11-months-old!

This month has brought a milestone boom for our little Nicholas.

Grubbing

Nicholas still LOVES eating.  His gag-reflex has finally settled down, which means he can finally swallow (or more specifically devour) solids!  He has NO teeth yet, but manages to gum everything from Cheerios to Daddy's bbq'd meats!  Some of his favorites are bananas, pancakes, egg yolks, cooked carrots, sweet peas, sweet potatoes, avocado and of course PUFFS!  We don't bother with too many purees anymore, with the exception of a healthy dosage of prunes once in awhile (because, bananas and PUFFS!).  

Nicholas is also still nursing very well, throughout the day and the night!  I guess he is just a champion eater.  It takes quite a regimen to sustain those sweet chubby rolls of his.

As I mentioned before, no teeth yet, but he is working on it.  We are praying that he does not become an ibuprofen addict, but it is hard for Nicholas (and Mom and Dad) to catch any sleep these days.  The joys of teething.  

Nicholas is still cloth-diapered and I love it.  I use a disposable at night, but throughout the day he is a cutie in cloth.  I can't believe it took me 3 babies to figure out how easy it is!  That being said, diaper-changing has become a full-contact sport these days.  It is a challenge to pin him down for more than a fraction of a second...

Snoozing

Nicholas still hasn't improved in the sleep department, but I will give him some leeway.  He welcomed his 11th month with a week of croupe (so, so, so awful), followed by the past couple of weeks of teeth growing.   He has also stubbornly decided to forgo Daylights savings so... 4AM is the new 5AM wakeup.  I am up to two cups of coffee a day now.  

Nicholas is down to two naps a day for the most part.  I think I have his 4AM wake-ups to thank for his decent nap-taking habits (especially in the morning).  He usually naps in his crib for about 60-90 minutes at a time.  

Milestones

Pulls himself up to standing easily, on furniture, walls, legs, big brothers.

Although he DOES crawl when he isn't thinking about it, he still uses his AMAZING army crawl to get to whatever he wants.  

Waves hello and bye bye.  

Claps a lot.  I attribute this to his frequent practicing in the middle of the night!

Just starting signing "more" this past weekend.

Language skills:  Dada, Mama.  When he wants to eat he makes a fantastic and weird tongue-clicking sound. 

Kisses when asked.  Big, wet open mouth ones.

Loves all musical instrument toys, especially the drum.  If no drum is available he will use his pacifier or whatever else he can find to bang.  He also loves to dance as soon as he hears music.  He bounces his tiny diapered bum. My little prodigy.

We have taken a step towards literacy:  Nicholas pulls the books of shelves daily.  He also enjoys ripping pages out of them (especially if it is a book from the library).  

Another favorite game is emptying boxes of toys (or valuables), and he also just started enjoying the process of cleaning them back up.  

Most importantly his favorite activity is the observing of the other small and crazzzy boys in the house.  They can keep him entertained for hours.  One of the gifts of having multiple children!!

  

11-months-old!  I can't believe it.  Only 1-month to go until Christmas my friends!!