11 Months!

I haven't been as good at documenting this past month, and not many pictures correlate with his progressions.  Oh well, I'm over it.  

Shad is walking more, though not consistently yet.  He walks between objects by choice, and can make it long distances when we give him the confidence by walking backward in front of him. He is also getting more confident on the stairs and tries to go down forward on his feet. (It's kinda nerve-wracking, especially when there's no railing and he tries to use the wall...)  

He also has stood up on his own a few times, though he doesn't try very often.  He usually crawls over to something to stand up still.  

He is still babbling a lot, though we haven't noticed any specific sounds/words yet.  He does like to squeal/scream a lot for fun... sometimes if's funny.  Sometimes it's just really loud.

He still likes to take things to the top of the stairs, drop them off and watch them fall, and then go get them and drop them further.  This did cause him to take his second bad tumble down the stairs though...

He is getting better at wrestling around with pillows, and even the balloons from Jeff's party.  (Party post to come...)

  

He hasn't shown any preference to toys, but he has started to favor his tan and brown blanket and loves to cuddle it to his face, especially when we prompt him by saying, "Awwww." He kinda cuddles his bear like his blankets in this video:   

He gets really excited and squeals and squirms when we come after him from around a corner. (Ignore my ridiculous noises...)   It's awesome.

He has started pointing towards things he wants.  For example, he loves touching the thermostat or playing with the doorbell box (with Jeff, I'm too short) and will reach for them when we walk past.  He will also reach for the fridge when he wants us to let him open it, or sometimes for his goldfish when he knows where they are.

He has started to show a little less interest in his bottle, especially during dinner time, but still isn't eating much and still fusses and acts hungry after snacking.  I'm hoping he'll become more interested on his own and will wean himself off a bottle, but I don't know if or when that will happen...

We wonder if he's STILL teething.  I thought after getting his 8 front teeth he'd be done for a while, but he had a couple really rough and fussy days this week, with a few low grade fevers, but we haven't noticed any new teeth yet.  (Of course, he really won't let us look, and we haven't felt any poke through...)

Favorites:

Hugging his pillow ball:

Chewing ties with Dad:

Uncomfortable-looking sleep:

Getting stuck in his crib bars, despite the bumper:

Eating at a friend's house without his booster seat: (he hates being tied down by an apron...)

I just like his cute outfits.  Whoever said boys weren't fun to dress was lying!

Valentine's stickers from Great-Grandma Wright:

Trying to see what's on TV the hard way:

Trying to pull on the VCR cables, little stinker:

He loves watching the washer and dryer:

Post bath:

Being a "thug" with Grandpa (and Nana):

He loves pulling out and playing with pans:

 I'm really not sure what he's doing here... there wasn't anything in the pan... 

Sometimes we'll stick the back of his pacifier in our mouth and let him take if from us with his mouth.  He recently started doing it back to us.  Ha ha, it's gross.  We try not to let him but he thinks it's fun...

Still making lots of messes, like emptying his diaper bag:

He loves playing in the curtains:

Licking the empty lemon juice bottle:

We sure love this little guy!  He is getting more and more fun!

Happy happy boy!