11 months! The one year mark is coming up fast! Am I ready? I think so. The past year has been tough, but worth every minute. I sincerely hope we're blessed with another child one day. Surely I will be better prepared for next time. However, for getting through this year (so far), I feel like I deserve some kind of reward...like getting to take a nap more than one day in a row or a night out to a concert with Will. We've still never had a babysitter except my mom a few times and taking him to parent's night out at church a few times.
Stats: I think he's bigger than he was last month, but no change in clothes sizes. I think I need to switch him to size 4 diapers for the times I use sposies.
Personality: The squealing has lessened greatly, but still occurs. He's vocalizing frustration more and more, usually with a "grrr" sound, and sometimes with a scream! He has one toy in particular, his lil zoomers car ramp, that brings out his frustrations. I think maybe it's because the car tends to get stuck on the ramp sometimes. He does know how to get it out, but I usually hear the "grrr" when he's playing with it. However, most of the time, he does really enjoy the toy! Speaking of playing...he's all about it these days! Playing does consist of a lot of taking two things and banging them together. Liam loves to make noise. Anything that makes noise when shaken is also a big hit. He still loves to laugh and has his own sense of humor. Something new this month is that Liam now gives kisses. He kisses us and his stuffed animals. However, his kissing involves opening his mouth as wide as possible, pulling your face to his, and him putting his mouth on your face, all while saying "ahhh." He will also occasionally bite our noses or chins, but that happens more often to Will. Liam is definitely becoming more affectionate towards us, cuddling, hugging, and putting his head on my shoulder more. It's very cute. Liam also likes to stare at people, which can make for some awkward times in public. At Chipotle last weekend, he just kept staring at a lady at another table. No matter how I positioned his high chair, he would turn however he needed to to stare. And he doesn't smile when he stares either...awkward! He always stares at girls, usually kids, so staring at a grown woman was different! I really think she was creeped out. Unfortunately, he's too young to learn that staring is impolite. He should at least smile when he does it! It takes him awhile to warm up and smile to other people. If a random stranger stops and says hi to him (happens all the time), he will just stare at them. However, if they stick around a couple minutes, he typically loosens up and smiles at them. Liam still doesn't seem to be scared of strangers or has separation anxiety. Last Sunday, I helped out in his room at church, so I got to see him interact with other babies. I was afraid he might be clingy, but other than giving me a hug once, he didn't really acknowledge I was there! I guess that's a good thing. He was also showing off some of his new skills...
Skills: On his 11 month birthday (April 14) Liam took his first real step. It was just one, and so far (3 days later) he hasn't done it again. For several weeks leading up to that, he had been putting one foot forward, and then plopping down when trying to put the other foot forward. He came so close so many times! I counted his first whole step as putting both feet forward, and then he plopped down when trying to put the first foot forward again. Liam has also learned to stand himself up independently, just using his leg strength. I've seen him do it several times, but it is still more common for him to hold on to something for balance when pulling up. His balance has gotten much better. He can now stand on his own and do something else, like play with a toy or clap his hands. So at church, he was doing a lot of independent standing while playing, standing up on his own, and putting just one foot forward before plopping. He's getting close to having upright mobility! Liam has also starting doing some mimicking. He will mimic blowing raspberries (he's been dong that for awhile), but now he also mimics clicking his tongue. He still doesn't say many words, still just mainly mama, da da, hey, and hi, but now he's added "good." to the mix. One of his favorite sounds to say is is "guh," so whenever he says it, I say "good" back to him. About a week ago, he finally started saying "good" too! I don't think he knows what it means, but I usually say it while he's eating. Liam is good (haha) at manipulating objects: putting one thing into another, some simple stacking, and my mom told me that when she watched him while we moved, he put the two halves of easter eggs together. A new skill he's been working on this week is holding his bottle with his feet while sitting in his high chair. He'll drop it and try to catch it and hold it with his feet. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but he loves doing it! Dropping anything over the side of something else has became a favorite past time in general!
Food/Drink: I pretty much don't adhere to the four day wait rule anymore. I'll let him try anything I think he can handle size and chewing-wise. I'm still working on getting him to feed himself something other than grain-based snacks like puffs or organic cheerios. He won't pick up fruits and vegetables and eat them yet. And a spoon is still just for swinging around and playing with. So I still feed him all his meals and he feeds himself snacks. I wonder if he would do better feeding himself fruits and vegetables if I weren't around, since he associates me with feeding him. Liam is still not a big fan of holding his own bottle, but he does it a lot more. I read that it's not such a big deal if a baby doesn't hold their bottle, since it's supposed to be a replacement for the boobie, and it's not like breastfed babies hold those on their own. Therefore I've been trying to focus more on getting him to drink out of sippy cups on his own. It's hit or miss. I've tried different kinds of spouts and straws. He prefers the straws, but will only drink out of some of the cups some of the time. He's definitely not eager to make them his go-to liquid holders. A year old is the recommended time to ditch the bottles, but we probably won't be able to do that! Still, I'm 99% sure he won't still be drinking out of a bottle when he grows up. I'm leaving a 1% chance because I'm sure crazier things have happened! He's also had more dairy this month, mostly yogurt and some cheese. It hasn't caused any problems, so I'm curious to see if his stomach an handle cow milk now.
Events and Firsts: He stood up independently for the first time this month and took his first step. Liam celebrated his first Easter, along with his first egg hunt and first basket of Easter goodies a week and a half ago. Fun times. The biggest event happened just a few days ago when we finally moved to a different apartment. My parents came and watched him during a lot of the move. There was a little (but not much) sadness in leaving our old place because it was Liam's first residence. It's where I went into labor, where Liam cried for two days when we first brought him home, and where he lived almost all the first year of his life and experienced all the milestones that come along with it. Liam won't remember it. I was happy to leave because I tend to just focus on why I don't like a place, but Will reminded me of all the important stuff that happened there, and I did get a little sentimental. We are trying to get settled in to the new place. We have way too much stuff. Liam will be sleeping in his own room here, and does already. However, we are actually sleeping in his room this first week as well, mostly because we don't have a working baby monitor yet and we finally need one, and Will is spending most of this week on a business trip, so I want to be close to Liam. Once everything is situated here and we have a monitor, we will sleep in separate rooms. That's kind of a big deal sine he's always been in our room and I could hear him breathing. However, I am ready to not share a room with him as well. I'm also finally, FINALLY, going to decorate his room and make it cute. I can't call it a nursery anymore. It'll be more like a toddler room. Liam also graduated from his DOC Band this month!
Teeth: On March 22, Liam's second tooth popped through, so now he has both bottom chompers, and boy does he love to bite with them! He will gnaw on pretty much anything if I let him. I'm hoping his top ones come in soon. Liam loves to have his teeth brushed, thankfully. He seems to really like the way the brushing feels.
I now have only one month to plan Liam's fab Beatles first birthday party! Somehow in all the moving craziness, I did manage to design and order the invitations!
These pictures were taken on an evening stroll to the local park. Lots of sweet smelling honeysuckle was around us. As you can imagine, it was extremely difficult to get Liam to sit still for pictures. He enjoyed exploring the grass.
