Eleven Months Old

Since tomorrow is Jacob's first birthday, I guess it would be good if I got this post out! We have been so busy lately and actually right now I am finishing this post on Keith's iPhone while we are in PA visiting his family. I started this post about a month ago and have been adding notes as they come to mind. I was hoping to actually write out some things but since I am short on time, these cute pictures and bullet points will have to do. I guess it is better than not doing it at all.

Jacob really likes eating with a spoon and a fork now.

He isn't anywhere near being able to do it himself, but he likes to try!

Jake still LOVES bathtime!

He loves to pull up and look out the window!

Of course, of all the toys he has, he really just wants to play

with pots & pans and kitchen utensils!

He likes to "help" us take the dishes out of the dishwasher.

And, one day, he even decided to climb up and sit on it.

I think I am going to have a "monkey" on my hands!

A few other things Jake enjoys right now:

-He loves to pick out books off of his bookshelf. Some of his favorites right now are "Tails", "Freight Train", "Goodnight Moon" and the Touch-and-Feel books

-He is becoming more vocal. Most of it is unrecognizable, but I think he is going to be saying some "real" words soon.

-We have tried some signing, but I haven't been very diligent with it. I believe Jake understands what I am saying when I sign "More", "Milk" and "Eat".

-He is still standing on his own, even in the middle of the room, but he hasn't taken any steps on his own yet.

-His favorite thing to play with is still shoes! Some of his other favorite things are remote controls and food (or anything else) that he can pull out of cupboards or drawers.

-He really enjoys helping me "fold" clothes - this really means he just pulls everything out of the laundry basket!

-He seems to find string or fuzz anywhere! He find pieces of it in his crib or on the floor almost everyday!

-He currently has five teeth (three on top and two on the bottom) although he is constantly drooling so I am sure there are more that are coming in!

- He is still an excellent sleeper (on most days). He still takes two naps. He usually wakes up between 7-7:30am, goes back down for his first nap around 9:30-10am, sleeps 1-2 hours, eats lunch, goes back down for his second nap around 2:30-3pm, usually sleeps around 2 hours, eats a snack and then dinner and then goes to bed between 7:30 & 8pm.

-He is pretty much eating everything that we eat! These days his breakfast consists of oatmeal and sometimes applesauce. He still also loves yogurt and goldfish!

-He is learning to throw and has started throwing everything he can.

-He still sucks the last two fingers on his left hand when he is tired or to comfort himself.

-He enjoys closing & opening doors. He has already gotten his fingers caught a few times but that doesn't seem to deter him from doing it over and over again.

-On a somewhat sad note, I stopped nursing on May 24th. At that time, Jake was only nursing once per day (in the morning) and he sometimes would only do it for a few minutes. He was easily distracted and didn't seem super interested in it a lot of the time. I decided to try giving him whole milk and he took to it pretty quickly. Right now, I give him a cup of milk in the morning when he wakes up and then in the afternoon when he gets up from his nap. Sometimes he drinks the entire cup right away and then sometimes it takes him an hour or so to drink it. He doesn't seem to miss nursing and I must say that even though I was sad at first, it's nice not to have to worry about it especially now that we have been traveling so much lately.

-He is a super happy baby and fusses infrequently. Lots of people comment about how happy he is and how is smiling all the time. He especially smiles when a camera is set in front of his face. He is a real ham!!