Baby Owen- 11 months

We are closing in on the first year!!!

Craziness...

Here is Owen at 11 months!

Growing

-Weighs about 23lbs (this is a guess)

-Has 2 1/2 teeth! His 2 bottom, then 1 top tooth is just a bit poked through!

-Wears 12 month clothes.. not quite into 18 month yet. I haven't noticed a ton of difference in growth in the last month. He still fits into the same clothes and feels the same when you hold him. 

-He has said "Mama"!!!! He was in his highchair eating one morning and I was upstairs and Neal took him out of his chair and said he looked around going "Mama? Mama?" Super cute!!! 

-He is walking! Oh man is he ever walking. He never crawls anymore, and is just all over the place. Chasing big brother, or the dog, or just doing laps around the house. 

-He can kinda sign "more" when eating.. he flaps his hands together and I'm counting that. He also claps for himself, and points to things. He isn't waving yet, but when we say "wave bye bye" he'll put an arm out toward that person. So not quite.. but close. 

-Owen is a climber. Tries to climb on the couch, on tables, on chairs, the fireplace at my parent's house.. he is all about trying to climb on and over things. 

-Started throwing tantrums!!! Austin started around this age too. Yesterday he was in the pantry and I picked him up and set him down and closed the pantry door. Oh man... he started kicking his legs and flailing his arms and crying!! Oh boy.. here we go!!!!

-Is still easily congested and we have to use his nebulizer occasionally. Nothing scary since that one trip to Urgent Care, but hearing him cough or be congested is just part of him now. 

Eating

-Food is still his #1. He is completely off purees, and will probably be off bottles soon too. His teachers tell me often that he has little interest in his bottles and only wants food. We rarely give him a bottle at home too, mostly we make formula in his sippy cup and give it to him that way. Really his only sit-down bottle is at bedtime. 

-Still loves anything and everything we give him.. even lemons and pickles, but he is a fruit kid for sure. He'll gobble up his berries first and then want more and more and more. 

-He likes crackers too, and loves to wander around with them.. usually dunking them in the dog's water bowl before eating them. Kids are so gross sometimes. 

Sleeping

-I think we are on the verge of a sleep transition.. probably to 1 nap a day. He will be in the Wobbler room soon at school and those older babies are 1 nap a day. His morning nap is usually the big nap, and an afternoon nap doesn't always happen, or it will be much shorter. 

-We started putting him to bed later.. between 7:30-8:00. He was waking up REALLY early.. like 4:30am and babbling in his crib. "bah! Blah bah!!!! Eeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" We'd leave him in there and sometimes he'd fall back asleep, but other times he wouldn't. I'm thinking on days he does get 2 solid naps.. he wasn't needing as much night sleep so he'd pop awake really early. So on those days we put him down later and he sleeps until we get him up at 6:30. MUCH nicer. 

-After all the sleepless nights and months of waking many times... this kid has turned into an awesome sleeper. He goes right down at night and doesn't cry.. hardly ever wakes, and is good at putting himself back to sleep. Now if only I could get those 7 months of sleep deprivation back.. 

Playing

-Owen loves the water. LOVES. It's been great that the summer is so hot since we've had the pool out a lot. He is eager to get in, doesn't care how cold it is... he is ALL ABOUT it. 

"I'm going swimming!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Outta my way.. heading to the pool!!!"

-Really, he just loves to be outside, period. If he's stuck inside and brother and Daddy are outside, he stands and bangs on the door, wanting to be out with them!

-He is really into handing you things. In the morning he'll sweetly hand me his binky, once he put it in my mouth... and he hands you food, toys, his bottle, tissues, whatever. One day I told him to go hand a shoe to Daddy, so he walked over to Neal, handed it to him, then turned around and pointed back at me like "dis came from Mommy." Then Neal told him to bring it back to me, so he did and pointed back at Neal when he got to me. 

-He even brought me his dirty diaper that was laying on the floor one day. How sweet. 

"Here Mommy, you need a tissue??"

"Lady, throw dis thing away!!!"

-He loves music and any toy that plays music, or if we ever sing a song, he will bob his head and groove and move his little body!

-He is really into putting things into things, and then dumping them out, and putting them back in. So boxes, and bins are great toys for him because he will fill them up with blocks or small toys.. dump them out.. and then put them all back in again. He also can sit for quite awhile and pull apart blocks that connect together. You stick them together and then he's happy to pull them all apart. Repeat. 

"Dis Elmo container is empty.. I'll fix that!"

Put the blocks in, dump them out.. 

-This one.. this one is Trouble. With a capital "T." He's busy like Austin was.. but with a side of naughty. He's into the dog food, the dog water, he keeps opening the lid to the trash, trying to open cupboards, he pulled a doily on a side table at my parents that had a lamp on it and sent the lamp flying. He grabs at anything that he can reach, grabs and rips paper, tries to get into the recycling.. he's just mischievous.  

-He is still really into me and grabs my face, pulls my hair.... he gets fussy if it's been awhile since I've held him. He also pinches the back of my left arm since I hold him on that side and has left a big bruise. Anytime I pick him up, he starts pinching the back of my arm. 

-We are working really hard on being gentle since he's pretty aggressive in his affections toward me, Daddy, brother, the dog... smacks and scratches are his love language. 

Overall, this kid is amazing. Funny, smart, full of big smiles... a little naughty but still wants to be held and put his head on you for cuddles. We really can't imagine life without him!