Eleven months!

Lincoln,

Can it already be time to plan a birthday party? I guess so!

Well, there was one huge change this month... You are WALKING! For the first couple days you would only walk a couple steps to a person or a piece of furniture. Now, you'll take quite a few steps in a row by yourself (up to about six, but who's counting?!) and are starting to venture out just for the thrill of it. You are still a little wobbly, but you're learning to pause or take a step backwards to regain your balance. You really like to hold one of our hands (just one hand!) and walk next to us like a big boy. Shoes are one of your least favorite things now; we don't put them on you often, but are trying to ease into shoe wearing.

You love to "talk on the phone" and started grabbing a phone, putting it by your ear, and tilting your head to the side. You will say "eh-wo," which we think is "hello." Then you just giggle and grin. You'll also put the phone up to daddy's ear to get him to talk. 

You haven't been using your words much lately (dog, uh-oh), and you haven't added any new words. We have started to decipher some of your "baby babble" (like "um" = more, meaning any food), but I'm not sure whether that counts as words.

You're up to six teeth now, with one more - maybe two - very close to poking through. It seems like you've been teething constantly since it started, so hopefully you'll have a little break once these first eight are in. Thankfully only one or two of them have really seemed to bother you.

This month you lost interest in nursing altogether, and we decided not to push it. Your interest in bottles is waning, too, so I don't think it will be too hard to start taking those away in a month or so. You are still a voracious eater. I often worry that you are eating too much, but you are pretty good about letting us know when you're done. You are also always moving (even when you're eating, you kick your feet or tap your head on the back of your chair), so that probably plays into the appetite!

One day this month you experimented with your teeth - by biting mommy and daddy. That was short-lived! When we tell you "no" sternly, you will pout or cry, but it typically ends whatever behavior you are not supposed to be doing (usually hitting daddy when he does something you don't like or whining for food).

One day I was in the kitchen and glanced over to check on you in the living room. You were standing next to the ottoman clapping, like you were so proud of yourself. Silly little boy!

So much fun to watch you grow and learn!