11 Months Old

Dear G-Man,

You are 11 months old and I truly can't believe how fast the time has gone. It was a year ago this week that I was put on bed rest because of my blood pressure. We were hoping you would come soon after that, but even then you demonstrated your personality - you like to do things your way. Which is fine. "Your way" is pretty cute most of the time. (To be clear, it wasn't cute when I was going crazy on bed rest and you were overdue, but it is cute most of the time now that you are here.)

You have started watching baby sign language videos with me. You like the videos and I'm working really hard to incorporate the signs into our routine. I forget sometimes. And when I try to help you learn the signs when we watch the video, you often wave my hands away. You just want to watch the video. You also still love the Baby Einstein DVDs and you like Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel. We play in the room with the TV a lot during the day. There are lots of toys to play with in your toy bin and lots of remotes to try and grab.

This month, you learned some pretty important things. You learned to climb the stairs, you learned to pull the place mats off the side tables in the TV room, you learned that you can get to the stairs by crawling through the dining room and living room. You also had your first modeling audition. You're starting to enjoy reading books a little bit more and will sometimes sit and turn the pages on your own. You are getting very good at crawling. You crawl into all the rooms upstairs when we play up there. And I think you might be pretty close to walking. You cruise around whenever you have something to hold onto and sometimes you manage to balance on your own. You are always talking to me as you play. I don't understand what you are saying yet, but you speak with a lot of conviction and expression. You do know how to say "hi" and "dada" and sometimes I can get a "mama" out of you. You know how to wave, clap and give high fives.


You have always loved music, but it's fun to watch as you listen to music now. You always have a little bounce going to the beat. You love your piano toy. Whenever you have two objects in your hands - like plastic cups - you hit them together to a steady beat. And when I join in with you, you match my beat and keep it going. I've even caught you keeping the beat with your cups when you hear a song. It will be fun to see if you decide to do anything with music in the future.

You are also very tenacious, curious and a little bit stubborn. Case in point - a couple minutes ago, I was trying to paint the windows in the dining room and you wanted more Pirate's Booty. So while I wasn't looking, you figured out where it was, pulled the bag onto the floor and continued eating it. (Luckily, the bag was almost empty.) You're always exploring the house and get very frustrated when you aren't able to do something you think you should be able to do.

And you are hopelessly attached to this blanket. You carry it around in your mouth like a puppy. You have a couple others, but this is your favorite. Your dad and I try to leave it in the crib, but you have figured out how to pull it out of the crib and carry it around with you.

I love you and I'm having so much fun playing with you every day.

Love, Mom