My dear little
love,
Yesterday, you
turned eleven months
old. Yes, it’s true that in just
one short month you will no longer be a baby and you will instead be a toddler. Oh how time flies. I’ll never forget the way you fit in my
arms that hot august night when we met for the first time. I kissed your cheeks and introduced
myself, telling you how much I loved you and relishing the feeling of your
sweet body snuggled up close to mine.
I’ll never forget our first
moments together, even though every moment since then has been equally incredible. It must be you making life so sweet, little one :)
This has been a busy month in your life, little man, and
here’s what you’ve been up to!
·
You are
crawling! Everywhere.
You crawled for the first time on June 27, it was a Wednesday night, and
we were at the park where daddy and I had taken you after picking him up from
work. We put you down on all fours in the grass, and you did not like the way the grass felt on your
belly, so you held yourself there.
We tempted you to move forward by dangling mommy’s keys in front of you…and sure enough, off you went! Since then, you have been unstoppable.
·
You pull up
on everything. You love to explore!
·
You are
cruising on furniture and walking so well holding onto our hands. You are more than capable of standing on your own, and can
for a long time, but you usually get nervous and will reach for our hands to
hold.
·
You get into
everything. You love our cell
phones, our computers (especially
mommy’s iPad) and love chasing down whatever we have that you aren’t supposed
to have.
·
You love to
open and close things. Lately, you
are loving to close the door in your room whenever we’re in there with
you. Daddy and I have to be
careful, because if we leave you in there playing for a second, you’ll crawl
over and shut the door…then
stand against it so we can’t get back in.
Tricky. You also love to open and close the
baby gates, and drawers/cupboards in the kitchen.
·
You are really starting to love playing with balls. I’ve been working on the word “ball”
with you—hoping both that
you’ll learn what it means and you’ll learn how to say it. I think you’re starting to figure out
what a “ball” is, because when I tell you to go get one, you’ll often crawl
right over and pick one up.
·
Your
favorite thing to do with a ball is throw it, and then chase after it, catch it, and then
repeat! So cute. It entertains for you quite a
while. I just made a little ball
pit for you out of a plastic baby pool in our playroom, and you just love to
sit in there and throw balls all over the room. I think it is so precious!
·
You are also
a climber. You try to climb on everything.
I caught you sitting on top of your toy chest one day, and you’ll also
tried climbing on the lowest shelf of your bookcase. Daddy and I recently bought you a little climbing toy with a
slide, and you’re trying really hard to figure out how to climb up the little
baby rock wall on it.
·
You talk all the time, and say lots of things that sound like words…but nothing with meaning yet. I think you know ‘dog’ and will say it occasionally, but not
too often. We think you are very
advanced because you often repeat letter sounds over and over.
You love the “shh” sound, the hard “t” sound, and lately it’s been the
“g” and “k” sounds. I really don’t
know how you picked it up, but those are sounds that we teach beginning
readers...so I am pretty impressed that you picked them up yourself at eleven
months. Smarty pants :) You’ve also been saying ‘bababa’ this
month, so maybe we’ll get a ‘dada’ soon.
Now, if I could just get you to say ‘mama’…
·
You can wave, but have just been too busy
exploring everything around you to bother with that particular skill. I don’t think I’ve really seen you do
it this month. I’ve been trying to get you to clap, but you don’t like it when
I do it for you…so I’m sure
you’ll let me know when you’re ready to give it a try :) You are a stubborn little man, and you do
things in your own
time.
·
This month,
you started taking baths in the big tub!
You love it. You love to splash, and you are fascinated by the
faucet. Daddy gives you a bath
every night, and I love listening to the two of you. You do not
like getting out of the tub, or getting your diaper and jammies put on.
·
We got you a
new pool this month! It is so fun,
with a little slide and little water ‘sprinklers’ and a ring toy. I think you like it, but it has to be
used while attached to the hose, so the water is always cold.
When I first put you in, you cling to me and suck in your breath really fast. So funny.
·
We took a
weekend trip with grandma and grandpa and Uncle Tony this month. We stayed in a big cabin right on the
river, and we had lots of fun fishing, sitting out in the sun, visiting new
towns, and just being with family.
You slept in your in mommy and daddy’s room, and did so great!
·
You
celebrated your first Fourth of July with a trip to the zoo! We were also celebrating grandma’s
birthday, which is the day before.
You had so much fun! This
was your second trip, and I can’t wait for us to take you when you’re a bit
older so you can really
enjoy the animals!
·
This month,
you’ve had lots of
play dates with friends! I just
love seeing you interact with other kids.
You seem to do best when we’re at our house, because you’re the most
comfortable here and will just take off and play. When we go other places, you love to just observe. And that’s okay!
·
You still
love Toby and Emma. You especially
love to grab clumps of their hair, tug on their ears, or try and eat their
paws. You are fascinated by their nails. They are so
good with you, very tolerant, and will usually just let you have at it. We are
working on the word “gentle”…haha!
·
You know the
word “no” and will pause and look at me when I say it. You usually stop and choose to do
something else, too! Such a good
boy already!!
·
You just love
books! Mama is so proud!! You love to crawl over and pull each
book off your bookshelf, then plop yourself down and read them, turning the
pages over and over. You especially love lift-the-flap books!
·
You are the
sweetest, most good-natured baby I have ever met! Everywhere we go, people always tell us that, and how well
behaved (and handsome, duh!) you are.
We agree. You are just so happy all the time.
·
You’re still
wearing 18 month clothes, and I think you’re probably close to 24 pounds. You have at least 10 teeth (just cut a
canine and a molar, ouch!) and maybe two more trying to poke through. You handle teething like a champ!!
·
You’re
eating three meals a day, and there’s not much we withhold at this point. You eat whatever we’ve got, and you
either love it…or if you don’t, you’ll throw it onto the
floor. You mastered drinking from a straw, which has opened up a whole new
world of sharing mommy’s smoothies.
And I use the term ‘sharing’ very loosely…because you are more than a little demanding ;) If I offer you a sip, I better be
prepared to relinquish that drink real quick!
Pretty amazing
month, huh! I could never have
imagined how much you would change in those thirty days. Grandma and I were talking today about
how you are entering a stage of life where you are literally changing every single day. It’s so true. You are growing and exploring and learning right before our eyes, and watching you
grow is the single greatest joy I have ever experienced. Your joy bring me joy. So much more joy than I could have ever anticipated. I’m so thankful to be your mommy; it’s
the best job I’ve ever been given and I am committed to being intentional with your
moments. I know I say it a lot,
but your moments go by so fast
and I’ll never get them back. I
know God created me to be here with you, in each of your moments, and I want to be aware
of what a gift that is. Not every
mommy gets to snuggle their baby every single day. I do. You are an
incredible blessing.
Little man, I’m
going to say what I say every month, because it never ceases to be absolute
truth: you are loved. Profoundly. Completely. Deeply
and wholly.
Don’t you ever
forget it.
Love you so much
baby boy! Next time I write, you
will be ONE YEAR old!!!
Love,
Your Mama
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