11 Months

One month from today I will have a one year old son.

One year!

That absolutely boggles my mind.  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone, but there are days I can barely remember what life was like before Henry was a part of it, (I certainly can't tell you what I did with all my time!).  He has brought us so much joy! It is a blast to parent him!

At eleven months old Henry is in to EVERYTHING!

He crawls so fast, has figured out the layout of the house, and can get in to anything he's not supposed to in no time flat.

He loves to help with the dishes:

Get in to our dresser drawers:

And play in laundry room in the pantry cabinets and cat water and food:

It is at this point we are very thankful we had the forethought to put Miss Kitty's food in the garage accessible by a pet door Henry can't fit through. ;)

He still LOVES books:

Which makes our little nerdy parent hearts so happy.  His current favorites are "Mr Brown Can Moo" that my brother got him for Christmas, a Baby Einstein touch and feel farm animals book that was in his stocking, and "Hippos Go Berserk," which he has loved since he was 4 months old.

Crawls so stinkin' fast sometimes we have to run to keep up with him.  When he's really focused, or you spook him, he does this double-time crawl that is the funniest thing ever!

Is still breastfed and nurses 3-4 times a day.  Words cannot express to you how freakin proud of this I am.  It has not been easy, but we're so close to our 1 year goal!  I would like to keep going as long as he wants, but when we would have issues I set little mini goals for myself, and the big one was always to get to age one exclusively on breastmilk so we we wouldn't have to buy formula.  We are so, so close, and that makes me so happy!

He eats three full meals a day, and this month we added in an afternoon snack as well.  He loves to eat his snack in his wagon he got for Christmas!  We call it chuck wagon snackin'.  ;)

He went through a growth and developmental spurt a couple of weeks ago, and on the other side of it can do so many new things!  While in the spurt though, he ate more a day than I did!  Not exaggerating!  It was absolutely crazy!  I can't imagine what he'll be like as a teenager!  One new skill he acquired was the ability to drink out of a straw, although that one came with a lot of trial and error.

He's still cruising like a boss, but is getting braver by the day!  He really thought he would walk a long time ago, but he's taking his time.  We think he has the ability, he just doesn't realize it.

He will walk all around the house just barely touching our hands, but he loves having that safety net.

He's up to 5 steps on his own though, and he gets braver and stronger every day.  We think that he will surely be walking by this time next month.  Surely.

He loves his little push toys though!  We have three of them, but I think his favorite is the John Deere tractor my parents got him for Christmas:

When he sits on the seat, his little legs only touch the ground on one side, but he can still scoot it around forwards.

Unlike this toy:

which he can only make go backwards, but he can sure book it in reverse!

He is just 100% BOY all the time!

Even though I grew up with three brothers, it still amazes me how just all BOY he is.  He loves trucks, and blocks, and things that are loud.  He likes to think about things and figure them out.  And he likes to break things! HA!

Is teething like a maniac lately!  But we still haven't seen any new teeth since Halloween when the top ones broke through.

I'm pretty sure he has his mama's big old top front horse teeth, so those suckers have been coming in forever.

After his most recent wonder week, he goes around everywhere with his little first finger pointing at everything!  While eating dinner one night, he used his little pointer finger to knock two peas off a piece of onion, so he could pick up the onion to eat it!

We've also gotten him 3 or 4 touch-and-feel books, and those are his favorites lately!  Because of them, he's discovered that everything has texture!

He is just the biggest ham!  He knows he has a killer smile, and he uses it to his advantage!

Most often when he's in trouble. ;)

Loves Miss Kitty like no other!  He's pretty quick when she's around, and has caught her a few times.  If she's not quick enough he will crawl on top of her, squeal, and "pet" her, while screaming "KEY!"  As you can imagine, "Key," isn't a huge fan of this.  We're pretty shocked she tolerates it though.

Has started sticking his tongue out making all kinds of funny noises.

I really don't know how to accurately describe them, but they keep us laughing!

Is getting great at squatting down to pick something up, while only holding on with one hand, or even no hands sometimes!

When he does lose his balance, he does this slow motion fall that seems like it takes so much muscle control.

Is so incredibly ticklish!

Daddy is the best tickle monster and Henry will just cackle and squeal!

Loves Birthday parties!  He's been to two now, and I'm pretty sure he didn't realize that either one of them weren't for him, he was having so much fun!

Best things about birthday parties:

Balloons:

Presents, (even when they're not for him):

And, of course, cake:

May be one of my favorite pictures ever!

Loves to jump!  And he understands the word.  If you tell him to jump, he does!  And grins all the while! ;)

So happy 11 months to my precious Henry Bear.  Please excuse us while we soak up the next 31 days of him still being under the age of one.  I don't think I'm ready to start saying he's over a year old.

When I look at the above picture, it just reminds me so much of this picture taken last May:

So precious. 

Jennifer