Just one more month until the big day!

Julia is 11 months old today! How the time has flown! Updates on Julia's development this past month:

New things she has learned:

• Clapping! Julia clapped for the first time during an organ recital on Sunday, May 2. It was actually during a piece (Mendelssohn's fourth organ sonata, to be precise), but by the time she attended Jonathan's improvisation class recital the following Tuesday, she had figured out she was supposed to clap during the applause. Whenever she claps, she is SO proud of herself. She will randomly clap, or clap when we clap, or clap whenever Jonathan and I say "Yay Julia!" And if she is standing up and wants to clap, she has to plop down on her butt so her hands can be free.
• She continues to be more and more steady on her feet. She can crawl very quickly when necessary but is starting to show more of a preference to cruise from piece of furniture to piece of furniture whenever she's able. Although we have tried to hold her hands and get her walk with help, she's just not interested yet.
• How to dance. :-P If you stand her up in front of you and tell her to dance, she will bounce her butt up and down. :-P
• Nothing new to report in the new words category. She will sometimes say "num-num" in regards to food. She does seem to be putting a lot of thought into what she's going to say and will string multiple syllables together in a very deliberate way.

New foods she likes:

• Not too many new foods this month, although she has tried apricot puree, cherry puree, and Cheerios (the Cheerios being her favorite of those three). Still loves yogurt, puffs, and yogurt melts. In fact, if you give her a bowl of puffs and yogurt melts, she will dump it on the floor so she can more easily pick out the yogurt melts to eat first.
• She definitely prefers finger foods. She will frequently shake her head "no" and gag on foods given to her on a spoon, even if she likes the food in question. She'd just rather feed it to herself with her fingers. We haven't tried getting her to use a spoon yet... we'll get there.
• She's really learned to drink well from a sippy cup (water or [very rarely] diluted apple juice). Her "Julia" cup from Grampa is her favorite.

New places she has gone:

• We took Julia to her first Rochester Philharmonic concert at the Eastman Theatre. She heard Corigliano's Gazebo Dances, Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganinni, Schubert's Symphony No. 8, and Elgar's In the South. She actually sat through the Corigliano, but Jonathan had to get up and walk with her during the Rachmaninoff (she must not really be my child!). She just doesn't like to be still! Fortunately, the level of the theatre where we like to sit is very conducive to walking with a child and still being able to see/hear everything. Julia fell asleep during the second half and Jonathan and I were able to sit and enjoy the end of the concert together.
• The zoo! Julia and I went one afternoon with two of her friends from Kindermusik and their moms. Julia seemed indifferent to most of the animals, but she was particularly taken with the seals and the sleeping rhinos. And of course, she enjoyed being outside immensely, as she always does.

New favorite activities:

• Julia has really started to take an interest in books (I guess that makes up for the not liking Rachmaninoff thing). She loves to take a pile of books (either hers or Jonathan/mine) and flip through the pages. She is especially interested her puppy book, the books Marmee made her, the Beatrix Potter series, and her Eric Carle board books. We read a story together before her naps and at bedtime, and at naptime I let her have the book in her crib with her, and she will sit and look at the book with her baby.
• Speaking of her baby, she LOVES her baby. I think she may say "baby" before "mommy" or "daddy." Baby goes everywhere with her, and she loves to give Baby hugs and kisses. She puts her hands around Baby's neck and squeezes her and holds her close to her. It's so sweet!
• Looking out the window! Our patio door and front windows are at a right angle to each other, and she enjoys going back and forth between the two and watching the world go by. Loves all the birds that come to her feeder, cars, dogs, and the "dancing" leaves.

We are so excited that we will be with many of you this time next month! We can't wait to see you all!