11 Months

I can’t believe we’re in the final stretch of Minna’s first year already! Big progress this past month. She loves to read before bed, turning the page whenever you ask her to and "knocking" in Dr. Seuss’s "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" at the appropriate page. Her favorite game right now is what I call the "Sharing Game". She’ll be playing with things, like a bunch of wooden vegetables, and then hand you one. I always say, "Oh, for me? Thank you Minna!" and she smiles. You can try and give it back, but she’ll give it right back to you again. And keep giving you the other ones. She really seems to understand a lot of what you say to her, even if she can’t reply.

She’s also crazy about Bodhi and whenever she hears him meow she whips her head around to find him and claps and smiles and makes happy sounds. She also does this when she sees him first thing in the morning. And of course when she sees Ollie she just lights up and claps and laughs. The two of them have a band I like to call "The Kottke 2". He bangs on all sorts of things, and she takes the xylophone and a stick and whacks away, and then she claps while he sings and bangs on "drums". It’s quite a sight.

Two more teeth on the bottom, for a total of 6 teeth! And I think two more on the top are about to cut through. She’s also getting better at standing, but still no crawling and no pulling herself up. She’s an eating champ and pretty much can feed herself now if it’s not a liquid. And on her monthiversary she had her very first Shake Shack burger. I got some nice pictures of her eating it. But I like this photo better, of her sitting in our backyard, enjoying some O’s, and saving that special one for later.