nearing 11 months (august 5th!) and a wild woman we do have

lela is just about 11 months and she's done some funny things lately... she seems to swim naked a lot and once i caught her trying to eat two little floaters in her pool and had to take them away from her because they were poo.  :)  she sits and lays flat on her belly (mad yoga moves) in the tub or pool and will blow bubbles in the water.  she loves finding strings or hairs and playing with them for extended periods of time.  lela has poo'ed on the patio table and on the concrete around the pool... she just swims so much she doesn't have time to get a diaper on!  she enjoys talking to the characters on her pjs and in her books.... her vocabulary is exploding (babble, of course).... and if she's not babbling, she's humming a tune.

  

traipsing through the usa

it's been quite the journey... lela and i flew the cuckoo's nest in germany and hit atlanta just before memorial day to see auntie mere.  from there we went to michigan and a few days later to lake michigan for a family get together in holland at a beach house.  we've been bouncing from frankenmuth to farmington hills to up north ever since... and off to nyc next weekend for a wedding.  we've been so spoiled with fun and help we extended our trip a month!

9 month birthday ~ tasted ice cream for the first time at moomers in traverse - coconut chocolate chip

praise God for ice cream~

bouncing curls in michigan humidity~

10 months ~ tasted ice cream, again moomers, this time peanut butter oreo (by the way, i had to hide the cone from her after this, she wanted more so bad.  her mother's daughter, that's for sure.)

happy 4th of july to my daddy~

catwalking at arcadia where we were married six years ago this weekend~

over the past couple of months lela has learned to roll a ball back and forth, knows how to do high five - low five, loves clocks, knows how to play with an activity board, lunges toward swings, says "ma ma" (i melt), reaches for you with both hands, cold or warm water - LOVES the water, self feeds with assistance, does the "power to the people" hand salute (see ice cream photo), waves hi (farmer wave to start, but now a full wave) and bye, knows how to drink water from her own water bottle (top lip under), lost some baby hair and her bald spot is filling in nicely :), popped two chompers on father's day! (no wonder we had reverted to multiple night wake-ups and rocky horror picture show bedtimes), patented the "lela pivot"by spinning on her bum in circles, starting to pull up on things, taking assisted steps - heal to toe and always BIG steps, looks at you by tilting her head 90 degrees, very curious and snoopy - pops her nose over/around things to get a better look, can find her "duck" in the bathtub, has added "hi", "bye", "ball", and "bird" to her vocabulary, loves opening and closing drawers and cabinets, absolutely mesmerized by the 4th of july fireworks display at crystal mountain..... and the list goes on.  at 9 months, i unscientifically determined she weighed 21 lbs.... next appt. at 12 months though.