Oh My Eleven!

Tyler is 11 months old today!  I just really can't believe how fast the time does go.  I totally remember when Kaitlyn was 11 months and all the things she did then.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Tyler is an eating machine.  There isn't ANYTHING that he will not eat.  The other night I gave him a baby pickle to eat and I thought he would make a face and throw it on the floor.  No way, not my kid.  He sucked and chewed on it until I had to fish the too big bite out of his angry mouth and break it in tiny pieces that he could eat.  When I give him mixed veggies he'll eat the peas first, then carrots, then green beans, then the corn.  He does this every time and he is pretty methodical about it.  He's feeding himself with his cute little pincer grasp and drinking water from a sippy cup.  I'm going to start giving him 2 ounces of formula in his sippy cup to help ease the transition away from the bottle when the time comes.  Plus, when he goes into the toddler room, he will have to drink out of a cup all day with no bottles.

Speaking of eating and before transitioning to his next milestone, Tyler will say nom, nom while he eats.  It is the cutest thing ever.  He says it pretty much the whole time he is eating.  His daycare teachers absolutely love it when he does it and encourage him to do it which is fine by me because I encourage it too.

Did you catch that?  He's talking!  And he's signing too!  I was so happy when he signed his first word "more".  He clapped his little hands together and said "mah mah".  I was really thrilled when he also signed "milk".  He'll sign it when he sees his bottle and then as he's drinking it he signs the whole time.  It's really cute.  The most important word he's finally saying now is "Ma Ma"!  I've been waiting so long to hear him say that.  He's been saying da da since he was about 5 or 6 months.  Not actually meaning daddy, just babbling, but he would NEVER babble ma ma.  Now he not only babbles it, he looks at me and says it.  I die from the cuteness.  He also says dog and duck which to someone else may sound the same but even my mom says they sound different to her.

He blows kisses.  Well, he puts his hand up to his mouth if you ask him to blow a kiss.  He'll also give you a kiss if you ask him.  He usually only gives me kisses, but on occasion he will give Kaitlyn, daddy and grandma a kiss if he's in a good mood.  Sometimes you do have to watch out because his kisses can turn into bites on the chin.  OUCH!

He's sooooooooo very close to walking.  He thinks it's so funny when you ask him to try to walk that he usually throws his head back and laugh.  Then of course he falls down and just crawls over to you.  You have to catch him letting go of things and taking steps.  We push the coffee table far away from the couch so he has to take steps.  Most of the time he'll just lower himself down and crawl, but on occasion he will take that one step and continue cruising without missing a beat.  Pretty soon he will gain the confidence to take steps on his own and then it's really going to be a nightmare trying to keep up with him.

He's still such a happy little boy.  He loves his momma the most, but his sister and dog fall a close second.  He gets excited to see any family member that he knows and will show it by going to them even if I am holding him. 

I can't believe that he's been with us for almost a whole year.  Time to start planning his first birthday extravaganza.  (It will be an extravaganza because we are going to celebrate Kaitlyn's third birthday on the same day.  I tend to go overboard with these things :)