11 Months Old!!

Barrett is 11 months old today!

He's growing like a weed! I don't have any updated stats yet (we won't see the pediatrician again until we get to Florida), but he is getting noticeably heavier and longer. He is wearing 12-18 month clothing now and has outgrown almost all the 9-12 month clothes I brought for him to wear over the summer! He is still drinking four bottles a day and is eating everything he can get his hands on. He really likes to feed himself, but he will still tolerate us feeding him with a spoon (most of the time). I am not making any pureed baby food anymore, so he is just finishing what's left in the freezer, along with all the finger foods we are giving him. He loves to eat noodles, meat, fruit (especially frozen cherries), and cheese. He will drink out of cups, but he prefers his bottles. He takes a nap after lunch (from about 12:30 - 3pm) and goes to bed for the night at 8 or 8:15pm. He wakes up anywhere between 6:30 and 7:15am. He has a total of nine teeth now - four on top, four on the bottom, and 1 bottom molar.

Here are the things we are doing at 11 months old:

 - Clapping his hands together (on command and whenever he does anything fun)

 - Stacking two blocks on top of each other

 - Recognizing objects, especially his stuffed monkeys, a ball, his puppy Scout, his walker, etc.

 - Following simple commands like "get your monkey" "go get your walker" "point to the light" etc.

 - Pointing to body parts; he knows nose pretty well and we are working on ears, eyes, and head

Standing (briefly) without support...

He doesn't even realize that he's doing it, but he will let go with both hands and stand for about one second. Then, he just sits back down and continues on with whatever he was doing! He is also starting to bear crawl a little - getting up on his hands and feet to move around. He is so entertaining to watch!

Pointing to and asking for objects...

He is starting to point with his index finger and is usually very clear about where he is looking. We can ask him, "where's the light?" and he will look up and point to the light (like in the picture above). I can ask him, "where's daddy?" or "where's percy?" and he will look around and point to them. He will also crawl up to me, point at my water bottle, and ask for it (point and coo). At the dinner table, he will point to the food he wants (if it's not on his plate) or point to his water cup and ask for them. He is also constantly pointing at random things and asking what they are, so he and I have a constant dialogue about the things around us (that's the door, that's your stroller, that's a random guy walking down the street, etc.) He also likes to know what everybody is doing and is constantly following us around, asking what we are doing and then trying to help!

Walking (with support)...

He is still crawling about 80% of the time, but he loves to walk around with his walker! He can maneuver the walker without any trouble, so he rarely gets stuck in corners anymore. When he first started, he would stop every time something - the wall, his toys, a chair, a turn - was in his way and wait for us to come help him. Now, he plows through his toys on the ground, moving them all over the room and kitchen as he barrels around the TLF with his walker. He can make turns, turn around, go backwards, and walk the length of entire hallways in the building. He will stop while walking to bend over and pick up toys or examine something on the wall. And, he loves running the walker into Percy, giggling and laughing as Percy sighs and heaves himself out of the way.

Reading books...

He has a small box of about 15 books that we brought with us, and he has suddenly become very interested in them. He will pull the box off the shelf, take out the books one at a time, and ask us to read them for him. He will then sit in our laps and listen as we read. He likes to turn the pages himself. He also loves the touch-and-feel books with the various textures for him to touch. His favorite books right now are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, The Hungry Caterpillar, That's Not My Plane, and Rainbow Colors Peek-a-boo. We will usually read each of those with him three or four times throughout the day!

Playing and exploring...

He loves to play with his toys, especially the ones that make noise or sing songs. He will dance to the counting song one of his toys makes, while other songs make him laugh or clap his hands. He loves playing with Scout (the leap frog puppy dog) that talks to him, knows his name, and sings songs to him.

And actively engaging with the puppies!

He is ALL OVER the puppies these days, and in our small TLF, they really have no chance to get away from him! They are very patient as he crawls all over them, pulling on ears and tails and patting them "gently" (we are working on that...). He isn't allowed to go into their crates, so that is the one place they can escape when needed. Barrett loves to play with Percy's collar and Rio's toys. Rio does get very anxious when Barrett takes her bone or her squeaky toy, but we are teaching him to throw them for her, so she knows she gets them back eventually. They are the sweetest dogs!

Here are some other pictures from this past month to enjoy:

One of our new favorite activities - riding the luggage carts up and down the hallways!

Barrett also started wearing a real life jacket...

...so he could go jet skiing with Mommy!

He LOVES to play with the Swiffer and is very adept at pushing it around the floor.

He also loves to help with the laundry. He can pull the clothes out of the dryer, and he likes to watch and bang on the washer while I put the clothes in, add soap, and push all the buttons to make it start.

We also had the chance to visit with Travis' family in Oklahoma this month. It was HOT, and we discovered that Barrett really likes playing with the water hose. Barrett, Carson, and Avery all sat on the patio and played with the water many times during the weekend we were there! Barrett loved getting his hands into the bowl full of water, splashing it around, and then dumping it out. The twins were very nice about putting more water in the bowl for him! 

Just hanging out with his cousins... :)

We also made a trip to the Discovery Museum in Little Rock. Barrett really seemed to enjoy it! He loved playing with this machine, which made sound waves visible in the tube. We showed him how to turn the knob to change the waves, and he sat with Travis for a good ten minutes watching the waves and turning the knob. There were also many other exhibits that caught his attention, and we played in the little kiddie room too. Overall, super fun!

He's getting so big! And he's able to get into just about everything now. He still can't reach the counter tops, but he loves pulling things out from the cabinets under the sinks and in the kitchen. He also loves to crawl into the bathroom and throw things in the bathtub. We can't wait to get into our new house so we can do some real baby proofing and have a little more space for him to play!!

Happy 11 months to Baby Barrett!!