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This has been such a busy month for Piper, both for the good and the bad. I can't believe she's so close to being a year old! I think I've said this before, but I am thrilled to watch her grow and develop. I don't miss those tiny little baby days at all!

• This month for Piper was marred by illness. First was the stomach virus which took about 48 hours to run its course and another 3 or 4 days to get out of her system completely. This last week she ran a fever for about 4 days due to a viral infection that manifested itself in her throat. That infection led to very disrupted sleep and difficulty eating. I'm ready for her to be well again.
• Although she doesn't show any signs of wanting to walk on her own, Piper is enjoying pushing her toys around the house. We also practice with her by letting her walk around holding onto our hands. She doesn't hate this as much as she used to. Maybe we're making progress.
• She has made the total transition to table food (except for cereal). Her food still has to be very soft, but it's so nice to be able to let her feed herself WHAT we eat WHILE we eat. We'll start working with silverware after she's a year old.


mmmm....chili!

• Piper cut two new teeth this month! She now has her two lower middle teeth and both her upper lateral incisors (but no upper middles yet!).
• She still quacks often, especially if she spies one of the many books that has ducks in it. We're working on additional animal sounds and, of course, words. It seems like she's always making some kind of noise.
• The nurse weighed her when we went to the doctor this week, and Piper weighs 18 pounds. I was hoping she had gained a little more weight than this, but being sick certainly hasn't helped this endeavor.
• She wears size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothes.
• She loves to pretend she's talking on the phone. This involves putting her hand or anything that might resemble a phone up to her ear and saying, "Eh?". It's too cute but happens so sporadically that I haven't been able to catch it on video.
• Her new way to play is by throwing things. She got a ball for Christmas that is very easy to handle, and we've been playing "catch" (or roll, as the case may be) back and forth with it. Now she thinks she can throw anything around, including our phones and toys she's playing with while in her car seat.