11 months old!

Today Maia is 11 months old. It's completely mind-boggeling to me that we've almost come to her first birthday. Maia is fully proficient at crawling and pulling herself up to standing on almost anything. We've caught her standing on her own a few times, but she's still very shaky.

Maia loves her books. She pulls herself up on the cabinet where her books are and pulls them all onto the floor. Then she sits, surrounded by her books, and "reads" them. It occupies her for a good 15 minutes, which in baby-land is like an hour or so.

My goofy girl.

Maia is definitely developing a sense of humor. She'll put our fingers in her mouth, then pull them out, look at us, and smile as if she knows that fingers aren't supposed to go in mouths. When we're cuddling on the couch, she'll pull her pacifier out of her mouth really quickly, then put it back in, and repeat over and over. She thinks it's hilarious.

She's also very social. The other day Maia and I were at the library (which has awesome toys and a play area; we love going there when we need to get out of the house) and there were 2 sisters who must have been 3 years old and 18 months. The 3 year old saw Maia and started bringing toys over to her. The 18 month old then came over and very gently put her forehead against Maia's forehead. It was like they were hugging foreheads, it had to be the cutest thing I've seen. When I told Aleks about it that night, he said "and then you immediately disinfected Maia right?". We're grateful that she's been really healthy so far.

Maia is a chatterbox! She says:

mama

dada

duck

book

walk

uh-oh

She said "eyes" and "Aleks" once, so I'm not sure they're for real yet

Here's a little video for your enjoyment: