Brittlynn Summary of Month 12

Brittlynn was 11 months old (living her 12th month of life) from Nov 6th – Dec 5th. This was her LAST month of being a BABY before she became a toddler! Isn’t that CRAZY?!?!?

Eating: Girl can CHOW DOWN. I know some friends mentioned their kids going through a mega growth spurt at around 12 months old…and Britt is def in it this month! She will eat and eat and EAT. At lunch she will eat for a straight HOUR. And keep asking for “more” (signing) over and over again. On 11/12 and was her first time NOT nursing at 11 and having to wait to eat lunch until after we got home from picking Kye up from school (so it was 12:20ish). She ate: entire mini bagel. 1/2 kiwi, 2 melon chunks, corn, butter beans, then a handful of cheerios and 4 oz of milk! On another day she ate for a solid hour and kept signing more. She ate blueberries (then finished Kye’s), queen zipper peas (again finished Kye’s), 1/2 whole wheat mini bagel, squash, apple, sweet potato, cheddar cheese, and 1/2 a peach! I started saying that she is the very hungry caterpillar and is going to turn into a butterfly. Kye got all worried about it and said he does NOT want her to turn into a butterfly 😉 Then, when he learned it was a joke, he started saying it ALL the time 🙂

She ate EVERY SINGLE THING off this tray!

Now that her pincher grasp is WELL developed she prefers all of her food cut into small pieces over the finger like shapes. It takes me longer to prepare but the clean up is easier and she’s doing less dropping on the floor so I’ll take it!

This is a regular occurrence when she eats…CLEANS the tray!

I often stick her hair up in a pony so it’s out of her eyes while eating…I think she wears it well!

Kye and Britt have starting playing a “game” together at the table where Britt holds a piece of food out over the tray like she’s going to drop it on the floor and Kye grabs her hand and says “keep it on the tray Britt!” She thinks it’s HILARIOUS and rarely actually drops any food. She just likes her brother’s attention to be on HER. Here’s a video

Weaning: I originally planned to nurse Britt for her full first year but I ended up going a little bit longer! I’ll fill you in on ALL the details soon 😉 But this month I focused on giving her whole milk at all of her meals and she LOVED it. VERY smooth transition. Seriously, she loved the milk and didn’t have any issues with it being so cold (she always liked her bottle of breast milk so WARM) and didn’t mind at all using a cup over the bottle!

Bib: I always rinse off Britt’s bibs after she eats and I have been hanging them in the laundry room sink BUT I saw on Pinterest one of those “duh why the heck didn’t I think of that?!?!” ideas…I got a sticky hook thing and stuck it on the back of the high chair. SO simple and now her bibs are out of the sink, able to dry out, and easy to access! Score 🙂

Treats: Britt doesn’t put EVERYTHING in her mouth. I think part of the whole baby-led weaning method of feeding her is that she knows what food IS and doesn’t chew a lot of non-food items. Except for her one weakness: dog treats. We have a big box of them stored in a drawer in the kitchen that I use to refill our smaller container on the counter. She will get in there and steal treats! I have to keep an eye on her (duh Emily I need to just MOVE the treat box!!!). I just decided to watch her and see what she would do with it:

In the mouth!

Haha looks like she enjoys it!

PS: I did NOT let her eat it…I told her no and took them away 😉

Teeth: At 11 months old Britt has EIGHT teeth. It’s so funny how her top teeth remind me of MY mouth and her bottoms are like Zach’s. The front two on the bottom are super close together and more forward than the ones next to them. Her top ones are very spread out (little fact: I have a NATURAL gap in my front teeth…that I closed up by getting veneers on all top 4 front ones…). I know baby teeth mean nothing AND Kye had a similar gap on top but once all of his teeth came in it closed up!

Helper: Britt is such a great helper! I think she sees Kye helping and wants to join in. Her favorite thing to do it help with the dishwasher. She loves to close the little lid where the detergent goes (although 99% of the time she’s closing it when the dishes are CLEAN so it’s actually empty). She also likes to get the plastic dishes out for me 🙂

Pack and Play Game: When Kye was in the independent playtime via pack and play stage we LOVED to give each other kisses through the mesh sides. Britt has struggled with “getting” the concept. I will push my face against it and ask for a kiss and she acts like I’m an idiot and just laughs at me (she’s not even 1 and already “too cool” for me haha). This month she has kissed me a couple times (11/9 was the first time!) but for the most part she just likes to surprise me with faces like THIS hahaha

Dogs: Britt LOVES the dogs. Like LOVES them! She thinks they are so funny and will pet them so sweetly! I always remember with Kye having to say “sweet and gentle!” but Britt just knows how to be sweet without me having to teach her. Must be a girl thing? That natural mama instinct 🙂

Tongue Roll: This month Britt REALLY discovered her tongue! She played with it CONSTANTLY and it always seemed like it was sticking out. She especially would roll it and kinda chew on it a lot? It often seemed like her tongue was too big for her mouth or something! This is a face I see ALL the time!

