11 Months

Dear Ian,

This is your last month as a baby, sweet boy. Then you'll be considered a toddler (this makes my head spin a little).

So, so many new developments this month. Too many to count, really. Where to begin?

You can crawl fast. You still army/zombie crawl everywhere - you'll start out up on your knees, rocking back and forth, but then plop onto your belly before taking off. Reminds me of a cat doing the "butt wiggle" before pouncing (like this).

You can now maneuver yourself from the belly up to a sitting position, and this has been a HUGE relief for me as I don't have to constantly do this for you (that made you kinda mad). But oh my, that means you'll be walking soon. Gulp.

Well, thankfully, you are interested in your toys again. For a while you only had eyes for the fridge vent, the speaker wire, and the VCR. Well, let me rephrase. You haven't forgotten about those 3 things - you've just learned to play with your toys until you think we're not watching. Then you bust your bum to try and get to them faster than us. Okay, the truth is the tupperware drawer is now more entertaining than the fridge vent (come on, drawers rock!). The speaker wire got taped down (blerg!). And the VCR? It went away (it apparently hasn't been plugged in since we moved here - but one day it will be considered a novelty, right?). Now you're after the Playstation on the next shelf up. Smart boy!

But seriously, toys are lots of fun. We keep them in several baskets, and every morning in a matter of 10 minutes our living room looks like this.

Let me tell you, wooden blocks are NOT very forgiving. Ouch.

You point at everything, but your favorite thing to point at is wind chimes. Because you know we'll go ring them. When you hear them chime, your face lights up and you look at us like you've discovered a new planet or something.

Food. You love to eat - some days you eat so much I don't know where you put it all. You're eating 3 meals a day. Usually oatmeal mixed with fruit for breakfast. Yogurt or cheese and fruit for lunch. And for dinner we're trying to give you what we're eating if it can be cut up into small enough pieces. Things you really seem to like - lasagna, black beans, kiwi, and your favorite - strawberries (good thing they're in season!).

They're my favorite fruit, too. You like strawberries so much we have to hide them until the end of the meal. Otherwise you will refuse your other food.

You had your first encounter with Easter eggs this month, it made for some really cute pictures. Hopefully next year you'll be able to hunt those eggs.

We had family photos taken, too. I love, love, love them. You are a very photogenic little man, if I do say so myself.

I'm still afraid to say this out loud, but sleeping is much better. Most nights you go down at 8 pm without too much of a fight, and sleep until somewhere between 4:30-6:30 am. You wake up to nurse, then sleep until 7:30 or so. Naps are still a work in progress, but most days I can get you to take two 30 minute naps, the late morning nap is even sometimes in the crib! Once a week or so you get a wild hair and take a 2 hour afternoon nap(you are in the best mood after those long naps).

You definitely know who your mama and dada are, we get beautiful smiles when we get home from work. You don't seem to have separation anxiety yet, but if I'm sitting in the floor playing with you, you often will reach back and place one hand on my leg, look back at me and smile as if to say, 'Just making sure you're still there, Mama,' before resuming your play. That sometimes gives me a lump in my throat.

I hope you know I'm enjoying every second of this.

Oh, I love you so.