Yesterday your nanny, Rachel, proclaimed that you are essentially running (with the help of the walker)! Sometimes the walker quickly takes off, especially on our slate floors, and it’s amazing how you can move your little legs so fast to keep up with it. You’re going to be so hard to keep up with once you start walking (and running) independently.

I have been on a crazy, seemingly never-ending mission for shoes for you. Don’t get me wrong, you have many, many pairs of shoes. You have too small shoes and too big shoes, shoes that used to be mine, boots that your nana bought in London years ago, boots that your cousin used to wear that your aunt and I love too much to ever get rid of, and dozens of pairs of hand-me-downs from friends and family. But finding shoes that fit you now, and that stay on you, is virtually impossible. You have one (!) pair that will stay on. You have about five others that fit you but only stay on for a few minutes before you win the battle that you’re contstantly waging against your shoes and get them off. Now that you’re on your feet so much more, you’re quickly wearing through the one pair that fits you. I recently bought you an adorable pair of pink topsiders. You got them off within the first five minutes. Today I ran to my favorite kid’s clothing store and bought you a pair of boots and a pair of moccasins. I’m hoping the boots will keep you warm when we go out in the cold winter weather, and I’m hoping both of them will stay on your feet. This remains to be seen.

Cutest little topsiders

Rocking the topsiders

I am a big believer in the recycling and reuse of objects, and I also love the sentimental and personal connections that certain items have. Your dresser, which doubles for a changing table, used to be my Great Aunt Emma’s. I used it when I was little, and now it is yours. It’s so special that you get to use something every day that used to be hers.

You also have some clothes and toys that used to be mine, your dad’s, or even your uncles’. Before Christmas nana and papa brought over a plastic set of nesting cubes. Both Uncle Brett and Kyle played with them when they were little, and then Cousin Kyle enjoyed them. You also have lots of clothes that used to me mine, including the cutest little pair of Adidas shoes. I wonder if someday you’ll pass any of these things on to your children, and you’ll tell them of the joy they brought you.

In the last couple of weeks you’ve started pointing. A lot. You learned this from your nana. When the Christmas tree was up and decorated she’d point and talk to you about all of the different ornaments adorning it. You did this often. But now you point of your own accord, generally pointing and looking at the same thing, though not always. You point at things across the room or nearby, and you also like to point at the drawings in your books. Tonight dad was reading you ‘Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me’, and when he said the word ‘moon’ you pointed at it. You are amazing.

Your nanny, Nancy, was sick today so your dad stayed home with you. He always has so much fun when he gets to spend the day with you. You two ran lots of errands, including taking Guinness to the vet and going to the grocery store. He said you did great. We’ve started putting you in the seat in the front of the shopping buggie, and you love it. You intently watch everything going on around you, and each time your dad grabs something to put it in the basket, you turn around to watch as he deposits it. You look so big riding in the buggie like that!

Today the weather was really nice up here in Breckenridge, so we decided to take you for a little snowshoe. This was your second time going, but the first time was so long ago – back when you were just two weeks old – that it seems like another lifetime ago. At that time I held you swaddled closely to my front and you slept the whole time. Today you rode in a backpack on your dad’s back, and you wore the snowsuit we bought almost a year ago that we couldn’t imagine you ever fitting into. You fit into it perfectly. You happily rode along, taking in the snowy whiteness along the way. Your dad stumbled a couple of times, and once bumped into a tree causing it to snow down on you both, but throughout it all you were happy. It’s so fun to adventure into the outdoors with you, our little mountain baby.

Our friends, Liz and John, are staying here with us. Their two daughters love to play with you. They’re about 2 and 4 years old, so you can’t quite keep up with them, but you enjoyed watching them play and walking (via the walker) or crawling around after them.

Playing with Mia

Trying to keep up

We headed up to Breckenridge this afternoon and you did great on the drive. I’m sure it’s hard for you to just sit still in a car seat for hours on end. We’ve been trying to time our drives to coincide with your naptime and today it worked well. You did wake up right before Dillon, so we stopped and grabbed dinner. You sat in the highchair and nibbled on Italian Nachos, cheese, pizza and pickles. You still do love those pickles; if only they had calories.

11 months old today!

We often walk down to the coffee shop in the morning, a mile walk each way. You ride along in your stroller, almost always content. Today we checked the temperature before we went and it was in the low 20s. I thought that sounded pretty warm since the temperatures in Breckenridge over the weekend were barely above single digits. So I jumped at the chance to get outside with you for a walk.

The walk there was bearable, but really cold. You accompanied me inside the store to get coffee, and in there we both warmed up a bit and prepared to brave the cold for the walk home. On the walk home it was freezing. I think the wind picked up and I was already chilled from the walk down, but I was just miserable. You were definitely bundled up really well, but I was amazed at how well you did given the cold temperatures. It’s so hard to gage when it’s too cold for you and when it’s ok. We tend to want to get outside often, but we’ll just have to learn that sometimes staying in is best.

Today we went to a playgroup at the library called ‘Cruisers and Crawlers’. It was so fun! It consisted of singing, stories, and play time. All of the babies were between 8 and 24 months. It’s neat to watch you interact with so many babies. Although I consider you very outgoing, you like to sit back for a bit and take it all in. I sat you down in my lap and you contentedly looked around at all the other babies for many minutes. Then, once you felt comfortable, you crawled right over to the baby next to us and reached out to touch her face. Then you moved on to the little girl next to that. You had so much fun going around the circle and meeting everyone. I hope we’re able to attend this group often, or that your nana can take you on Wednesdays.