Sophie’s 11 Month Update

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Sophie is 11 months old, and it feels like she’ll be 1 any second now!! Here’s her latest monthly update!

Sophie’s 11 Month Update

Nicknames: Sophie Bean, BeeBee (probably the most often used one), Honey, Dolly, BeeBee Brynn, Bunny, Bumble Bonnet (seriously have no idea how that one happened, haha), and Sophie Saurus. 🙂

Size: Not sure exactly! Sophie was weighed at the doctor’s office back at 10 months old and was 17 pounds 2 ounces, and 27.5 inches tall.

Clothing-wise, Sophie is mostly in 12 month outfits at this point. She definitely still wears some 9 month clothing, but I did some planning ahead with Kidizen purchases of 12-18 month clothing!

RELATED READING: How I Built Sophie’s Fall Wardrobe

Fun milestones:

I feel like she’s hitting new milestones and learning new things (and “tricks,” haha) every day! Sophie can stand for a sec on her own. She is really strong and she has a strong core, but she doesn’t really have the desire to walk just yet! (She tried out a walker toy at a friend’s house but every time it moved forward, she just carefully sat down!) She crawls crazy fast anywhere she wants to go, and pulls up on furniture to reach things! She walks along furniture a little bit, too.

Sophie has mastered waving (when she wants to), and even clapping! She’s getting even closer with the sign language signs for “nurse” and “more.” She makes the sounds for Mama and Dada. The most fun sounds/words I’ve heard her say are “fish,” which sounds like “fsss!” when she looks at our big fish tank, and “baa oo! baa oo!” with some helium balloons she LOVED at my parents’ house! She is so smart and it’s fun for us to see her learn new skills!

She likes to mimic what others are doing and saying, whether it’s shaking your head, coughing, sneezing, dancing, raising your arms, and more! One of my favorite moments was when I finished supper just in time for Bjorn to get home, and I stepped back and raised my arms and said, “Ta da!!” And Sophie raised her arms up in the air and said, “Aahhh!” 🙂 She’s really observant!

Sophie has such a sweet personality. She loves being goofy, and she knows when she’s being silly! But she also watches the world around her carefully and thoughtfully. She has fun playing with her stuffed animals and reading books during her brief morning independent playtime. Speaking of books, Sophie loves sitting in our laps and reading with us – she loves holding the book as properly as she can and turning the pages for us!

She loves being with us, and if I walk towards the kitchen from the living room, she’ll crawl right along behind me! I do have her play alone for a little bit every morning, like I mentioned above. And it has helped her so much with her independence and contentment even when Mama has to step away for a bit. I’m so proud of her! I peek at her during that time (it’s when I am quickly getting ready in the morning) and she’s usually playing happily with her stuffed animals and toys, and even turning the pages of books she has in her gated area.

There are so many more fun things I could list here, but this gives you a good picture of what 11-month-old Sophie is like! 🙂

Sleep:

Sleep has been generally good this past month, but with one waking during the night some nights. I’m pretty sure she’s waking because of new teeth that’ll eventually come in. She usually just needs a little bit of teething gel and then some snuggles and rocking before falling asleep again.

^^ Such a happy girl when I get her after her nap! ^^

Sophie still goes to bed at around 7:30 pm, although we’ve been moving it much closer to 7 pm when we can. (Since it’s the school year and Bjorn’s getting up a little earlier, so is she. It’s just how her sleeping rhythms have been lately, so we want to work with it.) I still nurse her at 10:30 pm every night before I go to bed myself. That feeding will eventually be dropped, but for now, it totally works for all of us, and I think it helps Sophie sleep well! Plus, it gives me an opportunity to check on her one last time for the day.

^^ Blurry but I love this one so much! She is such a little snuggle bug! ^^

Sophie loves:

  • Standing at the window in her room! The windowsill is the perfect height for her to stand up and look out!
  • Music! We’ve been playing classical music a ton lately, and she LOVES Beethoven’s 6th Symphony! 🙂 She’ll raise her arm and say “ooh ooh!” towards our record player to ask for it. And then she’ll dance and sing along!

