Happy 11 months, Zoie!

So much learning!

Now that our girl Zoie is 11 months old, she is exploding with knowledge! I swear, it happens overnight. Suddenly, she understands words! And more words! Now we're challenged to keep pace with teaching her new words, gestures, and sign language.

Things really got rolling last month when my grandma played patty-cake with Zoie several times over our weekend visit to Chicago. I didn't think much of it, and James and I found ourselves singing the nursery rhyme once we got back home in Kansas. Suddenly, Zoie lifted up her arms to "throw the cake in the oven"! She remembered the motions that her great grandma taught her!

Since then, Zoie has [finally] learned how to clap her hands together, and will promptly do so if you ask her. She also claps if I tell her "good job!" - which always cracks me up.

Baby sign language hasn't been a huge priority for us, but Zoie just recently started signing "all done" sometimes when I ask her! It's so encouraging when you get a response - We'll definitely keep up with teaching her more baby signs.

Zoie's little hi/bye wave has become completely adorable - on the plane to Seattle, she greeted every single passenger with a smile and a wave! If she gets shy from the attention she creates, she starts playing peekaboo and hiding around my shoulder.

Using the Potty.

Potty training a baby? What? YES! But it's not really training. 

I started the process by creating a cue word when Zoie was 4-5 months old. Every time I caught her in mid-pee, I would say "psssss!" This usually happened when I was changing her diaper and the fresh cool air against her skin would make her pee.

Who knows if the cue word was really necessary, but the first time I balanced her over the little potty chair and said "psssss," she peed! I was impressed. And she did it again and again! Depending on how many times we offered the potty during the day, we'd catch at least a few pees each day. Definitely saves money on disposable diapers and cloth laundry.

When we're not at home, Zoie happily uses a regular toilet. It requires a little more involvement to hold her body weight over the big potty, but it works!

In fact, Zoie just learned to poop in the toilet during our Seattle trip two weeks ago! Every morning after we nursed, I took her to the toilet and she did her business. It was like she suddenly discovered that a toilet was MUCH easier for elimination than struggling to push into a diaper. I was SO excited the first time she #2'ed in the toilet that I snapped a photo and texted it to my husband. Is that weird? Being a parent is such a strange experience :)

We're lucky that Zoie is pretty consistent with her once-a-day poop. If she doesn't go in the morning, I just watch for signs of "pushing" and quickly offer the potty. I've only had to clean up TWO dirty diapers in the last several weeks! HAPPY MAMA!!

I just started teaching her the sign for potty (make a fist with your thumb tucked between your index and middle fingers and shake your fist back and forth) - as soon as she can TELL me when she needs to potty, there is nothing holding us back from becoming diaper-free in the near future!

Getting closer to walking!

Zoie absolutely loves to move. She wants to walk [run] so badly! Her favorite thing to do is to grab onto our fingers and take us on a walk. If you pick up the pace and guide her along fast, she'll shriek with delight and her little legs will run to keep up!

She's not quite balanced enough to walk on her own, but she is just starting to take a few independent steps! I'm mentally preparing for chasing this girl once she starts walking. She will be everywhere! 

Adventures in eating real food!

For the most part, Zoie is a pretty adventurous eater. She'll eat almost anything if she's hungry for food. She especially loves berries, fruit, avocados, eggs, chicken, ground beef, cheese, yogurt, crackers, hummus, steamed veggies, and beans. 

Dog's gotta eat too, right?

However, there are days when all she wants to do is nurse! This is mostly when she's sick, or when teething is painful. Other days, she refuses to nurse until bedtime and only wants real food and water.

Breastfeeding... and night weaning.

Nursing is still going strong. She likes to nurse in the morning, before and after naps, and before bedtime. Sometimes a few extra times during the day too, and several times at night. I don't think Zoie is going to give up nursing any time soon!

However, we're finally at a point where I feel okay about night weaning. Zoie is eating solids really well, she's not sick, and she's not struggling with teething at the moment. My goal is to secure a good 6-hour stretch where she doesn't nurse, so I've chosen 11pm-5am to "close Mom's diner". Let me tell you, it is NOT easy! I mean, nobody likes to see the closed sign when they pull up for a meal!

Once Zoie gets used to falling back asleep without milk (I'm offering a sippy-cup with warm water instead!), I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night a little better.

This all takes a huge amount of patience - Night #1, Zoie was up for 3 hours telling me JUST how much she liked my new nursing plan! After three hours of rocking, singing, swaying, shushing, she finally fell back asleep without nursing. Success!

Last night (Night #2) actually went really well! Instead of 3 hours, it only took me 20 minutes to rock Zoie back to sleep without nursing. Second time she woke up was at 4:30am, so I went ahead and nursed her. Close enough :-)

Hopefully this good momentum continues tonight!!

First birthday is right around the corner!

Hard to believe our little Zoie girl is almost 1 year old! My parents are flying out to celebrate with us. What a wonderful year this has been! It's been such a joy to watch this girl grow. Time drifted by pretty slowly while James spent 5 months in Afghanistan, but these past few months together have flown by!

Cheers,

Martha