Henry Matthew Huntsman: Week 48

Henry you are 11 Months old! Only 1 more month to go before you are 1 year old. Better start party planning...

You have grown up a lot over the last month. I feel like you have lost more and more of your babyness and gained a whole lot of toddlerness. Even your little cheeks have thinned out a bit. No more holding still with Bruce the moose for pictures! You eyes are becoming more and more handsome every day.

I think the best way to describe this month is more consistency. You have consistently been eating three meals a day and nursing 4 times (occasionally 5) a day. You have cereal with fruit in the morning, a veggie and dairy for lunch, then a mix of whatever we are eating at dinner. All of your meals are half self fed and half spoon fed. Sometimes I give you a spoon too just to see what happens. You can use a sippy cup fairly well to drink water. You have recently started throwing everything off your plate when you are done. The sippy cup has always been dropped over the edge of your high chair but everything else is a new trick. We are working on it.

I feel like I spend a lot more time telling you what not to do. Examples would be pull off Dad's glasses, pull the air vent off the wall, crawl off the edge of the bed, grab things out of electrical sockets, pull hair, put spiders in your mouth, you know that kind of thing? I'm working on being more specific than just saying "no." For example "Please don't pull down mom's shirt in front of the entire neighborhood." Hopefully this sets a good habit for me and you start listening? You are curious and that isn't a bad thing. Its just that I can't finish anything I start while you are awake :)

You have started to mimic a lot lately. I was using a burp cloth to move some stinky air around after a diaper change and you grabbed it from me and waved it all around. You smile when we smile. If I crawl around on the floor, you follow after me rather than run away. If dad crawls with you on the floor, you run away! When we say prayers you are more quiet than you were before. If we make Indian sounds with our mouths, you do too (one of my favorites). My favorite mimic of yours is when you give me kisses after I give you kisses. I can never have enough!

Another constancy of this month is naps and bedtime. You wake between 7:30 and 8 AM, then nap at 10-10:30 for 1-1.5 hours, then nap again at 2-2:30 for 1-1.5 hours, then go to bed between 7:30 and 8 PM. I realize that doesn't sound too consistent but for some reason it feels consistent. You really only wake to eat at 6 AM then sleep for a little bit longer. The last night of being 10 months old you slept the whole time without waking up to eat at all. I was so proud! And hope to be proud more often :)

You have a paci at nap time and your paci stays in your crib all through the day. You get a paci at church to help you be quite during the sacrament and you get a paci during long car rides. Some how we started having 3 pacis in your crib and life has just stayed that way. When we get you out of your crib you either have a paci in your mouth and two in your hands OR you have thrown all your pacis out of the crib. When dad goes into get you he crawls on his hands and knees and barks like a dog and you scratch his ears through the bars then walk around the room saying good morning to everything. You even pet your piggy bank good morning! When mom comes to get you we kiss through the bars and snuggle on the rocking chair for a few minutes before starting the day.

Some of your favorite things in life are: toy monkey, a little Madagascar zebra, puppy doggy, the windmill of your farm, a toothbrush banana, paci, sweet potatoes, bananas, holding your own spoon, black beans, animal crackers, nilla wafers, banana bread, mom, dad, the filter on the fridge, the glass door (see below), wall flowers (all have been removed), the fire place, the window ledges that are just your height, helping me do the dishes, opening and closing the door, wrestling with anything on the floor, and turning off and on light switches.

You started wearing size 4 diapers, you wear size 12 month clothes, you need socks, you wear size 3 shoes if we ever put them on you. You love your rubber ducky in the bath tub and lately try to stand up in the sink. Slippery and unsafe!

You love to talk and jibber jabber all day long. You do so Mama and Dada the most clearly but many other words come out of your mouth. You wave bye-bye, sign "all done," started signing "more," and lick your lips repeatedly right before I nurse you.

At 11 months you have six teeth, two on bottom and four on top! You started biting food, like crackers, and gum it with your molars. Lately noodles make you gag a lot when they used to be one of your favorite foods. Fetticini noodles make you throw up, we learned that the hard way, too long and slippery.

You have a little bit of stranger danger at first in new situations. You like to have a warming up period before other people get to hold you without alligator tears and crying. I think you are doing better at not needing mom as much all the time and being happy to be independent at times.