to bear! She was bombarded with things to mess with and you could tell she wasn't quite sure what was the most exciting part of all of it. After it was all settled and done, and most of the temptations were cleaned up, she did find herself enamored with her pile of 'talking books'... somehow, these magical books knew just what to say to her (for those of you who are lost, i'm referring to record-able books read by family members and replayed by baby by opening the pages). 
I'm once again sliding this post in slightly late, as I've had it half-written for some time now and needed to simply finish it and move along. We all know next month is an exciting one, and likely my last blog post on 'Baby LaClair' as she will be going out with a smash- into a big, bright birthday cake!