eleven months!!!

It is amazing to me that you are eleven months old!

It is so, so much fun watching you learn and grow!

You learned to eat {and love} smoothies this month! We make them with frozen fruit, banana and coconut milk and sometimes a splash of vanilla. You actually really advanced in your cup skills after I gave you a smoothie in a cup. Since it is thicker and didn't come at you as fast when you tipped the cup you gained awareness and control of drinking from your cup.

You are getting so, so good at it now and can pick it up off the table by yourself and set it back down somewhat gently at least a good percentage of the time. It helped when we switched to clear cups instead of the brightly colored cups with fun pictures that you liked to tip back and point to all of the things on the cups.

We'd love for you to learn to drink from a straw too as it would make restaurants easier since you still splutter water back out when drinking and we don't want you cold and wet. At home we change clothes a lot but Mama doesn't mind because I like dressing you in different things.

Until daylight savings time hit you'd been taking longer naps, generally around an hour or more but now your sleeping schedule seems to be all cattywampus.

We have begun to do more purposeful activities together and I really enjoy that. On this chilly day I put some dry oatmeal in the bottom of this box and you used your wooden spoon to move it around some but you really preferred just to use your hands. You are getting much better at not putting every single thing that you pick up into your mouth so you are getting to play outside more and in the dirt, wood chips at the playground, etc. I still do have to say, "We don't eat dirt." "We don't eat leaves." etc. though. It's completely worth it to see the joy you get from exploring.

You really like to be near your daddy when he's getting ready to leave for work in the mornings. You help him with things like putting on his shoes and getting his backpack ready.

You love, love, love the vacuum cleaner!!! You will chase it and the swiffer around and you like to try to push it yourself. You can do it too, you're strong!

You are playing in your room by yourself more. You roam all about the house and we really only keep the bathrooms and laundry/trash room offlimits to you unless we're with you. You love to open the drawer under the stove and I believe you have claimed it as your own. In addition to getting out the round cake pans each and every time, you put your own treasures in too. The past few weeks have seen your wooden spoon, scraps of paper that Mama has let you play with and a pair of your socks all take up residence there.

I love that you are starting to take toys with you from one place to another. It is so cute to see.

Mostly you pull things along with one hand while you're crawling but sometimes you find it more efficient to carry things in your mouth! It's pretty adorable. You especially like to put your socks in your mouth. Funny boy!

You got really good at driving cars around this month.

You have also learned to get on your tip toes to see more. I love to watch you do this.

You and Daddy went to downtown Grapevine to see the trains and take pictures while Mama was at a coffee with ladies from church one Saturday morning. You and your Daddy always have fun together.

You have started to fall asleep in our arms during church on Sundays and we both love holding onto this last bit of your babyhood before you turn into a toddler.

You like to growl. One night when Daddy was reading a book to you before bed that had a lion in it, he growled and then you surprised us by growling right back. You are so smart and fun.

You have two teeth on the bottom and three coming in on the top!

You have started to put things into other things. One day I got out a bunch of plastic lids and a plastic box and you had a lot of fun with that. You are also starting to help Mama clean up your toys and things.

You like to put your weebles into the door of the treehouse and then shut the door. You show a lot of persistence. We are so proud of you.

You have started doing the motions for "God Made The Big Round Sun". I was singing to you while I was changing your diaper and you started flapping your arms for the birds flying and grinning at me because you knew you were doing something really cool and my heart soared! Today you made the big round sun while we were video chatting with Nana.