Eleven Months Old

11 months old

I wrote this post on Wilder’s 11 month birthday while we were in Italy, but I waited to post it until we took the monthly photo. I’m trying to come to grips with my baby turning one in November. It’s coming on too quickly!

This month I’m seeing Wilder mature into a little boy. He’s a crawler, he’s starting to pull himself up and he has so much personality. He’s a bit cautious and precise in his movements, but he laughs easily and it doesn’t take much to make him smile. He loves interacting with people, petting Pierre, smacking things to make noise and throwing balls. He eats just about everything (except tomatoes and eggs) and loves blowing bubbles in water. Our little boy is the joy of our life, and we’re so happy to spend this time watching him grow.

This month, Wilder:

• Stats—I don’t know how much he weighs or how tall he is. He doesn’t have a pediatrician appointment this month, and we don’t have a scale around. He’s a bit small for 12 month old clothes and too big for 9 month old clothes.
• Wilder says “Hey” when you come in his room after a nap or when you bring him into a room where people are. He says ohlohlohl a lot too. His big thing this month is nodding “yes” and shaking his head “no.”
• He crawls really fast now and can pull himself into a standing position. He’s even started trying to climb up stairs. he’s stood without holding onto anything for a few seconds, but hasn’t started cruising. He’s super careful to sit down deliberately after he’s stood for a while.
• Wilder eats three meals a day with the occasional afternoon snack. He loves cutie oranges, peaches, pears and strawberries. He can feed himself yogurt and soup somewhat with a spoon as well as his other foods. He drinks water like a camel from his cup and blows bubbles in water and yogurt. On our trip to Europe, he’s tried: croissants, pastries, foi gras, pate, gnocchi, gelato (just a smidge), all kinds of pasta, prosciutto…
• Wilder sleeps through the night most of the time. In Europe, he would often wake up when we went to bed because he heard us come in the room, but when he slept in a separate room he slept all night. He takes two naps a day.
• Reading is by far Wilder’s favorite activity. We read him about 20 books a day… or like 4 books, 5 times a day. He is content to sit and be read to for many many minutes at a time. If he’s fussy, pull out a book and he will laugh and clap his hands as he turns pages on cue. His favorites right now are: Huggy Kissy, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Sophie the Giraffe books and a couple of bath books I got at the dollar store. I will always remember reading Huggy Kissy literally 20 times in a row nonstop while traveling on planes, trains and automobiles in Europe.
• He recognizes people and pets, and he will look at the correct person/pet if you ask him “Where’s Mimi?” “Where’s Pierre?” etc. He’ll also wave “bye bye.”
• He got two more teeth on our trip--both on top! That makes 8 teeth in all--three all this last month. Yikes!

Here are some more photos!

This is his fish face. He'll do it if you do it to him too!

Ten months old

10 months old

We're into the double digits! This past month Wilder learned to crawl, and it's totally changed our little family! He's getting faster and faster--he's like a speedy turtle marching across the floor. He has found the wall plugs, and specks of leaf, and drawers to open and close, but he's not a tornado into everything (yet). It's been so fun watching him be really mobile, and he's having a blast getting around. Right now he'll crawlcrawlcrawl and stop and double over laaughing… and crawlcrawlcrawl. Just to go somewhere. If we build a stack of blocks or cups, he makes a beeline to knock them over as fast as he can. So fun. He's also still content to sit and read a book(really loves books right now) and to be worn in a carrier while we run errands. We go for walks or running with the stroller just about every day, and I think he likes seeing the world pass him by from his comfy seat.

This month, Wilder:

• Weighs 17.9 lbs. I will say he had his clothes and diaper on for a sick visit at the Dr. on his birthday, so I think he weighed more than he would normally. :-) That's a whole bunch more than last month! I don't know how tall he is to be honest. I tried to measure him and it was around 28 inches.
• He has 5 teeth--a top one is finally poking through!
• He sleeps through the night sometimes, other times waking 1-2 times a night for a snack or to be rocked for a few minutes. He still sleeps 8 pm to 7 am most of the time, and takes two 2 1 hour-90 min naps a day.
• He crawls! Rolls, crawls with military precision, drags a peg leg, practically break dances sometimes. He'll pull up on the coffee table to his knees too.
• Wilder still eats 3 full meals a day. He loves his fruits and veggies. Cutie oranges and strawberries are favorites right now. He's started eating oatmeal too and loving it. He had some pureed zucchini soup this months and stuffed his baby belly full!
• Wilder tries to share his food with us every single meal these days. 
• He says "ohlohlohl" all the time right now. Also mum and dada. Still not totally connected to us though.
• He loves reading books right now. Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Huggy, Kissy; and Sophies Colors are big favorites at the moment.
• Wilder and Pierre are still buddies. Even now that Wilder can crawl at Pierre, he just accepts the "pets" and even let Wilder sit on him the other day. Pierre is worth his (hefty) weight in gold for his patience with the baby.
• We went to Houston for a wedding and College Station for a reunion this month. That's twice he stayed in hotel rooms in a month, and he did so great. He'll even buckle down for naps… sort of. We're still working on that, but he slept at night so much better than past trips.

Here are some more photos!

Nine Months Old

9 months old

Wilder baby is 9 months old today. On September 8 he'll have been outside of me as long as he was inside. Crazy! Wilder baby is a pocket-size little boy these days. He's so much fun. We love seeing him learn about his world and hearing his baby babbling as he tells us about it. He's still snuggly and I'm grateful for those sweet times. I feel like his first birthday is just around the corner.

This month, Wilder:

• Weighs 16.14 lb and is 27.5 inches tall. He hasn't grown much since last month (and last month's numbers were our guesses) but the pediatrician says he's doing fine. He's just a little guy!
• He has four teeth--all on the bottom!
• He's slept through the night almost every night for the last three weeks. From bedtime to when it's time to get up! He'll wake up, readjust and go back to sleep without us needing to go check on him.
• Naptime however, is off. He's taking 1-2 naps a day--the third nap is gone. And the times vary.
• He's rolling all over the place and enjoying being on his tummy. He'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth--he's even crawled a step here and there. He's not officially crawling but he can go from sitting up to rolling to ten feet away in a short amount of time. This is so new--he was just recently unable to move from being seated!
• Wilder eats three meals a day these days. He loves fruit and green veggies the most. He pretty much ate his weight in brussels sprouts the other day!
• He's learned how to click and cluck his tongue, and he loves to do this all the time, especially when you do it to him!
• He plays with Pierre every day. The two are inseparable. Pierre is a saint and puts up with his clumsy petting and kicking all the time.
• Swimming is a new adventure for Wilder. He likes to kick his legs and splash when he's held in the pool, and he'll lay on his back or tummy in the baby pool.
• The tub is also so fun for Wilder. He splashes tidal waves with his hands and feet. I used to have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he didn't topple over. Now I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't face plant on purpose while chasing a toy!

Here are some more photos!