September 8, 2010

Ben is 11 months old

Eleven Months Old

Oh, gosh . . . the last monthly update. Keep it together, Sara.

I don't really know what to say other than, "He's growing fast." On Saturday, he discovered that he can walk backwards, and it was so funny to watch him take steps, and then stop to look behind him to see how far he had gone. Last night, we practiced crawling down the stairs backwards, and he got the hang of it pretty quick. I'm not about to let him do it alone, though.

We're preparing for no bottles in a couple of weeks here and are down to one bottle a day starting today. I think of everything that comes with turning a year old, that might be the thing that makes me most emotional. Ever since I stopped nursing at the end of June, I've been giving him his bottle at night and I really love those times. When he's done, he just lays his head on me and sucks his thumb for a while before I finish getting him ready for bed. We don't get much time just the two of us.

He's learning new words like crazy. The ones he says most often on his own (without repeating us) are bread, book, Jack, dada, bath, ball, all done, bottle, woof woof (whenever he sees a dog, of course), cup, and bite. Every so often he throws "ma ma" in there, but not as often as "dada." He knows the signs for more, cup, thank you and please. I've been teaching him where his nose and ears are and he's pointed to those a couple of times on his own when I've asked. I've also tried teaching him to hold up one finger when I asks how old he is, and he's only done that once or twice on his own, too. Jack gets very annoyed when we do this because he isn't actually one yet.

I think "bite" might be my favorite because when he sees us snacking he says, "Bite?" in the sweetest little inquiring voice. And when he's signing please at the same time? We don't stand a chance at telling him no. If it's something he can have, we usually give in.

Besides the words he knows, he babbles incoherently all the time. He still has a deep throaty voice and raspy little chuckle.

Over the last week, he's suddenly become less picky about what he eats and it thrills me. He's pretty much consumed anything we put in front of him, and his appetite has grown tremendously. It's a relief.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I am the exACT same way when Ezra sees food and exclaims/asks "acks?, acks?" (snacks, snacks?). Of COURSE I give in...even when he's broken into the pantry that was SUPPOSED to have a lock on it!! :) We however, have a child who went from eating EVERYTHING, to all of the sudden being picky and having almost no appetite at all. It's incredibly frustrating. He hasn't eaten well for days upon days, then last night, he ate like a pig (YAY!), then today, back to nothing. Ugh! He will however eat ANYTHING that comes straight from nature...like when he can pick tomatoes, pears and corn straight from the vine, tree, or field!

So....we still do bottles. Eek! But I've switched to sippies during the day, and bottles only at bed/naptimes. (I know, call me a sucker, but I can't give it up yet!!) Moms across blogland are going to be talking about me behind my back, aren't they?!?!?! :)