11 Months

Ben,

In just 1 short month, you will be an entire year old - one finger!

Right after you turned 10 months, you officially became mobile. You crawl everywhere now. You pull up to your knees, but are still wobbly on your feet. My biggest challenge with your new found mobility is keeping you away from the cat food/water. They are like a magnet for you. It is to the point that even Kaylynn chimes in, "Ben, we don't eat cat food." Who am I kidding, she loves telling you what to do, so she jumps at the chance!

You kissed purees good-bye for good. After last month, I thought I might get a few in, but I tried feeding you oatmeal the other day and it did not go over well. You are not happy unless you are eating exactly what we are. Seriously, you get ANGRY. That's good though, it makes us watch what we eat. We have weaned you down to 3 bottles (cups a day), so we are right at the target 24oz for milk at 1 year. You have 2 cans of nasty formula left and as soon as those are gone, we are saying adios to that junk.

You don't say "word" words, but you are getting closer and closer. You can say "dada" and "mama". When we point to a dog, you make a "duh" sound, which is very different from your "dada" sound. It is pretty consistent, so there may be some association there. Also, recently, when we tell you "night-night", you repeat "nahnah". Maybe it is a coincidence, but again, it is consistent.

And another new thing is your attachment to a few certain things - namely an animal book. If we want you to crawl our way, we just flash the book (or a bottle) and you come speeding. I have also been assaulted with the book, since when you want it read, you throw it. Actually, you throw everything. Everything. You do a better job with your left hand (yet eat with your right)...only time will tell which one wins.

1 more month until you go from being my sweet little baby boy to my sweet toddler boy...minus the whole toddling part. I'm putting my money on walking in January (14-15 months). Oh. Just for fun, Kaylynn has recently started calling you "Jamin", just leaving off the whole "Ben" part. Quite funny, that sister of yours. You seem to think so, too, most of the time. You know, when she's not tackling you or pulling you down to the ground.

Love you, buddy boy!

Mama