Life with Holden: 11 Months Old

Stats:

Weight: Still sitting right at 18 pounds (on our home scale)

Length: 29.25 inches...maybe? lol He's hard to measure these days. 

Diaper: Size 3 in disposables (Huggies Little Movers), Size small in Little Swimmers, & third snap, lowest rise in our cloth. Yes, still. Maybe at a year? lol This kid is just tiny!

Clothing: All over the place still! He is finally outgrowing a lot of his 6 month stuff, but there are a few things he can still wear (mostly shorts & tees). He is mostly in 9 month stuff, but some of his pants are too small (short) & some are still way too big (??). He is also wearing a few 12 month sized items (mostly C's old shorts/pants) & a few 6-12 items from Old Navy, Gap or J. Crew.

Shoes: Still not wearing shoes much, but he is definitely still a size 3 at the moment so maybe his foot growth has finally calmed down a bit. His sandals, converse & moccs all still fit at the moment. I have one pair of size 4 tennis shoes that C wore, but I won't buy him any other shoes until we see when he moves into the 4s.

Milestones:

Trying to say Auntie
Started saying "Weee" & "Yay" in context
Started saying "Grrrr" like a tiger/lion/bear like in his book
 Has started imitating more as far as facial expressions & sounds go
Offers to "share" things with us now (toys, paci, food, ect.)
Learned to climb up stairs (our front steps & on the play slide) Yikes!

Nursing:

He's doing pretty darn good & I don't think we're on our way to weaning soon right now so that's a blessing. I've even gotten him to nurse in the car a few more times in the last few weeks. He's still eating about 4-5 times during the day & about every 3-4 hours on average. He's still super fast & a full session is about 10 minutes long during the day unless he's trying to nurse n' nap. He's still taking bottles here & there as needed, but he definitely doesn't NEED the bottle. I'm just glad weaning him from a bottle won't really be an issue. When he does take a bottle the amount kind of varies, but he usually drinks about 3 ounces in a sitting.

Solids:

Getting a little bit more picky, but definitely still our little foodie! He eats a ton & he eats super fast. I have still been having to make sure that he has food on his tray prior to putting him in his highchair.  His current favorite foods are baby goldfish crackers, chicken & waffles. He has no issues feeding himself & more often then not uses his pincher grasp now unless he is REALLY shoveling it in. He also still prefers to drink from a regular cup & will not drink from a straw. The only sippy cups he likes are the kind that are like a real cup & can be sipped from. When he actually wants a drink he can handle the sippy cup pretty well, otherwise he just LOVES to dump all the water out & play with it. We've started practicing with the snack cups as well, but he doesn't quite get the concept yet & usually just grabs as many crackers out as he can or shakes the cup until they all fly out. Either way it just results in a huge mess. Currently, he is still only drinking BM & very small amounts of water. He remains toothless at this point, but can manage all types of food in pretty decent sized bites. The only foods we continue to avoid for now are honey, cow's milk & peanut butter.

Sleep:

I feel like he's NEVER going to be a good sleeper. He's STILL been waking at least 2-3 times nightly between bedtime (around 7/7:30PM) & 8-9AM (when he usually wakes up for the day) & he nurses at EVERY wake-up. Again, if he wants to I will continue nursing him in the middle of the night for now & until he starts to gain weight more regularly. As long as he is off the growth chart, I will give him every opportunity to eat. He still pretty much has no pattern to his wake-ups, unfortunately. My guess is going to be that he won't sleep well during the nighttime until he finally gets some teeth. Basically, we're all (but especially me) hoping that it will be soon. He is still napping pretty well, but has been refusing his afternoon nap for about the last week. Due to this, I've decided to just go with it & attempt to get him down to one long nap a day. I'm hoping to push his morning nap (usually 11/11:30) back until 12:30/1PM & see if we can get him to sleep at least 2-3 hours. It's definitely a work in progress. I'll let ya know how that goes... He generally likes to nurse before going to sleep, but very rarely does he actually fall asleep while nursing anymore. He usually goes down drowsy, but awake for both naps & bedtime. He is still taking a paci to sleep & as well as other times during the day. We have no plans to take it away anytime soon. He also really likes to cuddle with blankets while he's sleeping or getting ready to go to sleep, but does not have a particular favorite lovey at the moment. He's been sleeping in his crib every night, all night. He will ONLY sleep in his crib, the PNP (if at someone else's house) or in the car...he is definitely not a fall asleep anywhere kid (but neither was C at his age).

Health:

He caught the cold that I had a few weeks ago, but the worst of that seemed to be a snotty nose. He coughed a little bit, but not much so his cold was pretty mild compared to myself & his brother. He is also still teething, but still has no teeth at this time. They may never come in...

Social:

He definitely has his good days & his bad days attitude-wise at this point. He definitely seems to do better on days where we are out & about/around other people. I think he just gets bored easily & definitely likes to switch things up. He really is an independent little man & gets super frustrated when he can't accomplish something that he thinks he should be able to on his own. He is a total flirt & loves to make eyes/smile at pretty girls. He also really likes being around other kids/babies & animals. He still thinks his brother is pretty cool & finds just about everything he does to be funny (even if it's not). He is also still enamored with our dog & gets super excited anytime the dog pays him any mind what-so-ever. He's been babbling a bit more lately & his vocabulary consists of mama, dada, wee, yay, & *almost* auntie. He also says something that sounds like "hi" occasionally & loves to grrr like a tiger/lion. I've still been trying to read with him more lately, but he is just NOT into it. He squirms so much & no matter how much I try to make the book interesting he just does not want to sit still. I am hoping this will change eventually & that he will love books as much as his brother does someday. He is still not a big cuddle baby unless he's really tired so I take every snuggle I get while I can.

Physical:

He's definitely my little explorer right now & he is ALL ABOUT cause & effect at the moment. He loves crawling around the house & seeing what kind of trouble he can get into. We have to keep all of the doors shut down the hall now as he tries to crawl into the bathroom/laundry room & play in the waste baskets. He also likes to try to climb in the bathtub if we accidentally leave the door open. He has figured out how to pull the socket protectors out & he makes a game of crawling around & removing them all...lovely. He pulls up on everything & cruises like a champ. He can get down from a standing position safely & just recently learned to get off the couch without falling or going head-first. He loves walking around using his little walker & can balance while standing on his own for a little bit at a time before he sits down by himself. He isn't taking unassisted steps yet, but he loves when we hold his hands & walk him around. He really enjoys being outside right now & it is one thing I know I can do to improve his mood instantly. The boys' playset finally arrived a couple of weeks ago & he loves swinging, sliding & playing in the "ball pit". He also really likes to crawl around in the grass & try to taste different things (grass, rocks, leaves). Oi! He points to things all of the time now, but especially likes pointing to body parts (usually our faces) & will give high-fives about 80% of the time on request. He is my little adventurer for sure & tries to climb on EVERYTHING. He doesn't care if it's safe or not & often ends up hurting himself, but even when he does he doesn't seem to care much & will just get right back up & do it again. He has also started to attempt both waving & clapping, but he currently does something that resembles both. He brings his hands together & clasps them & then shakes them in the air like he a "champ" or something. It's pretty funny.

 Likes: Swimming, bath time, being nakey, swinging, sliding, climbing, Jack, Momma, nursing (yay!), drinking from a cup (Ice Water), chewing on everything, trying to walk, Daddy, his brother, snuggly blankets, his paci, & other babies.

Dislikes: Diaper changes (THIS x 10), being unable to do things by himself, having to wait for ANYTHING, going to the doctor, the sun in his eyes, wearing socks or shoes, having to get dressed, having his hands/face washed/wiped after meals