11 months

Olivia's clapping is still very cute... and she knows it.  She'll be getting into something she shouldn't and I'll say, "Ah ah ah" or "no" and she'll turn around and face the other way... and clap.  Like, "See how cute I am?  You forgot I'm being naughty."  ("No" has started working as long as we're not in her face like "Boo.")  Yes, it's high time we baby-proofed our house.  How do you keep little ones from playing with lamps and cords, though?  They're like baby magnets.

Livi has started standing on her own a little.  She'll pull up on a side table or footstool and I'll say "Yaaaay" and she'll clap, free-standing for a few seconds.  Then I'll say, "Come here," and she'll sloooowly crouch down and crawl the nine inches necessary to reach me.  Until this week when you held her hands to help her walk, her legs would just noodlize and she'd sit down.  Mandy & Jenni have taught her to move her feet, so now she does the Nazi march.  Interesting, since her wave (hello and goodbye) resembles a "Heil, Hitler."  And she has blue eyes and light hair... I digress.  Livi was "helping" my dad unload the dishwasher last night and then he closed the door and she was still standing.  He held out his arms and she shuffled toward him.  So for his sake, I'm going to say he was the sole witness of Olivia's first steps. 

OJ likes to stroke her hair while taking a bottle, almost like a pre-nap milk trance.  Stroke, stroke, and then she'll stroke what's left of my hair, or my sleeve, and now?  Now she has started stroking her beautiful long eyelashes.  Stroke, stroke, until she's pulling the lid off of her eye.  It's hard not to laugh.  I need to get her a pelt.

I was reading Bunny and Me (thanks, Cherie) to Livi this evening and, instead of trying to engage her in the dramatic story line ("Come back, bunny!"), I just started identifying objects.  When I get to the page with the ball, I say, "Ball?" and she points to it.  And, of course, Riley comes running from wherever she is, thinking somebody finally wants to play ball with her.  I realize if I were to say, "Bunny?" Livi would probably still point to the ball, but I'm going to enjoy this moment.

Olivia used to sleep from 8pm-8am.  Recently she's been testing us by getting up at 6:30.  I noticed her hands and feet were cold when I got her up the other morning, so the next night I left her onesie and socks on underneath her sleeper and she slept in an extra hour.  The following night I double-bagged her (put a larger sleeper on overher regular one) and she slept in again.  What do you normally do for a baby in winter?  She's not going to keep a blanket on.

Feeding Olivia has its ups and downs.  Some days she'll take cereal/yogurt/baby food from a spoon, other days as soon as she sees the jar or bowl she starts screaming.  It may be just as well because baby dinner foods all contain orange/yellow veggies which have likewise colored Livi's nose.  So I give her finger foods to eat and she sloooowly gets some in her mouth.  She'll eat some, play with the rest, and then get bored/fussy and refuse to eat any more.  She has discovered the fun in squishing things, dropping things on the floor and, even more fun, letting Riley eat from her hand.  I liken Olivia feeding herself to someone picking crabs.  You do it for the taste, for the experience, but you always have other things to eat for nourishment.  Her favorite food is cheese (same as Riley) and next she likes crunchy bready things and sweet things.  My mother-in-law suggested still-frozen peas, and those went over well with everyone because Olivia just eats them since they won't squish. We're still working on "getting" sippy cups.  She chews on the straw kind, and the spout kind seems to deliver more fluid at a time than she can handle, so she gasps or gags.  But she's getting it slowly.  At the 1-year mark I'm supposed to switch her over to whole milk from formula, and that makes me think she's going to starve.  Hopefully by then she'll be eating more finger food.