Brad and Elly: Our little Monster is 11 months!

I don't think I've said it before, but Tacy is a monster. A very cute little monster. She absolutely loves to make monster noises. Sometimes it's growling, other times it's a roar (in a deep gurtaly voice) and then there are just her random low monster noises. She sounds like a bear, a dinosaur, a...monster. So Tacy is our little monster. It's even funnier because she usually makes these noises when she is really happy. So she is crawling after Daddy making monster noises and laughing, or she is playing with toys and smiling really big, etc. It's really cute.

I have been wanting to make Tacy a tutu her whole life but I have a hard time trying to pick which color(s) of tulle I would use. So with her monster noises, I decided to do turquoise blue and purple (like Sully from Monsters Inc.). It seems so fitting for her and her noises, plus turquoise and purple look really good on her. So I finally bought the tulle and made her tutu today (my goal was by her 1st birthday because I want to get birthday pictures with her wearing it). I'm happy with how it has turned out and that it fits her well. Now I just need to make a matching headband. I really would like to make a onsie with a cute little purple and turquoise blue monster on it, but I'm not skilled at small paint details and puffy paint doesn't last very long.

trying out the new tutu

Along with her monster tutu and monster noises, I told Brad we should do a Monsters Inc. themed birthday party for her. Only thing is, Tacy is only turning 1, so games are a little too old for her and her party will probably just have family members. But I do want to do raspberry filled cupcakes (maybe a cake) since raspberries are purple and they sound really yummy. Maybe I will dye the cake blue....

As other new things about Tacy:

She loves to squat. She will pull herself up with furniture, a box, a chair, mom/dad, etc. and then squat down and then stand up, squat down, over and over again. She will also squat instead of sitting down all the ways sometimes.

Tacy is going to be a cautious walker. She cruises along furniture and still loves to walk holding onto mom/dad's fingers (one finger per hand) but if you let go of one hand or both she will slowly squat down until she is sitting. Sometimes she will stand for a second or two before starting to sink to the ground, but it is all done in a very cautious manner. When I walk outside with her and she sees a leaf she wants to pick up, she will let go of me with one hand, pick up the leaf, and then raise that hand up again for me to give her a finger before she will start to walk again. Very cautious. Too much like her Mommy I guess.

Tacy loves to throw things. Yup fun stage. She has broken a bottle we used to mix her formula for cereal and a sippy cup from dropping them on the kitchen floor. On a good note though, she loves to throw her little balls Brad got her for Christmas. She will hold it in her hand and sometime actually throw it, other times just drop it, or squeeze it till it pops out of her hand. Then she looks at you as it rolls away and says "Woah" and sometimes "Oh wow!" Very cute. I love this game.

Tacy is now staying up later. She will talk in her crib, cry, and then start carrying on more conversations with her toys in her room I guess until we get her. For the past week she doesn't go to bed until 8ish. This might be normal for most kids her age, but Tacy starts sucking her thumb and acting tired at 5:30 still. Oh well, she is sleeping in until 7-8 now so that's nice.

Tacy crawls up stairs by using one knee and then getting her other leg right up on the stair and pushing herself up to the next one. So one knee and one foot each step. When she gets in this flow she moves pretty fast. Hence why we have to put the gait up to keep her from getting to the stairs because she can move fast.

Tacy loves to bang toys together. She has these little different shaped blocks that fit into a house and she loves to hold two of them and bang them together. This is sometimes the only thing that keeps her still long enough to change her diaper.

Tacy still loves the bath. She crawls so fast into the bathroom if she notices you didn't close the door all the way. Once in she goes straight for the bathtub, pulls herself up, and walks into the corner between the tub and the toilet where she then grabs her body wash and shampoo and pushes them into the tub and laughs. Then she turns around and bangs on the toilet and will walk over to the trashcan (on the other side of the toilet).

Trash cans are really becoming a problem because Tacy loves going through them now.

We are trying to teach Tacy the word "dog". Sometimes she will point to a dog when you say dog, other times not so much.

Tacy is good at parroting. Sometimes she will repeat what you say. Brad got her to say Tacy today. She also said Papa (what everyone calls Grandpa Taylor now) when Grandma said it. She doesn't do it all of the time, but frequently she will repeat something that you say.

Tacy is on the "see Mom eat food" diet. Sometimes she will do it with Daddy too. But if I'm eating something, she will crawl right over, pull herself up on my legs, and stare at me and more importantly what I am eating. Tonight she stared down my tacos. So Tacy now eats whatever I'm eating (within reason).

Tacy still only has her two bottom teeth. She has been drooling like crazy for the past week. But I feel like I have been hoping for more teeth for an eternity cause more teeth = more food she can eat and the sooner she will be done drooling. Oh well.

Tacy loves cheerios and graham crackers, but she makes faces whenever she eats a goldfish. She can be picky about cheese. She also likes tortillas, quesadillas, chewy bars, and ice cream.