Eleven Month Old Esther

• UPDATED: The Wii says Esther is 19 pounds.  Zach and I have been noticing that she feels heavier lately so that sounds reasonable to us.  How tall is she?  Tall enough to make 12 month clothes fit nicely.  And we have such cute clothes. (Thanks, Grandma!)
• Esther has been crawling for two days now and what a change that makes in our life!  We are not used to walking into a room and having to look around for her.
• Crawling gives Esther increased access to some of her favorite not-baby-friendly items: shoes (yuck, why do babies like to chew on shoes?), little puzzle pieces, plastic bags (that the little puzzle pieces are supposed to be in).
• Good thing for me, Esther seems to understand the word no.  She usually stops moving toward something if I say "Esther, no."  Of course maybe she's just stopping because she hears her name.  But whatever, it works.
• Esther likes books.  Especially Austin's books.  She can totally tell the difference between paper books and board books and she prefers the former.
• Esther likes to hand things back and forth to Mommy or Daddy.  She also likes to take things out of baskets or boxes and put them back.
• Esther cries if you take something away from her that she wants.  Like shoes, little puzzle pieces, and plastic bags.
• Esther still has no teeth.  Surely soon, right?  She has been gnawing on my shoulder a lot lately and it feels like something is in there.
• When Esther knows she's about to be picked up, she lifts her arms up toward you.  I love it love it love it.
• Esther is Mommy's girl.  She loves her daddy, sure, but I think she prefers me to all others.  Sorry, Zach, I love this too.
• Except I don't love it so much when I'd like Esther to go to childcare.  I tried putting her in the baby room at MOPS this week for the first time.  (She has typically been napping at that time in the past.)  She was crying inconsolably within three minutes.  Took her out, nursed her, played a bit, tried again.  Same thing.  Sigh.  This is new territory for us.  Austin has never fussed about being left with someone.
• We have been trying to move Esther's bedtime to 8:00 (which is Austin's bedtime, too) so that we can do family stuff in the evenings like go to parks or go for walks.  Staying up a bit later has not been a big deal for Esther, but she and Austin are having a terrible time falling asleep in the same room.  Typical sibling stuff, laughing at each other and playing around.
• Esther is still napping well.  Her naps are generally starting later, which means they often don't overlap with Austin's nap at all.  Oh well, he seems about ready to give up his nap.
• Esther continues to be a joyful baby who lights up our life.  I can't believe it's been almost a year!