One month to B-Day! And finally growing into that bowtie.
Again, the photo is on time, but this blog post is not. We've been having too much fun enjoying Thanksgiving and getting our house decorated for Christmas. But I'm glad I'm behind this month because within a few days of hitting 11 months you did some major changing. According to the book, which has become my baby bible of sorts, you aren't in a developmental leap right now, but you have every sign of being in one. You are learning new skills, making new sounds, and having just a bit more trouble falling asleep at night. I think you might be playing catch-up from the last leap, which you may have "missed" because you were so busy cruising!
This month was big fun with lots of highlights and very few lowlights. That probably all begins with sleep. When baby sleeps, everybody sleeps. You are sleeping through the night like it's your job (it is), which means a solid 12-13 hours + two 1-2 hour naps. Man, being a baby is tough. The best part is that even when you are awake, you'll happily play in your crib for a long time before fussing. In the morning, you wake up around 7, but you play and/or drift in and out of sleep for another 1-1.5 hours before you really wake up and want some attention.
Your second job is eating, and you earn high remarks in that regard too. You really like fruit and anything in the bread/carb family, but you also happily eat protein and vegetables. The one problem is that you've learned how to throw things, which is great when it comes to balls, but no so great when it comes to food. I've found food pieces halfway across the kitchen. We are down to three nursings/day - morning, bedtime and once in between. We've started offering a little cow's milk during meals, and you like it just fine.
You have four new teeth! All of your top four teeth came in at the same time. All things considered, they didn't cause much angst. You are already putting them to good use eating things you maybe wouldn't have been able to chew before like apples. I've caught you sucking your thumb more over the last month, and I think that was probably due to the teething.
It's a good thing you sleep so well because when you are awake it's go-go-go all the time. While on vacation, you learned how to climb stairs. Our condo unit had a sunken living room and by the end of the week, you were going up the two stairs that connected the living spaces. At home, if I put you down outside while I unlock and open the front door, you will crawl over the big step and let yourself in the house.
It's hard to say exactly how close we are to taking steps, but I don't think it will be long. You are becoming more steady on your feet every day. You use less and less support as your cruise and get around. As you've grown taller, the list of things you can get into grows as well. I caught you trying to turn a doorknob the other day, and you love pushing doors back and forth. You've even been caught standing on your own. Of course all this moving comes with bumps and bruises, but you are a tough little guy. You usually get right back up without any shed tears.
You finally started to clap...and now you won't stop. Mom changed my diaper - clap, clap, clap! Mom came in to get me after my nap - clap, clap, clap! I love all this positive reinforcement. You are also really good at helping get dressed. It can still be a wrestling match, but at least you help put your arms through sleeves now, and you'll lift up your foot for me to put on a sock or shoe. You are pretty consistent with your high fives these days. I guess maybe you can teach a stubborn baby new tricks.
You babble all the time, but no discernible words yet. You say dada, but it doesn't appear to be connected to daddy quite yet. No sign of mama. Rude. You make this great noise that Dad says sounds like a reptile. I really don't know how to describe it, but it's the background noise I hear all day long. You've also shown some sings of "dancing" lately. You do this funny head bob all the time - sometimes in conjunction with bouncing up and down. It's already quite obvious that you won't be a better dance than either of your parents.
You love books - especially touch & feel or anything with lift-up flaps. You also love to climb. During Pilates class with Mom, you like to climb over me while we're doing exercises on the mat. Sometimes I give up trying to participate in class and just play airplane with you instead - it's a favorite. I'm not alone - the latest report from nursery was that you liked climbing on the other kids. Uh-oh.
You still love bath time. It might be the best part of your day. You love getting undressed because you know it means you are about to take a bath or eat food. You'll do this thing when we pick you up where you start excitedly kicking your legs and and making your happy noise. You crawl straight into the bathroom when you hear the water running. You like to throw your bath toys out of the tub, and, of course, we pick them up for you every time. You love banging on the toilet, and yes, you've learned how to flush. It's only by God's grace that you haven't discovered how much fun toilet paper is yet.
You are coming out of your serious shell little by little. I've caught you smiling at more people lately. Sometimes you'll give a huge smile and then turn and bury your head into my shoulder out of shyness. It's almost like you embarrassed yourself over such a public display of emotion. You'll also spontaneously laugh at a toy you find delightful or clap when music plays. You still give plenty of side eye looks, but it's so much fun to watch you become more emotive.
You are quite ticklish - we love attacking you with kisses and tickles when you are in your high chair or on the changing table and can't escape. You laugh and laugh and laugh. We had our final Kindermusik class of the fall, and it was definitely your favorite one yet. We played with the parachute and you were so enchanted with it that you literally fell over with glee.
We went on vacation to Turks & Caicos this month - you got your second passport stamp. It's almost like you knew we were on vacation because you were so good the entire time. Several other people staying at the resort commented that you never cry! You smiled at everyone, loved swimming in the pool, but couldn't figure out what to think about sand. You slept great, and since the resort was really small, we were able to use the wifi monitor down by the pool while you napped up in the room. The lowlight was when you pooped in the bathtub...while Dad was in there with you.
This vacation also marked your 21st flight. Whew. I can't believe you've been on that many flights without any major incident. I'm pretty impressed with your jetsetting ways.
Of course not everything was sunshine and roses this month. You still hate getting out of the bath tub, and the few minutes after bath but before getting to nurse are filled with much complaining. You also aren't a huge fan of diaper changes although we can usually give you a toy to keep you happy. I think you just don't like having to be still. You also had your highest fever (103.6) ever the day we came back from vacation, but even with that, you still did great on the long travel day....save the diaper blowout at the very end while we were waiting for our bags to go home.
You really are such a delightful little boy. I spend most of my time resisting the urge to constantly kiss your chubby cheeks. You were just so darn happy and content this month. You do great with your routine and are pretty predictable, which makes it easy for me to keep you happy. I'm doing everything possible to simultaneously plan your birthday party without thinking about the fact that you have a birthday coming up. You have a sweater that says "Never grow up," and that's exactly how I feel about that. Love you, Little Bub.