11 Months (Exactly this time!)

I can't believe we are really down to one month before the big O-N-E! Time really does fly (at least when you are past colic and sleeping through the night)!

Alyssa is so sweet... her personality is really coming out when I bring her to the office on Thursdays for the big switcheroo (trade-off with Mom for afternoons with Tula)! Today she was talking to everyone and giving everyone this funny pageant- grin. She has been coming out of her shell more and more with large groups of people in the last month. She used to get really quiet and serious when I would bring her in to visit. Cathy, a coworker, even said one time that she had never seen her smile (but she had seen her many times)!Not so anymore! She is showing her flirty side and even waving and blowing kisses. So cute!

I told you a while back that she was trying to climb the stairs a little... now she can go the whole way! We have a very long staircase (16 tall stairs in a row with no landing) so Mike and I are very nervous when she does it. We don't let her go above the second stair without us right behind her (we leave a gate there the rest of the time), but she is tickled when she gets to climb. She likes to turn and make sure we are with her and waves and squeals if the other one of us is watching. When we have the gate up, she likes to go up to the second stair and slide down on her rear. She gets to the bottom and yells "YAY!" and claps until we join her.  Definitely into the praise!

Again, I think we have a smarty pants on our hands... Mike says that she figured out how to use the roller on the mouse yesterday! She'll be playing World of Warcraft with him before she can talk!

Last tidbit... she is considering walking! All week we have seen her try to stand on her own without anything to lean on. She doesn't generally last too long. Until today! She stood in the bathroom with me for a full 30 seconds! I was completely stuck! I wanted to get the camera and also watch. So, sorry, no picture of it yet!