Esther @ 11 Months!

Only one more month until Esther turns 1! I can't even believe it. We've been through so much in the past year, it seems like it's gone by so slowly but now we're celebrating Esther's birthday. "The days drag on, the years fly by" sure is applicable here.

I want to say not much has changed in the past month, but I don't think that's true. The absolute biggest thing is, Esther is starting to make her wants known. Loudly. She HATES getting changed. She HATES having things taken away from her. She HATES it when I shower. She HATES getting in the car. She LOVES the kitties. She LOVES going outside. She LOVES to swing. She LOVES her brothers. So, we've been making some small changes here and there.

One of her newly developed dislikes became sitting in her high chair. It didn't matter if she was hungry, she didn't like it. Take away the tray and put her at the table? That will do just nicely, thankyouverymuch.

I've decided to encourage the walking versus crawling for a couple reasons. One, with it cooling off, she's going to wear through pants pretty quickly. Two, she may be more likely to be knocked down but she's less likely to get accidentally (or not) stomped on. I went out and got her one of those push toys and she loved it for about 2 days...now Micah plays with it more than she does. But, in the past couple days her standing alone is really starting to improve. I think the biggest part of that is she's realized she can do it, and now doesn't sit down the second she knows what's going on. She gets so stinking proud of herself, too. It's pretty darn cute.

Isaiah and Esther still love each other. Those two, my goodness. She just looks up to him. He loves her so much...though he doesn't like it when I tell him to play with her while I shower. Apparently he "doesn't know how" to play with her. 

Micah and Esther on the other hand. They have such a love/hate relationship. Definite sibling rivalry there, usually specifically directed at my lap. Occasionally at a toy. Other times, they are so sweet together. I hope the competition wanes as Esther becomes more independent.

Esther is starting to come out of her "I only want Mommy" phase. Thank goodness! I love her so much but sometimes just being able to have someone else hold her for 10 minutes is such a relief. She's even started putting her arms out to have other people hold her. It doesn't usually last long, especially if Micah sees the opportunity and wants to be held. Baby steps.

There's more words coming out of Esther all the time. She said "thanks" when Micah gave her something in church one day. The absolute best was when I told her "I love you" and she copied me. Seriously....awwwwwww! So adorable! She's also waving (and occasionally saying) "hi" and "bye". She pointed at Isaiah and said "bruh-buh Zay" (or something along those lines) a couple mornings ago! Ruff is sometimes "Rup Rup", other times she copies his barking. I know there's a few more, but they escape me right now.

Napping. Ugh, napping is still an issue. She will take a great afternoon nap IF I leave her in the car to do it. She's fallen asleep after dropping Micah off at preschool and not woken up until we got back to school to pick the boys up. But this means I'm stuck out in the car with her. Thankfully my computer can connect to the wifi from my parking spot by the back door...so I just sit in my car and work. Even making phone calls doesn't seem to bother her.

Esther also had her first camping experience! I took the kids and we joined Isaiah's cub scout pack for the family campout. I was worried new surroundings, new routine would throw her off, but she did great. If she had been less interested in trying to eat rocks, that would have been better. Also, if she'd had an easier time falling asleep that would have been nice too...but she wanted to see what those boys were doing. Overall, we survived and so I count it as a win.

Let me just say that I'm awful glad I started planning her birthday stuff really freaking early. I mean, I'm super excited about it and want to have a good time, but 2 months seemed a little excessive. Until I started calling around for things. Like a cake, and a photographer. Several were already booked! I need to remember this for next year if I want to do pictures near her birthday. People schedule fall and holiday pictures around this time so places are booooked. I got in with a lady that had a mini-session cancellation, so I hope I can get some good pictures will all 3 that way!

I guess that's about it for now. On to the big birthday!!!