Peyton at 11 months

Wow, I cannot believe Peyton is one month away from being 1 year old! Where does the time go? It is so cliche, but the past 11 months have flow by. Peyton is becoming more and more active and developing a personality and mind of her own! She doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do. She has developed some separation anxiety lately and will get upset when I leave the room. She also doesn't seem to like it when I'm in the kitchen doing dishes or cooking. She will fuss at me and "yell"/cry until I finish and pick her up (I don't blame her for this one. Many times I feel like crying when I'm doing the dishes or cooking too).

When Peyton is in a good mood (which is most of the time unless she's tired or not feeling well), she is so silly and happy. She has this amazing belly laugh when she gets tickled. She has another sweet squeal when she and her daddy play. And she has this funny little smirk/laugh when people are trying to entertain her. It's almost like a conciliatory laugh, like, okay, I don't really think you're funny, but you're trying so hard, I'll give you a small chuckle.

Peyton loves attention and making people happy. When she's playing or doing something that she thinks is worthy of attention, she looks around to make sure you're watching. When we cheer her on or praise her for something, she gets a huge smile on her face. I think she's going to be a people pleaser like her mommy and daddy.

Peyton seems to understand more and more each day. It never ceases to amaze us when we tell her to do something, and she does it!

Things Peyton is Doing:

- She puts her toy phone (or my phone when she gets ahold of it) up to her ear. We didn't teach her this, she just started doing it.

- We have a toy nativity scene, and when you push the baby Jesus, it plays music. You can tell Peyton to push baby Jesus, and she does. She also then "dances" to the music.

- She does a fish face when we ask her to or when sometimes when she sees a fish in a book.

- She can give kisses (similar to the fish face).

- She can identify a dog, sheep, and horse in books.

- She can "brush" her hair. We didn't teach her this one either.

- She tickles her feet.

- She recently started to push buttons and loves it.

Things Peyton Loves:

- She loves playing peek a boo with the curtains (she hides behind the curtain, then moves the curtain aside with a big smile on her face...she does the same thing if you put something over her face).

- She likes to hold things in her mouth so that she has both of her hands free to crawl or play with other things. It's pretty funny. We like to think she's just multi-tasking.

- She loves cups, and has ever since she could hold something. I mean LOVES cups. It is the funniest thing. Sometimes she tries to take the cup I'm drinking from out of my hand. You give her a cup and her face just lights up! She also likes to drink water from a cup. I almost think she prefers drinking her water out of a regular cup than a sippy cup (her sippy cup usually ends up on the floor after just one sip).

- She loves looking out the window in the game room. She'll just stand or sit by the window and look out. She gets really excited when she sees Matt or me come up. It's the sweetest thing to look up at the window when I'm pulling into the driveway and seeing my baby girl looking down at me :)

- She has started trying to climb or step on everything! She put her foot up on her ball the other day to try and stand on it! Silly little girl hasn't learned that some things really aren't meant for standing on.

- She loves music and dancing! She dances whenever she hears music; it is so cute! She definitely doesn't get her love of dancing from either of us, but she does get her love of music from her daddy!

- She LOVES the big stuffed dog in her room. She crawls or walks over to him all the time and just throws herself down on him, rolls around, and gives him hugs. It is so sweet to see!

Peyton is such a sweet, sweet little girl. We are definitely going to have some tantrums in our future, but we are also going to have a lot of laughter and sweet times. You can tell that she has such a sweet personality. We love you so much little girl!!