Eleven Months Old. {on 1/11/11)

How fun is it to turn eleven months old on 1/11/11. I can hardly believe the big "ONE" year old is around the corner. Cory was looking at Lincoln's hospital picture last night and he was said "that seems like so long ago." It seems like so long ago in one moment and in other moments it seems like yesterday. We are so blessed to have a handsome, healthy and happy baby boy and not a day goes by that we are not grateful.

I have been asked by several people how I keep Lincoln from attacking the blocks each month. Truth be told, this photo shoot became a group effort around 5 months. Cory takes the picture and I use real car keys (Lincoln's favorite) and shake them above Cory's head to get him to smile. It works for about 4 seconds, he attacks the blocks and then we take a break for me to reset them and do it all over again. We repeat this cycle, on average, about 3 times each month. Ha! Good memories. Here are this months outtakes for your enjoyment.

And here is the winner! 11 month stats:

• He is about 29.5 inches long and weighs about 22 pounds.
• He is still wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night.
• He can still wear some 6-9 months clothing but it is starting to be mainly all 12 month clothing
• His shoe size is about a 3-4
• He takes 2 naps a day -- morning 9:00 and afternoon 1:30. The morning one is often 2 hours and the afternoon about 1.5 hours.
• He goes to bed usually around 7:30 a.m. and wakes up at 7:00 a.m. And he now sleeps in a sleep sack b/c he does not like to be cold.
• He has had some waking at night in the last month but I think the holiday festivities, off scheduled and strange beds threw him off. He has done great now that we have been home for a while.
• He pretty much eats only table food now -- LOVES grilled chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, deli meat, diced fruit (all kinds), mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, yogurt melts, puffs, banana nut cheerios, some applesauce and baby food on occasion
• He still drinks 4 bottles a day. He LOVES the bottle. The coming month or two will be sad as we transition him away from that.
• He drinks from a sippy cup like a pro and loves to drink water; maybe that is b/c that is all we have let him drink! Ha.
• He just got his 7th tooth (its on the bottom) and I think I can feel the 8th one (also on the bottom) but not see it yet.
• He can stand up on his own without holding on to anything AND on January 4th as we were waiting for the Sugar Bowl to start he took two tiny steps towards me from the ottoman. He will only take steps towards me or Cory but not on his own towards on object or anything.
• He cruises furniture very well and crawls super fast
• He loves his "lovie" and when you lay it out on the ground he crawls over to it and lays on it until you say "Awww...sweet baby Lincoln" and then he pops up and giggles.

• His favorite toys: ANY type of push toy or he will just some toys into a push toy, balls, cars, books and the mesh-food feeder with a piece of ice in it to chew on
  
  

• Dislikes/Scared of: men, the oven mit b/c Cory uses it as a puppet and the snowman we have placed in front of the TV to scare him away from pushing all the buttons
• His words -- mama, dada, hi (with a wave), bye-bye (with a wave)
• He loves to wave and say hi to random strangers in the store while riding in the shopping cart.
• He signs -- all done and claps for "more." We are working on teaching him the signs for please and thank you
• He loves to hand things back and forth
• He had tubes put in this month and I can tell a big difference. Now when he gets a congested nose it doesn't automatically turn into an ear infection but rather clears up after a day or two of saline spray.
  

• He celebrated and loved his first Christmas
  

• He is not a fan of Santa.

• He went to his first Razorback sporting event this month -- basketball game vs. Tennessee. Razorbacks won.

Lincoln, Lincoln

I can hardly believe it has been 11 whole months! Where has the time gone? You have recently begun pointing at objects and babbling a word as if you are naming the object. You do not enjoy being alone. You will play by yourself for a little bit but then you crawl around to find us. You are extremely interested in what we are doing and stand at our leg waiting to be picked up so you can see what we are doing. You love for us to play with you on the floor. You do not always want us to play with you but you do want us to at least be IN the room with you while you play. When strangers talk to you you will turn your eye brows down at them. You are extremely observant and curious about your surroundings at all times. You love to look at and play with other babies and children. You are getting soo big and we could not be any prouder of you!

Love, Mommy and Daddy.