11 Months

Dear Mr. Will,

You are 11 months old...your last month to be a true baby! You are nearing toddlerhood faster than I thought possible, and although it breaks my heart into a million pieces, it also brings me an incredible amount of joy to watch you learn, and grow, and thrive, and develop.

You've had yet another rough month with your ears. I don't think we've been off antibiotics for more than 1-2 days at a time. You finally got your tubes on the day before you turned 11 months old, so we are praying that this will finally bring you some relief.

You sure did sleep like a baby the day of your surgery, that's for sure. You took two, 2+ hour naps. I can't ever remember you doing that before. I guess the anesthesia just took everything out of you!

Your sweet Ree Ree and Tucker sent you balloons and a teddy bear the day of your surgery, and you have loved playing with them!

Despite your ear troubles, you are babbling more than ever now, and have a growing list of words that you can say: momma, dada, bye bye (a favorite), ball (also a favorite), up, and uh-oh (probably by far your favorite). You also pretend to talk on the phone, and anytime we say "hello?" you will put whatever toy you have in your hand up to your ear, like you are answering a phone. It's pretty funny! Another sign that you have had way too much trouble with your ears...we use an ear thermometer to check your temperature (it is by far the easiest thing to use on a busy baby), and the other day you picked it up off the coffee table, and I said "Will, do we need to check your temperature?" And you put the thermometer up to your ear. Sweet baby. I'm sorry I have to take your temp so often!

You've also learned to blow kisses, and will blow anyone a kiss that asks for one. You almost always do it without prompting, anytime you are telling anyone "bye bye." You have several waves that accompany your very elaborate and dramatic bye bye performance- the entire upper arm wave, the open and close hand wave (facing out), and the open and close hand wave (facing yourself). You usually go through all three of these waves, while saying "bye bye" the entire time, followed by blowing 2-3 kisses (complete with the mmmmuah) noise. Quite possibly the cutest thing ever. Who am I kidding...it is the cutest thing ever, to your momma anyway. :)

(In both of these videos you were actually sick with a fever, the first one we were waiting in the pediatrician's office to be seen, and I just realized how sick you looked. Poor baby. I guess this is just  a true glimpse into your life right now...being sick and happy at the same time!)

 

 



 

 

Although you are a very verbal (and social!) child, you really could care less about walking. You pull up on anything in a split second, and you will stand there for a while, and then slowly squat back down to sit on your bottom. I still have yet to see you "cruise," or even act like you are thinking about cruising. If there is somewhere else you want to be, or a toy you want to play with, you just lower yourself down onto the floor and boogy it on all fours. But I've been told we don't want to rush the walking phase? I'm sure once you figure out those legs are made for walking, we won't be able to keep up with you if we turn our back for a second.

You are OBSESSED with a ball. Any ball. It is always your first toy of choice to play with, and I truly think that sometimes you wish had 10 arms so that you could pick them all up at once. The other day you had one in each hand, and there was another one on the floor that you really wanted to play with, but you couldn't figure out how to pick it up. So, my resourceful little child, you proceeded to pick it up with your mouth, like you were bobbing for apples. We thought it was hilarious, and quite genius if we are going to be honest.

 



You also have this funny obsession with the magnets on the refrigerator. Daddy finally moved them down to your level, because anytime we were holding you while standing in the kitchen, you were dying to get your hands on the magnets.

 

At 10 months, you were moved up to the "Wobbler 1" class at your school. It seems every time I start to really get to know your teachers, you move into a different classroom! But this move was totally unexpected for us. When you first started in the class you were in before (infant 2), they explained to me that you wouldn't move to the "Wobbler" class until you were walking. So naturally, I wasn't expecting this transition until you were a year or later. However, they felt like developmentally you were there, and you had in fact been skipping that morning nap for a while now. So we went from sleeping in a crib, (attempting) two naps per day, having 3 bottles during the day, mostly baby food with some table food, to a big boy room in one day! They wanted you to transition off the bottle ASAP, take only 1 nap during the day, sleep on a cot- with a nap mat, and start eating more table foods. Yikes! Momma was not ready for this! I agreed with the bottle thing- I definitely wanted you to be fully on a sippy cup by the time you reached 1 year, but I had not even thought about the possibility of you not sleeping in a crib anymore. You definitely still do at home, but you now take a nap on a cot with a nap mat, like a big boy, at school. They say you are doing great! You usually sleep from 11:45-2 while you are at school...much longer than you do at home. :)

You are also doing great in transitioning to table food. You are definitely starting to show your independence, as you don't like for us to feed you, unless...unless it is your beloved yogurt. You love, love, love your yobaby yogurt, and that is about the only thing you will let us feed you.

 

 

While you were 10 months, you experienced several first big Holidays- your first Christmas, New Years, and National Championship! We can't forget Number 15. The Crimson Tide has won THREE National Championship trophies in the last four years, and we were so excited to add another crystal ball to the already large and in charge collection in Tuscaloosa. Alabama wasn't so great when your mommy and daddy were in school, so hopefully they will be when you are in school there. Because you are going to school there. Right? Right???



You were a trooper getting your picture made with Santa this year, and although I won't hold my breath, I hope that we continue to have such great luck in the years to come. I LOVED your Santa picture, and I think it's going to be hard to compete with this one. So you've got some pretty big shoes to fill next year, buddy!

You are wearing size 12 months clothes, size 4 diaper, and you weighed 23 pounds, 4 ounces the day you got your tubes. I'm not sure how long you are, but we'll find out at your one year (yikes!) appointment. You have one pair of shoes that is a size 3 that you can wear although they still have a good bit of room in them, but you have a couple of other pairs that are size 3 and they are way, way too big. You wear soft soled shoes daily (either the Robeez brand or Bobux), and in those you are still wearing 0-6 months or 3-9 months. I think you've got a small foot for your age right now.

We transitioned you to a big boy car seat this month. It was time. You still technically "fit" into your car seat, and you were within the weight limit of 30 pounds, but once we realized that we couldn't put a jacket on you AND buckle your car seat, we realized that it was time to move up to a big seat. You seem to have a lot more room!

You still have just the 6 teeth, but it looks like you may have two more on both the top and bottom coming in soon. The pediatrician has asked us to start brushing your teeth at night after you nurse for the last time, but that's kind of difficult with a busy body like yourself. So after I make my attempt at "brushing" your teeth, I usually let you just play with the toothbrush and you end up chewing on it anyway, so I figure that's just the same as us brushing the for you.

You still sleep from about 7:30 until 5-5:30. One day this month you slept until 6:20, but of course I didn't, because I was checking the monitor constantly to make sure you were ok. You wake up, nurse, and then go back to sleep (usually) until about 7:00.

You have still gotten only mommy's milk, and during the week, you nurse in the early morning and at bedtime, and you get two cups of milk at school. They also give you a cup of water (which you just play with) in the afternoon, and I offer you more water during your dinner (which you just play with). I think you must take a cup at school much better than you do at home. I never see you take a cup well at home, but they assure me you are drinking your milk well at school. You eat three meals a day, and one snack in the afternoon.

Mr. Will, this year has flown by. Some days I look at you and think how BIG you have gotten, and some days I look at you and think you're still such a little bitty baby. You are our joy and such a huge blessing in our lives. Everyone that comes in contact with you always talks about the same things- your smile, your big blue eyes, your personality, how happy you are, how friendly you are, and how many teeth you have. Hopefully those are all things that people will continue to mention about you (except for the teeth part, let's just leave that for the Big Bad Wolf!) for the rest of your life.