This is also she does and I think it’s so funny. She’ll hold something and kind slouch down. It’s like she’s saying “oh how cute” or “so sweet” kinda like we naturally bend down (or at least i do?) and kinda curl up when I say those type phrases! Maybe she gets this from watching me do it haha

Potty: I know we are crazy 😉 Britt isn’t even a year old yet and we’re already introducing the potty 😉 She has started to show a lot of interest in it whenever Kye goes. So I told Zach to start having her sit on it before getting in the bath tub. It’s no extra effort for us. She’s already naked and she’s about to go in the tub anyway so why not? We just sit her on it and shower her with praises about what a big girl she is etc then stick her in the tub! I didn’t read it in any book or anything but I just kinda think it seems like a LOT of the reason kids struggle with the potty is due to fear. Why not try to go ahead and illuminate that fear now while she’s young? Our first time putting her on the potty was on 11/14

Your Baby Can Read: Okay so I did it a couple more times this month. I really am trying to do it a little more often. I want her to be able to sit still like Kye does so well and I think that the movie helps and if it’s the ONLY tv she ever sees until she’s two then I’ve decided that the benefits (mostly the ability to sit still…longer attention span…) out weigh the negatives 🙂

Independent Playtime: Britt is up to 25 min of independent playtime twice a day and it’s going really well! She is at a phase where she enjoys putting things into cups and pouring them back out so she does that most of the time (I put a couple stackable cups and some toy links in there with her). She plays happily for the entire 25 min and if I don’t hear the timer go off she’ll continue to play happily until I get her out. I would move her up to 30 min but I always have her do independent playtime at times where we are kinda in a hurry so there isn’t enough TIME for her to go longer!

Doors: I remember this phase with Kye like it was YESTERDAY! Britt is obsessed with doors…she loves to open and close them over and over and over and cracks up the entire time. Thankfully there haven’t been any smashed fingers (at least not yet…)

Here’s a video

Their bathroom door is her favorite for some reason. If I take my eyes off her she races to the bathroom to open and shut the door

I love this…she is so cute when she’s laughing!

The door thing applies to cabinets too. Including the trash can (here’s a video!) I’m not a fan of baby proofing stuff…but I will stick a rubber band over the knobs if it gets to be annoying having to stop cooking to tell her no and get onto her. 

She kept going for the dang toaster. 

After a “no ma’am” you can tell she’s considering opening the door again haha

Crawl Walk: I’m shocked that Britt isn’t walking yet. She crawled at SUCH a young age that I thought she’d also be an early walker…but I was wrong. I don’t mind that she’s still crawling! I know she’ll do it when she’s ready! She is now doing this SUPER funny crawl/walk thing…it’s hilarious. She looks kinda like an ape or something when she does it? She’s on all fours still but her knees are off the ground.

Here’s a video!

Outside: Britt ADORES going outside. She is her happiest outdoors. Most afternoons Zach gets home from work and takes the kids outside to play while I fix dinner. It’s a win/win on all levels. I don’t really like going outside to play so it gives the kids that out door time…and I like a nice quiet house while cooking dinner! Here’s a video of her swinging

Such a good daddy pushing her around the yard

Love that facial expression haha

Racing

Zach likes to use the baby bjorn to strap her in and get stuff done! She LOVES it!

Play: Britt is much much happier this month than she was last month. She seems to be discovering new things every day and loves to play! 

Unicorns are my fav animal so I couldn’t pass up this onesie (plus it was only $1.99)

Britt is constantly trying to get into her diaper trash can…I don’t get what her appeal is to it?

She LOVES touch and feel books!

Here’s a video of her reading and sliding the book

Action shot of how she will take a book and use it to SLIDE herself across the room

She loves to wear her hood up 😉

Her favorite place is the bathroom…she loves playing on the toilet lid…

and getting into trouble 😉

I pulled out Kye’s little mail box and she LOVES to open and close it over and over

Here’s a video of playing with the music toys kye had out

She also really likes to shake things 😉

here’s a video!

She also really likes these little containers that I stuck some toy links in so she can shake them. Keeps her busy while I’m cleaning up the kitchen!

I swear toy links are so awesome 😉

This month we went up to the playroom some for both kids to play. I’m SO thankful I made the decision to keep the playroom for “age appropriate” toys only. Everything is 100% safe for Britt to enjoy too! It’s nice just to CHILL up there and let the kids play without having to stop Britt from chewing on a little army man or something 😉 Here’s a video

Kye got this turtle bounce thing for his 1st birthday and she gravitated towards it right away!

