11 months old!

Dear Liv Riley,

You have changed so much throughout the past month! One of the biggest milestones is you started walking! Pretty much right after your ten month birthday you just took off. You haven't crawled a bit since. You are very stable now, and practically run everywhere. You love walking and it makes you that much more independent. I actually find myself thinking that you are older than 11 months since you walk so well and you are doing so many things! You love your sister, Ingrid, so very much and want to do everything she is doing. She makes you laugh so many times a day with a silly face or funny voice. I love watching the two of you become friends. Ingrid loves to help get your bottles ready and get diapers out for you. Her favorite thing to help with is finding a paci for you and putting it in your mouth! haha. You let her do it every time and she is so proud. One of your favorite things to do is get in Ingrid's chair and look at books or play with a toy. You love her chair and get in it every possible second she's not occupying it. I can't wait for you to get one of your own. You are saying more and more words too. It's hard for me to think of everything you say, but I will try and make a list: dada, mama, baba, bye-bye, hi, hello, thank you, ingrid, meme, nana, gam (mam), baby, bnnn-bnnn (playing with cars), eieio, boop, poot, beep-beep. You LOVE waving bye-bye to people and saying it really loudly. You also love to talk on play phones and say "Hello! Hi!" You play with babies a lot giving them hugs and kisses and pats on the back. We think you might have a musical ear--you can match most tunes we sing. You love to sing eieio on Old McDonald. Recently, you started singing ABCD in the correct tune! You try to sing The Wheels on the Bus--you can do the beep, beep, beep with the motion. You flap your arms like crazy trying to get your wheels to turn and hum along on that part. You will sit and listen to one to two books at a time, but really love to "read" them yourself. You mind pretty well when we say No-No, but it breaks your heart! Your face crumples up so sad and you cry your eyes out. You are wild as they come, going 100 miles an hour from dawn to dusk (and way past). We have had a really hard time getting any more teeth in. Your first two came at seven months without a huge battle, but these top ones have given us a run for our money. The top left tooth finally broke through today!! I've been holding you all night--usually on the couch--so that you can get any rest at all. You've also been sick with allergies or a virus--I'm not sure which. That has just added to the restlessness. You love to do things by yourself and don't back down when you know what you want! We call you our poodle and you are going to have a poodle birthday party in one month! I can't wait to celebrate one year of your life. You are my tiny angel with huge, sparkling blue eyes and a smile that lights up the most dreary day. I love you with all my heart.

Love,
Mama