11 months

The countdown to your first birthday has begun. Your dad asked the other day if your birthday would be a celebration of your first year or the fact that we kept you alive a whole year. I said, "Yes." We go next Tuesday to get some family photographs and some first-year photos of you done.

You give kisses now nearly on command. They're open-mouth but no tongue so that's one plus.

We also consider you to be walking now. Yes, you took your first steps about 3 weeks ago, but you still seemed to prefer crawling because it was more efficient. Today at daycare you walked about 5 feet on your own. Tonight at home you were walking back and forth between me and the rocking chair. Dad managed to get this on camera. He also got you dancing to Nirvana on camera. You are such a rock and alternative girl: Linkin Park, Disturbed, Nirvana, ZZ Top. You're going to have the most developed quad muscles and butt muscles of any infant ever. You also like to dance while you eat.