This face is priceless

Little People are my FAVORITES!!!! Both kids ADORE them!

Gettin out more toys

Kye LOVED having an audience to watch him jump on the “jumpoline”

How much she LOVED Kye’s grill made me excited for her birthday present!

Her favorite spot to be though was in my lap 😉 She’s a mama’s girl for sure

Kye and Brittlynn are really starting to play SO WELL together. I’m a little more comfortable with her playing with his toys now that she doesn’t put as much stuff in her mouth as quickly. I always keep a close eye on her and try to hand her the bigger items for sure. They share pretty well and I love that they are becoming such good friends. 

Aunt Karen went to Peru (I think? Oh gosh I can’t remember for sure where she went?!?!) anyways she was SO sweet and brought the kids back these precious little outfits! Wasn’t that so thoughtful?!?! 

Britt with GAK (Great Aunt Karen)

Current Schedule:

7:15: Up for the day

Nurse then breakfast (with whole milk in a sippy too)

Independent playtime for 25-30 min

9:00-11:00: Nap

Independent Playtime 

Lunch (whole milk sippy)

1-sometime between 3 and 4: Nap

Snack after nap (whole milk sippy)

6:00 Dinner with family (whole milk sippy)

Bath

Nurse session

7:00-7:15: Bed for night!

Other Things Britt was up to This Month:

• I never put her socks or bow on until we get to where we are going because she will ALWAYS take them off while in the car and chew on them
• Most of the time this month her hair was in a pony to keep it out of her eyes
• She is starting to talk in her own little language but I can hear many letter sound combos going on. She’ll say “mamamaaaa” but not actually meaning “mommy” and she has a clear “n, b, d, m” sounds
• She struggles with transitions (which I remember from Kye as well). If she is playing I have to take the time to let her know we’re about to stop playing before just having her stop. She needs help with transitioning
• On 11/11 she woke up for the first time in the night having leaked through her diaper!
• With the weaning process…I dropped her 3:00 nursing session on Nov 3rd. Then I dropped her 11:00 nursing session on Nov 10th. She was at Mrs Charlotte’s that morning so it was easy bc I didn’t have to be around her during that time frame. 
• Britt is a copy-cat. Kye will put his hands on his ears and she’ll copy him and do the same thing..he also had his chin resting on his hand one day at lunch and we looked at Britt and she had her chin resting on her hand too. When he takes a sip of his drink, she takes a sip of hers!
• She doesn’t wiggle as much for her diaper changes anymore
• On the way to school one day to get Kye she was SUPER upset. I told her “we are going to go swing!” and she started laughing and got excited 🙂 Girl loves her some swinging!
• While nursing she sits up now the entire time and wraps her legs around me 
• She’s doing MUCH better with being away from me. She doesn’t cry as badly when I go to leave her or when I put her down
• While in her crib she just has her own little party! She’ll kick the sides over and over and rolls around laughing and talking to herself!
• As I’ve mentioned, she was very fussy whenever I tried to get pictures of her. I realized she does prefer “walking” on concrete over dirt too
• Britt has a crazy girl side…she loves to shake her head and do her “crazy dance” Here’s a video! 
• Girl has some rhythm! she bounces her little shoulders up and down like she’s dancing!
• One of her favorite things to eat is RIBS. She ate and ate them and kept asking for more!
• On 11/25 she hit Kye (totally intentionally) for the first time. I told her no ma’am and that we don’t hit and told her to say sorry. I was so proud b/c she leaned in and kissed him! 
• She still makes the loud screech sound but it’s not NEARLY as often or as horrible sounding! When she does do it I will tell her (sternly) to HUSH and I put my finger to my lips. She seems to understand that?
• We can ask her if she’s all done (without showing her the sign for it) and she will sign back “all done”
• On 11/30 she helped me clean up her toys for the first time! Heres a video
• After Kye’s thanksgiving day at school she now LOVES the 10 little indian song! I will sing it at lunch and use her toes as the “indians” 😉
• She did start spreading her food out on her tray and will purposefully push it over the tray onto the ground. 
• I bought Huggies night time diapers (they just work better than pampers night time ones for some reason?) after she leaked through and she hasn’t done it again as long as we remember to use them at night!
• The time changed this month and was pretty easy for her…much easier than I anticipated! I was SHOCKED when she slept for the extra hour! She is such a lover of sleep that she adjusted MUCH quicker and easier than Kye did when he was a baby!

Me and My girl!

One of my fav pictures of her. Enjoying the swings at Kye’s school 🙂

You can go back and look at Britt’s 11 month summary HERE and Kye’s 12 month summary HERE.