11 Months!

Your little personality is really beginning to shine! And there are times when I can really tell that you are responding to what we are saying!

You love to "dance" to your keyboard toy. You'll hit one of the keys to start the music and then you'll bounce in place. It is just the cutest! And while you're bouncing, you'll clap and giggle. Sure gets a giggle out of mamma and daddy.

And while you're sitting down, you really like to use your feet to turn around on your bottom. You'll scoot around in a little circle and you can go clock-wise and counter clock-wise. Sometimes I call you my little sit-n-spin.

You've gotten the actual crawling down really well and you can pull up to your feet and even cruise along the furniture. You started pulling up to your feet the day after Christmas and grandma, grandaddy, Aunt Cinn and Cuz were so excited to watch you learn!

You and I both had a little change this month with weaning you. The same time I weaned you to the bottle, you also started acting really fussy. Turns out you had an ear infection. I was relieved to know that a good bit of your fussing was due to your ears hurting so I didn't take it too personally. And now, you are doing wonderfully at taking the bottle. We still get to enjoy our snuggle time and you're getting plenty of food now. I still just rub on my hand and arm while you're taking your bottle. And there is the occassional whack on the face. Oh, well.

We've recently started calling you Tyrannosaurus X when you make your dinosaur sound! It's a really cute growl and you're usually smiling when you make the noise. I try to imitate you but it hurts my throat!

You are really the talker now, though you're not saying anything recognizable. And when it's time to take a nap or go to sleep for the night, you'll "sing" yourself to sleep. You're little sleepy song is just adorable and sometimes puts you to sleep better than a pacifier! As for your pacifier, you really only use it for sleeping and now that you sing sometimes, you don't need it as much. That's good!

Daddy laughs at you when you do your head butt. You'll just lean your forehead into ours and then bounce it back and forth. I have to be careful and offer you my cheek or a softer part of my head because sometimes you get in a good whack! I've started kissing your forehead each time you try to do a head butt. I don't want you to knock us both out!

Speaking of your head, you can show me where it is...with about 95% accuracy. I'll ask you where your head is and most of the time, you'll reach your little arms up over your head and pat yourself. You can also show me where your tummy, your nose and your mouth are. These are with less accuracy than your head. And when I ask about your nose or tummy, you'll point your first finger on your right hand, look at it, and very deliberately put it on your nose or lips. Occassionally you'll get the area in between your nose and mouth and I have to get excited about that because you're pretty darn close!

When you know that I'm praising you for doing something good, you'll clap your hands. So, showing me your head is usually followed by a good clap. And a nice toothless grin.

You do have another way of showing me you're excited. You'll flap your arms like you're trying to take off! Sometimes when you're sitting down and flapping, you'll even bounce and that makes you giggle. But the funniest flapping is when you've got your sock in your hand and flap it around, too! Sometimes you'll put your sock in your mouth and let go of it. It just hangs there like a little limp mustache. Ha!

You are pretty good at waving, except your wave is backwards. You'll wave at your mouth! Love that! You wave at yourself when we're out and I think you're really waving at someone else. And you know just how to get someone's attention, too. You'll grin really big and if that doesn't work, you'll let out a little, "heh, heh, heh!" What a flirt!

Ear infections are not fun and we've had our fill of those. In fact, today we went to the otologist and he suggested tubes (not surprising). We're scheduled to get them done in two weeks and daddy's even going to take the day off. I think mamma will need someone there to hug on while you're getting them put in!

Next month will be the big O-N-E and I just can't believe it. I look forward to what you're going to do this month (walking? a tooth or two?) but I still can't believe that it's almost been a year that you've been with us. It seems like no time at all and my whole life all at the same time.

Happy 11 month birthday, X-man!

Love,
mamma