11 Months

Nate Bug is 11 months old! We spent his first 5 months wishing he would grow faster and now we want him to slow down! 

• He was 17 pounds 10 ounces and 26 inches long at his last doctor appointment. According to the growth charts, he is slowing down in the growing department but you wouldn't know looking at him. He is one chunky little monkey.
• Eating is still going well. He is still eating his vegetables like a champ and tolerating a few fruits. We hope to start working a little more on finger foods this month. Every time we have tried so far ended up in a lot of gagging and throwing up. He's also really liking his sippy cup. We gave it to him a few weeks ago thinking he'd just play with it but he has figured out how it works and really likes drinking water after he eats.
• He LOVES books. We read to him several times each day and he is really starting to enjoy it. He has his few favorite books and anytime I try to read one he doesn't like, he shuts it. Even if I open it back up and try again, he keeps shutting it until I get one that he likes. He loves books about animals and dinosaurs and is showing particular delight in puppies. Every time we turn to the puppy page in one of his animal books, he gets very excited.
• He is doing really well on his sitting still but shows no interest in crawling or moving at all. He is tolerating tummy time a little bit better and is getting stronger all the time but doesn't get the whole crawling thing at all. He has decided he likes standing much better and is getting really steady on his feet. I won't be surprised one bit if he skips the whole crawling thing and just goes straight to walking.
• One of my favorite things that Nate has learned this month is how to stick out his tongue. Todd has been trying to teach him this trick for weeks and he finally figured it out. We now also know that the mystery sound that he had been making for the past month or so was him trying to stick his tongue out. He makes that same sound every time he does it.
• He is also starting to understand some of what we say. He recognizes his name (well, he thinks his name is Nate Bug) and also a few phrases. One of Nate's favorite things to do these days is sing songs. Every time I ask, "Do you want to sing a song?" he gets really excited and grabs my fingers to sing with me. His favorites are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Open, Shut Them" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". Hopefully I can get a video of this soon :)

He's getting too big for the dollar picture these days. He just wants to eat it! (Don't worry, it's in a plastic bag to keep the germs away :)

Natey with his sippy cup

He's always been a great sleeper so we haven't ever really had him in our bed with us. I put him in while I made the bed the other day and he loved pulling the sheet over his head and playing peek-a-boo. He was not happy when I took him out.

Nate's very favorite toy is a wet washcloth. He would chew on it all night if we would let him. He likes to play peek-a-boo with everything lately but the washcloth is his favorite. He gets VERY angry when we take it away.

                                          

Here's a video of Nate sticking out his tongue.