I'll go ahead and post pictures because this month's post is another long winded one that most of you won't care to read. I'm sure I'll be cracking up at these posts one day when there's a second child because I'll be doing good to get through each day, much less write a novel for every month of life. How Gray feels about taking pictures these days... "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
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| He thought we were out of our minds asking him to be still for pictures. Thankfully he gets over these fits pretty quick. |
Growth-Gray is wearing mostly 12 month clothes but some 18 months onesies and pajamas. I took him to the doctor on April 23rd because I was afraid he might have an ear infection (he didn't) and his weight was 19 pounds, 11 ounces (38th percentile). I don't feel like he has grown as much in length the past month or two but I still can't wait to see what his measurements are at his one year appointment.
He just moved up to size 4 over night diapers (for some reason Pampers over nights are smaller than their regular ones) but will be moving to all size 4s soon.
Milestones-Gray took his first real steps on April 26. He is not an official walker yet though and really isn't very interested in it right now. He is such a fast crawler and can get to whatever he wants so he seems in no hurry. I am surprised he isn't walking already because he has been standing and cruising for 2 months now. I think I wrote in the 9 month post that I'd be shocked if he wasn't walking before he was one. The way he is acting now though, I wouldn't be surprised either way. We aren't discouraging walking but certainly aren't encouraging it either. He is already so fast and busy that I am in no rush to be chasing him around more than I already am. He does get really excited when he takes a few steps though and I do look forward to seeing his cute little self totting around. Just hopefully not today ;)
We think Gray may have a whopping TEN teeth before his first birthday. After eight, we know our boy pretty good and his signs of teething. Though he hasn't been as fussy as he has for the other eight, we are pretty sure another tooth (and probably two since the rest have all come in pairs) is going to pop through soon. I can usually see on his gums where the hole is right before the tooth breaks through the skin but because he already has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom, I can't see in the rest of his mouth good enough.
Playtime/Interests-Gray still loves to pull all 274 books off of the bookshelf every day (don't you love how last month it was only 100 books? The more it drives me crazy, the more dramatic it needs to be). This is still one of my least favorite things that he does but I am learning to choose my battles and that one isn't worth fighting. And there must be some good in it because Gray is obsessed with books right now. He will pull each book off the shelf and look at it until he finds one that he likes and then will sit down and look at it. He knows how to turn the pages by himself. He loves to pick out a book and crawl over to me and get in my lap so I can read it to him. Man do I love that! His favorite books are his tractor books and animal touch and feel books. Another favorite is "I See a Monster", another touch and feel book that was a hand me down. We read that one at least five times every day. He has an animal book that has a button that makes the animal sounds and he when either he or I push the button, he tries to make a noise too. He still loves playing peek-a-boo and being chased. He also has a truck toy that he loves to push around (it's in one of his pictures above). He still loves Sophie and bless his sweet heart, tries every day to chase her and get her to play with him and she just won't have it. My keys are another obsession and fake keys just won't cut it. I let him hold them but I make sure his paci is in so he doesn't put them in his mouth, though he still tries to. He has learned to climb the stairs and we let him do it when we're right behind him. We have a gate up now so he can't get to the kitchen or the stairs unless we let him. He isn't one bit happy about that mean 'ol gate either.
Language Development/New Words-Sorry to wear this out but his receptive language skills continue to blow my mind. He understands SO much. He can often bring me certain items or books that I ask him to. If I tell him to find his tractor book he can sort through all of his books he has thrown down from the book shelf and bring it to me. Sophie's ball and stuffed elephant were across the room one day and I asked him to bring me Sophie's elephant. I didn't expect him too because he knows what her ball is but I didn't think he knew what her elephant was. Sure enough, he crawled across the room and brought it to me. When I hear Paul's car pull up in the afternoon, I'll say "Daddy's home!" and he has started crawling from the living room into the hallway and waits at the door. It is so sweet and makes Paul's day every time. He isn't saying "uh oh" yet but if I say it he looks at me so concerned. He still understands "no" and "no touch" and has been so much better about obeying, for now anyway.
He also is saying a few new words these days-"more" (sounds like "me"), "bottle" (sounds like "baa"), "ball" (sounds like ball), "book" (sounds like just the 'b' sound), first two word phrase-"all done" (sounds like "all done"-we are so proud of this one). He doesn't use these words all the time but he definitely associates them with the correct things or timing. He has started swatting at us when he doesn't want anymore food or throws his bottle when it's gone so we've really encouraged the "all done" phrase (I continue to forget about the sign language). Thankfully the word "no" isn't being said nearly as often as it was the last two months. After doing some reading and watching some of Dr. Satterwhite's pod casts, we realized we had too many "nos" around the house and not only was it not realistic for him, he began saying it a lot because he was hearing it a lot. So we pick our battles and have only a few "no touches" for safety reasons.
