Reed turned 11 months old on the first of September. I'm really freaking out about it now. It seems impossible, but then I look at him sometimes and notice how big he's getting.
He's still so active, so it didn't surprise us that he only gained a few ounces this month, despite being as good an eater as ever. He was up to 21 lbs, 10 oz, so 69.2%, and was 29.75" long, which also put him at 69.2%.
A few days after turning 11 months old, he took a few steps to me! JUST before Jess came home from work for the day. I was on the ground in the living room with him. He was holding on to the couch, when he let go, stared at me for a few seconds, got the cutest glint in his eye, and I knew he was going to try. He started to step toward me, and his momentum carried him all the way, about 4 steps, and I caught him as he started to lose his balance. We all got excited and loud, and he looked proud of himself, so he kept trying. He was too excited by then, because of all our excited shouts, so he kept kind of bouncing (Sort of doing a quick paced set of mini squats) and losing his balance. Jess says from my description that it counts as his first steps, but I don't usually put it down as their first official steps until they do it with total control, staying balanced the whole time, so I don't know.
If we use MY definition, he did it this last Saturday, Sept. 13th. He was holding lightly to the chaise part of our couch, and let go and walked diagonally across to Jess and me, who were sitting at the other end of the couch. He was proud, and did it a few times that same day.
He still loves his family lots, and thinks he's pretty big, playing with them and laughing when they laugh.
He also will stop what he's doing any time he hears someone crying, and look back and forth from the crying sibling, to me and Jess. Then he usually follows it up with fake crying himself. Ha! Sometimes he even works up some real tears.
Some of his favorite things to do are play catch...
...push toy cars all over the house..
...pull books out of the shelves and onto the floor...
...put things in and out of boxes, or baskets, or in this case a ball in and out of the bumbo...
....and cuddle. With people usually, but also in the stuffed animal pile.
He LOVES his mama and daddy, but daddy gets a little more special attention since he leaves most days for work.
We made the mistake of laughing in the past when he smacked us in the head for fun, so now we have to try and get him back out of that habit.
It's usually for fun, but there have definitely been moments when he's mad at me and starts trying to smack me.
His favorite foods are avacados, berries, and scrambled eggs.
Neely loves him, and now that he's taken some steps she says he's a kid, not a baby, so he can play with her now.
He has such an awesome personality, and a cute sense of humor.
He's down to one nap most days, but occasionally he'll take two shorter ones.
He says mama and dada regularly now. There was never one time I was COMPLETELY sure he had said mama with purpose. It just gradually became apparent that he was meaning me. Makes me a little sad that I don't have a specific memory to write about in his baby book in that spot.
He said his first official word on Sept. 4th. He was holding a ball and I asked him "ball?" He looked down at it, back at me, and said "ba". Since that day he's said it several times, and has clearly started copying sounds we say to him. Paige was telling him to say "puppy" one day and he kept saying "Pupupupu". I don't think that was with any meaning, he was just mimicking the sound she was making.
He's so smart. You can tell he's always thinking. He'll play with something for such a long time, turning it around and examining it from different angles.
He's so active most of the time, but likes me to be near him. When he is sleepy during the day, and of course at night, I still get plenty of cuddles from him.
So do the rest of his loved ones.
Every day at the bus stop he gets so excited to see Paige and Cason coming. Cason usually runs. Reed will be looking in that direction, and when he first sees them he stops moving and kind of tenses up. Then he'll start flapping his arms excitedly and making these cute little shrieks of excitement.
He loves them, and it's mutual.
Posts
