Things are getting interesting around here. 😉 Now that Jameson is walking like a pro (well, like a drunken sailor. But still much better than he was last month), he’s getting a lot more independent and a lot more outspoken about what he wants to do. Part of this is not so fun (e.g., he tries to leap out of my arms so he can walk to something he wants) but most of it is so awesome to see. I love his determination and I love how he doesn’t give up on his goals (although I could do without his try-to-eat-Charlie’s-food-every-few-hours goal). I can feel us transitioning into toddlerhood and I hate it and love it at the same time. Being a parent is confusing in many different ways.
I can’t believe that next month it’ll be a whole year since we met our boy! But let’s not think about that just yet, please. I’m not ready. For now, here’s where we stand at eleven months old…
Weight & Length: We won’t know any officials until his one year appointment next month, but I weighed him this week and he’s around 21.4 lbs, which is 0.4 pounds more than last month (but obviously still pretty much the same. Thank goodness, he’s a chunk to carry around all day hahah).
Clothing: Mostly 12-18 month stuff for the clothes and size 4 in diapers still. Pretty much the same as last month!
Hair & Eyes: I kiss his little blondish/reddish/brownish curls all the time. They are just so cute! His eyes are are still that dark green color. Sometimes I think they look just like Alex’s, sometimes I think they look just like mine. Maybe they’ll always be a combination.
Sleep: About the same as last month! He’s up for the day around 7 or 7:30, takes an hour and a half morning nap, an hour and a half afternoon nap, and then he’s down for the night around 8pm. He still wakes up around 5am every morning, though…sometimes he goes back to sleep on his own, sometimes Alex brings him into our bed and he’ll go back to sleep then. I keep saying we should try to break that habit, but it really doesn’t bother me too much and I know he’ll grow out of it eventually. So for now I’m just enjoying our morning snuggles in the big bed. 🙂
Eating: I’d say his nursing/eating regular food is about fifty-fifty at this point (actually sometimes more in favor of nursing). He eats three meals a day, but he still nurses in between those meals (usually right before a nap or before bed). It is slooooow goings in the regular food department. Jameson is super skeptical of everything, takes forever to warm up to a new food (besides snack foods or desserts), and fights meals almost every time. I can’t tell if it’s because he’s just not liking what I give him, if he’d rather nurse, or if he just doesn’t like sitting still to eat (this boy is go, go, go). Maybe a combination. Either way, I’ve been trying to make meals interesting and offer him lots of different choices to see what he likes. But I’m not going to force it on him. I’m fine if we keep nursing for awhile if that’s what he needs. I won’t stop nursing until I’m confident that he’s getting enough nutrition and calories from regular food anyway. And right now, he definitely isn’t. If you have any tips or meal ideas for little ones, please send them my way!
Milestones: He got his fifth tooth this month (next to his right top tooth) but no sign of the matching one for the left side yet haha. He’s gotten so much better at walking since last month and actually never even crawls anymore at all, unless he’s already playing on the floor. He doesn’t mind falling over either…he just pops right back up! He’s also getting more courageous with climbing things (scares the crap out of me all the time) and likes to test the limits to see how fast he can walk/run.
Communication: He’s been super into copying sounds and even words (not very well haha) these days. I think he’s really close to his first word, if he hasn’t said it already (hard to tell). Almost every day I think I hear him say “all done” (“ah duh”) but I don’t know if it’s just coincidence or not. He has definitely signed it, though, so I guess that’s technically his first word either way! He also copies me when I say “uh oh” (“UH!”) and babbles almost nonstop during the day. He understands a lot of the words I use every day (Daddy, Charlie, ball, water, no, hi, etc.) and will look for whatever it is I’m talking about until he finds it (e.g., “Where’s Daddy?” and he’ll look around the room until he finds Alex). He loves interacting with games and songs (especially doing the “tip me over” part of “I’m a Little Teapot”) and loves clapping for things to show you he likes something or to get me to say “yay!” He sometimes even asks for the name of things in his own way (will reach is arm toward an object and say, “eh?” and then I’ll give him the name of it). It is so much fun!
Loves: A lot of the same stuff as last month… Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and anything Mickey-related (included the real mouse himself in Disneyland), the ocean, listening to Alex play guitar, being in the Ergobaby carrier, playing with the coasters in the living room, attempting to grab/chew/mess with any wire he can find, playing fetch with Charlie, trying to grab Charlie’s tail, sneaking snacks from Charlie’s food bowl (I pull him away from there at least 8 times a day. It’s his biggest temptation right now.), playing with balls and blocks, walking around the house, figuring out how things work, playing peek-a-boo or hide-and-go-seek with me, READING (loves loves looooves), watching me vacuum and steam the floors and trying to catch the machines haha, playing in the open fridge, playing in the dishwasher (also an area of dislike because he’s not allowed to do this), dancing to music, and just about anything having to do with being outside.
Hates: Not getting his way. Not being allowed outside. When I close the dishwasher before he can get there (even if he just hears me close it from another room, he will start bawling his eyes out. I usually have to save doing the dishes for during his naps because of this haha). And probably the biggest one…he hates sitting still. If he’s awake, we wants to move. Which is part of the reason why I think he hates meal time so much…he just doesn’t have the patience for sitting down and doesn’t care about food enough to make it worthwhile. (He also hated when Charlie tried to share his car seat hahahah)
Things I want to remember: Our high-pitched screaming contests, your open mouth kisses which you give out sometimes when I (or Daddy or Aunt Chuck) ask for them, the way you run/stumble the last few steps to me and fall into my arms with the biggest smile, the way you take my hand and lead me around the house, that face you make when you don’t want anymore of something (nose all scrunchy, lips puckered), the way you play with washcloths in the bathtub (placing them just so in the corner, admiring your work, and then picking them back up again and starting over), how you started trying to balance things this month (carefully setting an item on top of something else and slooooowly lifting your chubby little hands off of it to make sure it stays put), the way you crawl or walk away as fast as you can after baths so you don’t have to get dressed, how you gently lay your head on my shoulder and smile shyly at people who come up to talk to you, how you absentmindedly play with my fingers or ring while I’m holding you, the way you veeerrryyy carefully duck your head and crawl nice and slow under the kitchen chairs, the way you used to speed crawl around with your head down and a look of determination on your face, how Charlie and I literally run down the hall when we hear you wake up from your naps every day, and how adorable you look when you squat down with that big old diaper booty to play with a toy on the floor. You are just so so cute, Jameson.
Happy eleven months, my very best Squish. ❤ Next month will be a whole year spent with you…the best, most fulfilling, most wonderful wonderful wonderful year of my life. I don’t have the words to tell you how much I’ve loved these eleven perfect months with you. I love you forever and ever and ever baby boy.
Milk with a Meal 