Eating habits-It's pretty safe to say Gray is over baby food at this point. Occasionally we can get some down but he would much rather be feeding himself. I don't like that he isn't getting as many vegetables and fruit, but I know the next stage is normal and hopefully we will get back there soon. He is getting so much better with table foods and is adding to his menu. New foods this month are-black olives (one of the few foods I do NOT like so I find this so funny), edamame hummus (Trader Joe's), peanut butter, cheese, cheese quesadillas, blueberries, green beans (not baby food style) and animal crackers (he didn't like them last time we tried). Puffs are still a favorite along with Goldfish and teething biscuits. He started using his snack trap recently and he loves it. He looks like such a big boy.
He is still getting 4 bottles a day (8 ounces) of formula. We have some frozen breast milk left but want to save the rest in case he has a hard time transitioning to whole milk. We are going through a canister of Costco size formula every two weeks! This makes me even more thankful that he was breast fed for almost 10 months.
Gray has learned to share his food which is so sweet! We didn't really teach him this but he started trying to give us bites of his food so we use the word "sharing" a lot now and tell him how nice it is of him. Now he's decided to share with Sophie too.
Sleeping habits-Gray has been SUCH a good sleeper lately! He loves his crib and loves going down for naps and bedtime. We've tried a couple of times giving him a lovey or toy in his crib but he played with them for over two hours and isn't attached to a lovey right now so we decided to continue not putting anything in his crib. We also figured if he went down easy for right now, why make him have to have something to go down. He almost never cries when we put him down. Though he'll barely be able to keep his eyes open, as soon as he gets in his crib he comes alive. He will play anywhere from 15-45 minutes before he puts himself to sleep. He stands, he sits, he crawls, he rolls over, he practices happy baby and downward dog positions, he talks, he plays with his toes, etc. It is such a good feeling to see him so happy in his crib and entertaining himself without any toys. I know we will hit many more sleep stages but for now we are enjoying this one!
He still sleeps 12 hours at night (it's been more like 7:30-7:30 lately) and has been getting only one nap most days lately. He would go down around 10:00/10:30 but by the time we get home from either the Y or church, it's almost noon before he gets down. Some days it's a hard stretch for him to stay awake until bedtime but he isn't tired until around 5:00 and by that point it's too late for a nap. He has also been napping longer so I think he is really close to consistently being down to one a day.
We went out of town a couple weekends ago and he slept through the night in his pack n play every night and took a two and a half hour nap one day. That was only his fourth time sleeping away from home and it was his best yet. I hope he will keep that up with all of our summer travel plans.
Temperament/Personality-We've had such a happy, content boy for the most part. He has also become so sweet and affectionate with hugs and slobbery kisses ALL the time! We'll never be able to get enough of them. He continues to be Mr. Social Butterfly and loves being out and about. He "talks" to everyone he sees when we're out. He loves going to the Y and to church. I dropped him off at the Y the other morning and there was a new lady being trained. The other worker took Gray and as she walked off with him she said to the new lady, "This is Gray. He's pretty much the best baby we have, he never cries." It feels so good to hear that, especially when the first 3-4 months of his life we wondered if he'd ever not cry. We pray every day for God to give him a sweet and gentle spirit and He has certainly done that. We are so thankful and pray it continues.
Favorite things about Gray at 11 months-Hugs and kisses are still a favorite, especially because now he does it all the time without us asking for them. Some of my favorite times are when he first wakes up in the morning. I almost always get up before he does so I can get a few things done before the madness of the day starts, so I get to watch him on the monitor. He stretches for a few minutes, lays there for a few, sits up and just chills for a few, all the while having so much to say to himself in the sweetest "I just woke up" voice. He will stay happy for up to a half hour after waking up and though I don't usually wait that long to get him, I do sometimes just watch the monitor the entire time. I also love how sweet and sleepy he is right after he gets a bottle. He'll nuzzle his little head into our chest and wrap his little arms around our neck and it's just the best feeling in the world. There aren't many nights where all three of us are home for Gray's bedtime but when we are, we just soak it in a little longer until either me or Paul tells the other one "We HAVE to put him down now!".
Gray's one year post will most likely be late because he doesn't go to the doctor until the 12th and it will take me a while to compose myself long enough to get it written. Where did the past 11 months go?!?!
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