Berit is 11! (months, that is!)

It is hard to believe that we are closing in on our little chickpea's first birthday!  I definitely think that the 10 months of pregnancy took twice as long as the first 11 months of Berit's entertaining life...but then I was largely pregnant, my feet were swollen and it was 95 degrees for four months.

What does Berit do now?

She runs (dangerously), hops, squats, brings you all kinds of things, points, waves, kisses (open mouth), hugs, climbs up stairs at lightning speed, practicing going down a few steps at a time (backwards) until she decides that is too slow and turns in anticipation of a swan dive back down the stairs.

She does not hold still, as her 11-month old snapshots demonstrate:

Standing

Don't make me sit...

Yelling while squatting

The fake cry face

A smile for her papa

Refusing to show momma how tall she is

She loves carrying things with handles: sand bucket, shoe boxes, purses, camera case...anything you can imagine.

Berit still loves walking her dogs and she does a really good job of getting them wound up.  Usually she gets to the backpack or the leashes and brings them to you as a sign.  Here, she and Sitka wait for me.

And here, Berit decides to walk herself.  This is just one of her "raised by dogs" habits.  She has a tendency to carry things in her mouth like her fur siblings. Pete has caught her trying to eat by putting her face to the floor, while the dogs put their noses in their bowls.

She is a very funny kid.  (She gets that from her papa.)  But has quite the stubborn streak (she gets that from him too!)  Sleep is still the enemy.  Sometimes, even the suggestion of it is enough to send her over the edge.

Reacting to the news that post-walk means naptime for everyone