11 Months Old!

My baby boy is almost one year old. I am feeling rather emotional about that. I think it's harder this time around because before Nadia turned 11 months old I knew I was pregnant again. One of my students gave birth recently to her third child, and when I saw the picture of her 3 week old son last night the ache for another baby was very strong. Here are 11 facts about my sweet little 11 month old:

1. He now weighs 20.75 lbs, which puts him at the 29th percentile. I assumed he was over 21 lbs by now, but he only gained 1/3 lb over the past month.

2. He's gone from being scared of animal sounds two months ago to finding them to be very funny.

3. Boisterous is a very good word to describe him. No matter what he's doing, he does it with great vim and vigor!

4. He still won't eat truly solid food or even baby cereal, but he's doing a LOT better with stage one or two fruits and veggies. His favorites are apricots, peaches, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. The apples and strawberries I've been feeding him the last couple of days cause him to make a really funny face. You'd think they were sour, lol!

5. He LOVES to stand. He can now pull himself up from a sitting to a standing position while holding onto the walk and ride lion. He's also cruising along the windowsill and the music table.

6. He often goes down on his belly when I sit him on the floor. He can travel quite a distance scooting on his belly, particularly on the wood floor, although he doesn't go forward that much (mostly backwards or in circles). I really want him to crawl before he walks. We shall see if that happens.

7. He still nurses once a day. This week we've started mixing a little 2% milk into his bottles. I did the same with Nadia in the weeks leading up to her birthday so it was a gradual transition from formula to 2% milk. His bottles are quite the concoction right now since we still add baby cereal (rice or oatmeal) to his bottles as well. Over the next month I want to work on transitioning from a bottle to a sippy cup. Hopefully it will be easier for him than it was for Nadia.

8. He loves mirrors, balls, and wheels. These three give him great delight along with random things like an empty Kleenex box, lol.

9. He doesn't always object, but sometimes he does cry when Nadia takes away what he's holding. Previously he made no objections although I always said something to her when I saw her do this. Sharing doesn't come naturally!

10. He's doing much better sleeping at night. Wednesday night he slept from 7:45pm-6:30am, and last night he slept from 7:00pm-6:00am. Eleven hours is a BIG improvement. When it comes to naps though he's extremely inconsistent. Over the past 10 days he had two long naps; last Friday's afternoon nap and this Wednesday's morning were each 80 minutes long. All the other days both of his naps were each between 15-35 minutes long. Yesterday his morning nap was just 15 minutes and his afternoon was 35 so he slept for less than one hour between the hours of 6:30am and 7:00pm. Today he actually didn't take a morning nap, and his afternoon nap was only 20 minutes long. I think he's allergic to naps.

11. He loves to be held. I think both children are the kind who love to snuggle, hug, kiss, etc. This plus the fact that he's now aware of strangers is I think what led him to be kicked out of daycare. I still struggle with that somewhat. It did however lead to the decision for me to stay home next semester, which hopefully will be a good thing for all four of us.