11 months

As Madeline was waving to strangers today at the bank, I started thinking about how much she has grown in just the past month. She now sits up for extended periods of time without falling over, crawls all over the place, imitates whatever sounds you make( and often initiates a round of "I'm Clearing My Throat, Now Your Turn"), waves hello and goodbye, gives kisses and pulls up on anything and everything. She'll be 11 months old tomorrow.
In contrast to the first few months of her life, where I knew exactly how old she was in weeks , days and hours, this 11 month birthday has snuck up on me. Maybe the holidays, maybe denial. This one is hitting me hard , though. Because I know the next one is one year.
I have had so much fun with her over the past 4 months- this is definately my favorite age. So much amazing discovery. I see the excitment in her eyes when she crawls to the couch,when she realizes what this mobility means-independance. And while my husband is excited for her to get older- less delicate perhaps- I just want her to stay a baby. My beautiful, pink cheeked, brown eyed, chunky legged, dimpled faced baby.
I realize now that the emotions you feel when your baby is turning one is one of the 10,000 things you can not understand until you are a mother yourself. I sort of want to freeze time, while at the same time tag along on the ride of discovery.
I love you Madeline, Happy 11 months.