11 Months

My happy little boy is going to be 11 months this week. I can't even believe how big and fun and curious he is! I'm absolutely loving this age. Watching him discover the world around him and learn new tricks every day is just the most fun.

Eating

We have quite a good little eater on our hands. Josh and I went to St. John in May and, while we were away, my inlaws fed Lucas normal table food for most meals. And it stuck.

He eats lots of fruit and yogurt and oatmeal and fish and chicken. He's sketchy about picking up vegetables, but we'll keep trying. And he's become quite the independent eater. He likes to feed himself and will swat my hand away when I try to feed him from a spoon. He even holds his own bottle now, which is just entirely too sad.

Sleeping

Still a not very great sleeper. He will wake up and fuss some at night and I usually give him a bottle between 4 and 5 each morning so that he'll sleep until 7. I don't mind it. It's the only time that he still acts like a baby and sits still long enough for me to hold him.

He is funny though because if he misses a nap or stays up two hours past his bed time, it totally doesn't faze him. He's still just as happy and content.

Favorites

Favorite Book: He has a Wheels on the Bus book that he is totally obsessed with. I'll pick out four or five books to read to him before bedtime, and I'll put it on the bottom of the stack. He'll pick up every book in the stack until he finds it, and then he puts it on top and makes me read it to him. It's super cute.

Favorite Place: Lucas LOVES the bathroom. If the house ever gets quiet, I know that I've left the bathroom door open, and he'll be in there, playing in the toilet water, just as happy as can be. He loves to splash in the toilet bowl and drop toys into the bathtub. If he's crawling towards the bathroom and I close the door, he'll just sit outside and cry.

Favorite Activity: Lucas is a big fan of being outside in general, but he really loves the pool and water.  Eric moved into the neighborhood next to us which has a pool, so we go and he's gotten much more brave in the water, even sitting down and putting his face in, trying to lap it up. He loves the water ball at Josh's parents house and could spend all day putting rocks on top of the spout.

Favorite Person: Grandpa Tom. They have a special bond, and Lucas just totally adores Tom.

Favorite Food: Waffles. or peaches if they're really ripe.

Tricks

He loves to clap and dance and has recently learned to headbutt.

When you ask him where a bird is, he looks up to the sky and points.

He can baa like a sheep which is just too adorable.

He walks when he's pushing something or holding onto things. He still crawls like a little bear cub and is seriously so fast.

He's learned how to play peek-a-boo and covers his little face with his chubby hands to hide.

He can climb up stairs really well and Grandpa Tom even taught him how to go down them too, but I'm not brave enough to let him try. He's just mastered the art of crawling up the playground stairs to get to the slide.

Things I love.

When I go to pick him up in the morning, he crawls back and forth in his crib as fast as he can, trying to get me to chase him.

He has a serious flirting problem. He tilts his head to the side and bats his eyelashes at pretty girls. He tries to act shy, but it totally seems like he's flirting.

I love his gummy smile and how, when he gets really excited, he beats the air with his hands and laughs.

He's such a happy baby. We feel so incredibly blessed to have a baby who's so giggly and smiley and content. We're grateful that he's a people person and loves to be around other kids. We're just sort of smitten with our almost one-year old.

Naked Baby Scramble

When Lucas is done taking his bath, he loves to crawl around the house as fast as he can completely naked.  It's freakin' hilarious.

Nine Month Pics

Amy took a few shots of the fam a couple weeks back. She did a great job dealing with us and our non-smiling baby -- he does like to smile, but he has a very serious old-man face that was on full display that day! We did get a couple fun pics though. Enjoy:)

Balancing Act

Lucas and Josh are BFFs. They do all kinds of fun things that I wouldn't approve of, like this balancing trick.

Lucas LOVES Josh and there is simply no one in the world who can make him laugh quite like his dad.

Trouble

Lucas never stops moving. He's so fast that if I turn my head for a minute, he's completely across the room, getting into something naughty.

I kind of love it.

Life at 8 Months

What a crazy time developmentally for little Lucas. I feel like every single day there's something new and exciting he's doing. He's getting to be so much more fun and we're soaking it up. Notes about Lu at 8 months . . .

He crawls everywhere. He used to be timid and just stay in the living room, but not anymore. Now he goes wherever he wants -- and he's a fast little bugger. Favorite places include: between the toilet and the vanity in the bathroom, underneath the kitchen table, through all the chairs, anywhere there is technology, over our legs. He's started crawling to me and Josh so we will hold him, and it's heart-melting.

He fake coughs when he wants me to look at him. He mostly does this when we are in the car and he wants me to look at him in the mirror. I pretty much always oblige and am rewarded with his gummy smile.

He squawks loudly all the time. . . our little pterodactyl. He just sort of opens his mouth and yells, squeals, chats.

He still puts anything and everything in his mouth. No piece of paper is safe from him. Grandpa's glasses are also a favorite.

Whenever I put him in the car, he laughs at himself in the mirror and chats excitedly. As soon as I start to buckle him in, however, he begins to cry/whine.


He says "dada" all.the.time. When we say "Say Mama," he smiles and says "dada." He also makes a noise that sounds like "hi" which isn't surprising because, for some reason, I always find myself saying that to him repeatedly.

When we set him in his high chair, he immediately starts to drum on it -- loudly and with an incredible amount of rhythm.

He goes through random times of the day when he insists on being held. When we try to put him down, he puts his head on his forearms on the floor and wails, or he crawls over to us and up our legs. He also cries every time Dusty leaves the room -- every time.

He's a social butterfly. If people are around, he wants to be where they are, and he's generally happy when he's around a lot of us.

He lights up when one of us walks into the room. it's adorable with his toothless little smile.

He is mastering the art of getting the puffs into his mouth. It's a great distraction while I'm cooking dinner.

Still no teeth!

He LOVES other babies and kids. He lights up whenever he sees Sam or his cousins or other kids at church. I have a breastfeeding book with babies on it, and he loves to hold it and look at the babies. He just laughs and talks to them and tries to touch them.

Kisses! He gives wonderful, open mouth, slobbery, delicious kisses. So far, I think it's my favorite part of parenthood.

He is busy all the time. He's constantly moving and wiggling and exploring. When I breastfeed him at night, the hand that isn't pinned under him is waving wildly, smacking me in the face or grabbing my nose.

He puts his butt in the air and pushes up on all fours all the time. Sometimes he kicks his leg up in the air at the same time. My little yoga baby.

He Crawls!

Josh and I both got to be there when Lucas crawled for the first time. We were playing with him in the living room and set him down to sit with some toys, when he just took off toward the keyboard.

and he hasn't looked back.