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Dear Violet,
Today we took your last monthly photo. As I compared it to your previous pictures I was amazed by how much you have grown and changed over the last 11 months. This month has probably been the month we've had the most fun with you yet. You are taking your first steps, you are beginning to communicate and you definitely have your own wants, needs and a spunky personality to go along with it all.
At the beginning of this month you were "walking" around holding on to both of our fingers. By the middle of the month we had convinced you to continue "walking" by holding on to only one of our fingers or our hand. As your confidence grew you started getting stubborn - if I tried to walk in a direction you didn't want to go, you would let go of my hand, drop to your knees and crawl where you wanted to go. By the last day of December you took two steps all by yourself and since then you have worked on putting more steps together. Today you are up to 4 or 5 steps on your own if we are right there in front of you to catch you. I expect your confidence to keep growing and by the end of next month you will probably have it down.
Speaking of confidence your crawling has reached turbo speed. Not only can you go from one end of the house to the other in a heartbeat, you'll now follow us from room to room. If you hear someone in another room you will often crawl off on your own down the hall to figure out where they are. It's really fun to watch your spacial awareness develop and see that you are not afraid to go where you want to go.
Your curiosity has also led you to start opening cabinets and drawers, closing doors and trying to figure out just what the dishwasher is all about. Gravity provides constant entertainment but now instead of dropping food off the edge of your high chair tray you will put it into mine or Daddy's hand. We just have to remember to offer you our hand before you decide to give Gravity another go. Along with handing us food you don't want you've also started handing us your toys, our mail, your bunny and any pieces of dirt or fluff you find on the floor. This is so much better then when you used to put them straight into your mouth without a second thought.
As you are growing bigger your language is also developing. Along with "ba", "ra" and "da" you now also say "na" and "ma". The best part about eavesdropping on you talking is that your baby babble is actually beginning to sound like a conversation. Not only do you have a variety of syllables and noises that you make but you also inject pauses and different intonations into your "words". I can't wait to listen to you when you actually speak English.
While you are working on your English we have found a great intermediary stage in sign language. You now use the "more" sign in reference to food, books and nursing. You use "all done" whenever you are satisfied with your meal. When someone says "yay" your legs kick, your lips stretch into a large smile and you clap your hands together emphatically. This never fails to make us smile right there along with you. It's at this moment that you appear to be beaming with pride. We are too.
Love,
Your Mom and Dad
