Birthday Bonanza

She's 11 months old today. The countdown to 1 year begins now. Only four short weeks left to go.

The house is filled with birthday fever. It's Greta's 11 month birthday and Ben's actual-factual birthday. Even though I know that eventually we'll stop measuring Greta's age in months, it's still going to be fun that when his birthday rolls around each year, it will always mean that her birthday is coming up.

Today I'm feeling very melancholy about her impending birthday, though. I just want to hold on to her precious babyhood forever. This is such a fun age. I can't even describe what makes it so fun, which I suppose means that it's nothing but the sweetness of being a parent. Am I exhausted? Yes. Am I overwhelmed by how much I love our family? YES.

A few random updates:

1. Greta has:

• a weight of 17.5 lbs
• a head circumference of 17.5 inches
• a length of 27.25 inches

2. She's wearing #3 diapers during the day (to use them up) and #4 diapers at night.

3. She still prefers purees over other solids. Now that I am part-time, she gets about 4 oz of milk in a bottle while I'm out and then nurses frequently when I am home. She eats three solid meals a day and usually has some formula before bed and when she practices with a sippy cup. Favorite foods include yogurt, pancakes, Cheerios, and various baby foods.

4. Recently, when she pulls to standing and lifts her hands to show that she can stand without support (for a few seconds), she has been doing the most adorable thing where she holds her hands in front of her, turns them back and forth, does the "SQUEE!" face in amazement at the fact that she's standing without support.

5. She is getting better at knowing how to fall safely and how to lower herself down carefully. I always assumed she'd be a late walker, but now I'm thinking she might start earlier than I'd expected.

Update! Update!

Just now, I was sitting on the floor with Greta playing with some blocks. Our favorite game is when an adult builds a tower and Greta knocks it over. Sometimes she swats at it very deliberately and "scorches the earth" afterwards -- shoving the fallen blocks to the sides so that it is even more difficult for us to re-build. Other times, it has seemed as though she just simply was reaching for a block that happened to be in the middle of the tower and the falling tower was merely incidental.

This evening, though, after she knocked over a stack of my blocks, she picked one up and put it on top of the other. When she took her hand off the top one, she drew her hand back to her chest and made a "SQUEE!" face at me, so happy with her handiwork. She did this for the next several minutes -- placing one block on top of the other and carefully removing her hand, often leaving a fingertip on the top block until the very last moment. Sometimes the top block knocked over as she moved her hand, and some times she was able to keep them balanced. I praised her effort in both instances, but she was clearly more pleased with herself when she got them to balance. Intrinsic motivation for the win!

We love you, Greta Girl! Happy Birthday to Ben and the Gretstar!