  • Food. (Things like cooked chicken, bananas, avocado, and sweet potatoes.) And she still loves nursing. We’ll keep nursing for now! I don’t have plans to wean her just yet. It’s still such a comfort to her (and great support for her immune system!).

  • Soft textures. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but Sophie loves to have soft material (like a blanket or the shoulder of her sleep sack) on her left cheek. She’ll self-soothe this way and it’s so, so sweet.
  • Chasing Daddy around and around the coffee table. It’s Bjorn’s favorite thing (and hers, too!). They have so much fun. She’ll squeal and crawl away from him, only to stop and turn around and chase him back!

Sophie doesn’t like:

  • Strawberries. I talked much more extensively about this in her 10 month update, although it technically happened when she turned 11 months. Basically, I’ll be holding off on strawberries for now, since she threw up and got a horrible rash. 🙁 I’m also wondering about eggs because she threw up the other day again after I let her try some pancakes that had eggs in them. Other than those things, Sophie loves to eat!
  • 5 pm. Haha – let me explain. This seems to be her main “yelling” part of the day. Usually when I’m chopping veggies for supper and simultaneously prepping Sophie’s food (oatmeal/purees/etc.), I’ll have her in her high chair by me. She used to love sitting quietly and playing with toys or eating some snacks like puffs… but these days, there’s a lot more yelling and wanting her food or wanting to play! So I’ve actually tried giving her a little more independent playtime in the living room (in her huge gated area) and she does like that. That may have to be our new arrangement! She likes to be busy and on the go, and I want her to not feel constrained or bored during supper prep! We’ll have to work out a new little routine for that time of the day.

This past month, Sophie:

  • Got to visit Daddy at his classroom! (He’s a middle school history teacher.) We had fun being his lunch dates one day!

  • Spent some time with my parents (we went up early to their place to hang out before Bjorn was done with army commitments). We got to do some fun shopping and outings like this lakeside walk!

  • Has gotten sick to her stomach a couple times (strawberry baby treats, and then after pancakes..) Just keeping it real here! It’s not all fun! 🙁

^^ Sweet little cuddles when she didn’t feel well. 🙁 ^^

  • Got to pick Daddy up from his month of army training! Bjorn was gone for almost the whole month of August, like I talk about in our August Recap, and we really missed him! It was SO wonderful to see Sophie’s sweet face smiling up at him when we picked him up!

  • Went to the zoo for the first time! We went to the Minnesota Zoo as a family, and Sophie loved it so much! She got to bring a new little stuffed animal home: Peter the Penguin, as we’ve dubbed him. 🙂

  • Enjoyed a playdate with her friend Finley! Aren’t they so sweet? 🙂 (Finley is a couple months younger than Sophie. How fun that they have a friend to grow up with!)

  • Went to another county fair here in small-town, rural Minnesota! Sophie really has loved going to the fairs in the area this summer. She basically had an excited expression on her face the whole time! She sure loves animals. What a sweet summer of fun memories it was!
  • Went to an apple orchard for the first time! The last time she went, she was one day away from being born! 🙂 This time, she got a bouncy house to herself, which she LOVED.

  • Started attending MOPS with me!! I’ve been looking forward to MOPS for a long time. I’ve always wanted to be in a MOPS group. I found one not too far away. It’s been great to connect with other moms, and Sophie has had a fun time playing with other kids in the 0-2 room! 🙂

^^ Sophie and Campbell! ^^

  • Went to a farewell party for our friend who is deploying. Sophie got to see her almost-birthday-buddy Campbell, who is a week older than her! The last time they saw each other was on New Year’s Eve! It’s amazing how quickly they’ve grown!
  • Went to the Renaissance Festival with Bjorn and me. It was fun but really hot and not as much fun for Sophie as a county fair, so we’re going to wait on this festival for a few more years before trying it again.

That’s about it for now! I’ve been planning a simple little birthday party for our sweet girl – it’s crazy to think she’ll be one on October 16 already!! Her birthday will be here before we know it!

PS – if you like these photos but would prefer not to see them all at once (haha), then you should know that I share a ton like these over on my Instagram (especially my Instagram Stories!). Be sure to follow along!