11 Months.

Sylvie, this month has been a joy.  It's been just you and me for most of the month (during the day that is), and we've gotten to hang out and play together so much!  I have enjoyed every minute.  You are growing and learning so quickly, I'm sure I'll miss some of the new things you're doing here, but I'll do my best.

You are constantly exploring and getting into everything.  It is so much fun to watch you learning as you tear apart the house (I almost don't even notice.).  Between pulling all the books off the shelves, spreading the coasters around the house, unraveling the toilet paper, pulling out all of the tupperware, unloading the diaper bag, and doing an impeccable job at equally distributing your toys in every room of the house - you stay a pretty busy girl.  You're just so darn happy while you're dismantling everything that it's hard for me to even care!
You just started really getting into your baby doll.  You bring her to me, and I pat her, rock her, and kiss her, and then you take her back and do the same.  You mimic the inflections in my voice when I'm pretending to rock the baby, and it is ridiculously cute.  You love to read and look at books, and you get very excited when you know that we are going to sit down to read together.

You are really, really walking now.  In the last couple of weeks you decided that you think it's a pretty good idea, and you walk without any prompting a lot.  You can also get to standing from sitting on the floor without any support. 
You've started mimicking a lot.  While you're eating you have me pretend to eat off of your fork, and you smack your lips along with me.  You blow raspberries, you try to get my tummy, you give kisses and cuddles, you wave hello and goodbye, and you can turn almost anything into a phone - holding it up to your ear as if you're talking to someone.   If I ask you, "Sylivia, how much do I love you?" then you throw your hands up into the air - So Much!
You laugh at everything.  Apparently the world is hilarious.  And anytime you hear us laughing....you mimic our laugh.  So you're laughing a good portion of the time.
You have eight teeth now - they seem to come in hoards.  You eat strictly solid foods now, and you aren't terribly picky.  You love it when I make you smoothies.  You still nurse around four times a day - which I am completely ok with! - no signs of weaning any time soon.
Vacation completely threw off your sleep schedule, but you slept (almost) completely through the night in your own bed twice in the last week! 
As opposed to just a few months ago, you call almost everything MaMa now.  You are making lots of sounds though - and sometimes it's clear you're trying to tell us something (we're still trying to figure out what it is though.).  Your looks are a pretty good mix of your dad and I at this point, but when you smile anyone would guess that you are your daddy's girl.  I think it's the mischief behind the smile that makes the two of you so similar.
You love playing with other kids - and with your first birthday right around the corner, you're interacting with you're friends a lot more too.  Along with all the cute stuff, you've also started throwing fits.  When you don't get what you want, or I have to take something away, you plop down on the ground, fuss and cry, and put your face down on the floor.  (Really, this is pretty cute too.)

I know I'm leaving out a million things.  I don't want to forget, and I know you'll change too fast - but I'm also looking forward to every stage to come.
I love you so much.  Too much to even explain.  Someday you'll have a little baby, and I'm not sure you'll quite understand my love for you until then.  But it is so deep.

Love you, love you, love you,
                                          Mama