Almost 11 Months

Oh Matine,

Your momma has been slacking on your "monthly letters." Yeah, so we are about 5 months behind. I do write down the tidbits of your every move in another journal, but somehow I haven't translated it to the blog yet. This just means that we are having SO much fun with you that we can't find the time for typing. When you are napping, we have 1 million other things to do to keep our insane and busy lives together. I pray everyday that we slow down enough to give you a peaceful and relaxed childhood, but the reality is there will always be some level of chaos in your life - that's just the way we are. The good news is this: we are usually doing some pretty fun things that I think you will eventually appreciate. There will be no lack of "exposure" in your life my child - hold on, it's going to be a wild ride!

You are quite hilarious these days. The last few months have been so much fun for us all. You have come into your personality and you are ON. You still love to make people laugh - you do funny faces, clap your hands, start to "sing" or "dance" or just look us in the eye and start babbling. Your "vocabulary" consists of ALOT of words we can't decipher and a few we can. You say "hi, "Oliver," "daddy," occasionally, you say "bye bye (and always wave bye bye), you love to say "bow wow" and "mama." Now, as I said, you say MUCH more than that with great emphasis and are very sure that you make sense. It is a constant stream of conversation and babble coming out of your cute little mouth. You speak with your hands and love to talk to your "puppy." I often hear you in your crib and will peak in and you have puppy propped up and you are telling him stories or maybe he is telling you stories? Either way, you laugh and giggle and get very serious in your conversations with each other.

The real dogs - you LOVE your little dogs. You follow them around, notice (and comment) on their every move, feed them (to my dismay), love to watch them play outside and you will stand at the sliding back door and yell and laugh and bang on the glass. You are clearly cheering them on or bossing them - probably a mixture of both. They seem to enjoy you more and more. This is likely because of the feeding I mentioned above. Regardless, they are your first and best friends. This morning I caught you lying on Oliver and actually cuddling together - it was quite cute. You wait for them every morning in bed and get so excited to see them and talk to them first thing.

You still just love people. Everyone that walks through our door is immediately your friend. You study and watch them and then warm right up to make them feel so at ease with you. Parties, restaurants and anywhere there is a crowd seems to be your favorite. In even the nicest restaurants you sit so sweet, eat your food, ham it up, and carry on with our talk and conversations. When we start laughing at a joke or conversation - you start with your "fake laugh" and act like you know what we were talking about. It's hilarious and makes me really laugh.

You LOVE all your grandparents and they love YOU. It is fun to see them all interact with you - each has their own way of playing or talking with you and you love it all - you know their faces, their voices, and seem so comfortable with them. You must feel all that love. You are so lucky little girl - to have ALL your family so close and so part of your everyday world. It is all I dreamed for you.

Other kids - you LOVE your little friends - especially the toddlers that can walk and run around. You look at them with such interest. The faster they run and harder they play, the more interested you are. Logan and William Rogers are around you a lot and you think they are the coolest boys in the world. You will actually cling and lock your hands onto toys that Logan pushes around the house and he literally will drag you on them - you love it and don't want to be left behind. You also LOVE spending time with your cousin Cash. You both share toys, feed each other, and seem to enjoy "playing" together already - how much fun will you all have from here on out!

Your daddy - oh how you too have fun with each other. You love to be thrown in the air, flip upside down, do somersaults, practice standing and walking. Daddy loves to put in a song called "move it, move it" from the Madagascar kids movie- you hold on to something and just shake your little bootie and wave your hands! It is so cute to watch and you even start humming the song and bouncing when you see your dad. You still love to be upside down whenever possible, and you seem to be fearful of nothing.

You are quite the fish - we go to Chico, take a bath every night, and love to get in the hot tub as often as we can. You have no problem putting your head under water - sometimes you do it on your own, you seem as comfortable in the water as you do on land. I think we will get you in some swimming lessons this summer.

A quick list of other things you love: peek-a-boo, reading books (even the phone book), walks, being outside, playing with the little plastic toys that Nona brought up, talking on the phone (real and pretend), drinking out of real cups, refusing to eat certain foods on certain days, eating with a spoon on your own, helping me load the dishwasher (or unload it), pretend "cooking with me" (you get a bowl and spoon and like to stir things). You LOVE to play with your clothes, especially if they are on hangers, you actually "ooh and ahhh" at pretty things, you love your radio and listening to music and dancing. You love to play alone in your room (going through your toys, dancing, looking in the mirror, "folding" clothes). You still play with your hands constantly - you clap, will roll them, point at things, like to touch little tiny objects with your fingers - you are so precise and cute with your hands. You love your stacking cups - putting them inside of each other, taking them apart - it can keep you busy for an hour!


Our days are still so nice and relaxing. You go to bed at 7:30 at night, wake up at 7:00 (almost on the dot every single day) and you play and eat breakfast. At about 9:00-9:30 you go back to bed and take a 2 hour morning nap (sometimes it runs into 3)! When you wake up between 11 or noon we usually get dressed, go for a walk, eat some lunch, play or run errands. You take another afternoon nap between 2:30 and 3:00. Up again by 5 and we do our night thing - play, dinner, maybe a walk, helping us with dinner, bath time, naked time and bed by 7:30. You are a dream and the most sweet, easy, agreeable, funny thing we have ever seen.

You are a JOY and so smart, adaptable, sweet and fun. No doubt, this is just who you are and we know this will not be changing. You really do get MORE fun each and everyday. Hard to believe and since time is FLYING by ( you will be 1 year old in a month) I am so glad that this parenting thing truly does get more and more fun each and everyday. Thanks for being our kid Matine.