Seriously, 11 months already? In less than a month we will be celebrating our spunky little monkey’s first birthday (in Dr. Seuss style!)! CRAZY!! This last year has been a roller coaster of sleepless nights, and most recently chasing after an almost running little boy.
When I say boy, I mean BOY! He is every bit of 100% boy! Into everything, loves dirt and bugs, climbing on things (and falling off of them too), wrestling with his daddy and big sister and eating everything in sight (and I mean EVERYTHING).
Let me just break down that last paragraph a bit and give you a picture of what our almost one year old is into these days. Max loves being outside. As a matter of fact, he is much happier playing in the dirt and with sticks and bugs than he is playing with his toys. If we aren’t careful he will sneak outside and down the sidewalk. Just the other day he was in the house and I turned around to do something. I looked up and he was all the way at the neighbors house. Man can he fly!
Speaking of "flying", he moves very quickly. At 11 months, he is practically running. He took his first steps at 9.5 months and never looked back. It is amazing to me just how quickly he can get from Point A to Point B. He almost never crawls anymore.
I mentioned he liked to climb on things. He can easily climb into his special chair and MLK size chairs. And he can climb off of almost anything with no problem. He can also regularly be found climbing out of his high chair! This is one of his favorite things to do at mealtime, even if he is buckled in. Quite the Houdini this kid!
When Ben and Mikayla wrestle with him he just laughs and laughs. I can only imagine what things are going to be like a few years down the road :-/
Max loves to eat, everything! He doesn’t turn very many foods down. He still loves fruits and any form of carbs. He also goes crazy for puffs and Mum Mums (baby rice crackers). If he sees you eating something or hears the crinkle of a bag (like chips or candies) he comes running and will cry and cry until you give him something to eat. At times it is funny, but when you are trying to prepare a meal or sneak an unhealthy snack, it isn’t so funny.
Max’s sleeping patterns are starting to get better. This past month we really dove into the sleep training thing and weaning him from nursing at night. After a few nights with lots of tears and screaming, I am proud to say he is sleeping much better and not nursing at night any longer! He is not sleeping through the night yet, but when he wakes up he is back to sleep in less than five minutes! And most nights he only wakes up once and will sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 (which is quite the change from up 3-4 times for long stretches and waking for the day at 5:30 or 6:00). Change and progress! Naps are still fairly short (at most an hour twice a day), but at least he is sleeping some.
Max is "talking" more and more each day. In the mornings he will say "dada" because Ben is usually the one who gets up with him. He can also say "mama" and a few other words. He will point directly at what he wants too. We are working on baby sign language with him, but so far he hasn’t picked any of it up yet.
Max still does not have any teeth! Although, one is starting to work its way through on the top right (when facing him). It sure is taking its sweet time though. Maybe he will have a tooth by his first birthday.
And that is my little monkey at 11 months!