Whit is 11 Months Old!

Last night:

Ben: "What's your plan for tomorrow?"

Suz: "Tomorrow is the one day a month I'll take pictures, edit, and blog."

Ben: "Oh yeah..."

Suz: "Do you know why?"

Ben: "Of course! I couldn't forget the day of the month my son was born! 

Only one more month of this, right?" 

Suz: "Yeah... I guess..."

Ben: "Will you still take monthly photos after he's a year?"

Suz: "I'm not saying no, but I doubt it." 

Sad, right? I honestly get choked up when it hits me that Whit is almost a one-year-old. Almost a toddler. That's almost preschool. Heck, I'll just say it- I can't believe my baby is about to go on his mission!

Whit @ 11 Months:

- Now exclusively getting formula bottles. We are both ecstatic.
-Still explores with his mouth, including giving "love bites." (At least it seems to hurt less if I give then a cute moniker.) He will interrupt crawling across the room to take a bite of a toe, and likes to gnaw on my shoulder when I hold him. After getting a rather large and uncomfortable bruise from one of these "adorable" signs of affection I've decided it's not so fun, after all, and started to gently flick him on the cheek when he bites. Not sure if he's getting the message yet.
- Has learned "NO". I think. We don't say 'no' very often, but one thing we are sticklers about is preventing him from pulling books out of our low bookshelf. This month we waited until he crawled over to the books and started pulling books down then would jump over to him, pull him away, say and sign "NO" very seriously, then position him somewhere else and happily share other toys. After a couple of weeks he understood and will now go to the bookshelf to practice standing up, but never pulls the books down! Yay! I love that we have not only successfully communicated an important and useful household rule, but seeing that his mind and body are working in sync to understand, grow, and practice. He really is growing up :(
-Whit has started interacting with us. He has always enjoyed playing and laughing with us, but this month he has started to hand things to me then ask for them back, give me kisses when I kiss him, etc.
-He freaks out (no, I'm not being dramatic) for green smoothies (or anything sweet, blended and delivered in a cup with a straw), but has basically boycotted other pureed foods. He has also become more discriminating with his meals. He used to scarf down whatever we put in front of him with gusto, but now he only wants to eat finger foods, he greatly prefers to feed himself, and if he decides he doesn't want more of a food he will put both fists in front of his mouth and turn his head.
-Since we share almost all of our meals now we are being extra cautious to each healthy, homemade, organic meals, but this month he tried bacon (accidentally... the first time...), frozen pizza, french fries, and cheese sticks. Eh.
-Still prefers playing with everyday objects more than toys, but this month he has developed an affinity for books, balls, and stuffed animals. He loves turning books pages, loves chasing after a medium-sized beach ball, and snuggling with stuffed animals. It's really nice!
-Has always been too distractable to keep anything in his crib (including his feet. He's been using a sleep sak since he outgrew the swaddle because he would stay awake playing with his feet!), but after a couple disastrous traveling experiences recently we added a small stuffed lion to the crib to encourage him to form an attachment. He has been doing great with it! He does snuggle into it to fall asleep, moves away during his sleep, then wakes up happily playing with it. We fly to MI for July 4 soon so we'll be putting the lion to the test!
-He is trying to give up one of his three naps but Mommy won't let him. End of story.
-Stands up on everything. If there is something around for him to put his hand on he tries to use it as leverage, which is pretty funny when said object is really low to the ground. If it's too short he ends up straightening his legs and sticking his but in the air but just stuck there because he can't straighten all the way up. Too funny. He does let go to stand on his own, but isn't too comfortable with it yet. He can last for a few seconds, and even longer when he's distracted while standing. Mental note....
-He walks pretty quickly and easily when holding on to one of our hands, so we think he'll be walking as soon as he's comfortable with is balance. He does just look down at his feet as he walks, though, as if he's surprised he's attached to the things propelling him forward.
-In the last 5 weeks has traveled to both coasts and spent a few days with his family in SC. We think he's having some separation anxiety because he practically refused to be set down among his triplet cousins while we were there.
-Is getting two more teeth in on the bottom. That will make 8. Hence the bite bruises.