11 month Sophie

(We all enjoyed the warm sunshine streaming in the window yesterday.)

She's been sick this week...an 'upper respiratory infection' which kept us all up too much. Now her sister has it...a pretty persistent fever and cough. But even sick, Sophie is...(I always use this word when I talk about her)...delightful.

Sophie is also becoming more assertive with her big sister. Any attempt on Maya's behalf to 'trade' toys...or to simply take Sophie's is now very loudly protested. But she's also quick to forgive. There doesn't seem to be anything that Maya can do to keep Sophie from gazing at her with deep admiration and delight.

She's so close to walking...still. She's been good on her feet for a few months now, but she thinks she still needs to hold on to something (though sometimes she stands alone if she 'forgets' that she isn't holding on).
She's always standing at the end of her crib when we come to get her in the morning (sometimes smiling widely and panting with excitement). We have to keep a gate at the bottom of the steps now, because she's actually proven herself capable (with close supervision, of course) of climbing all the way up our stairs. Making her way around any room takes about 3 seconds, and lately, she loves to crawl under the piano (which is against our house rules..and she knows it.) She always looks back over her shoulder at us, grinning (and sometimes squealing with laughter) as she crawls even faster away from us.

Sophie loves drinking water from a real cup or glass (and can even do it with her own two hands sometimes). And she's pretty aware of how adorable I think her refreshing "Ahhh!" whisper sound is when she finishes taking a sip.

Occasionally (though not at all consistently), she can point out her nose when asked, wave bye-bye, give kisses, say 'please' in sign language, say "Mama" when she wants me, and sometimes she likes to say "MA-YA" or "Yie-yah!".

Most of the time... she throws her arms up for a "SO BIG", claps her hands for patty-cake, dances charmingly to any music, points with her pointer finger, puts her own pacifier in when she wants it, sings "ha---", says "oooh", sits and listens attentively to a book (a short one), and lately...she really likes to dance!