Joshua Watch: Eleven Months

STOP THE PRESSES!  We actually managed to get a good tiger comparison photo this month!!


It helps that he was a little tired when I first put him down on his back next to Mr. Tiger... I'll have to remember that for future months.  :)  Of course, Mr. Tiger had his usual effect shortly thereafter -- Joshua got his second wind and started playing rambunctiously in his nursery.  But I got this one placid photo!  Huzzah!!

Joshua did treat me to a new form of mischief this month, though...



Oh, little boy, you will be the death of this mama's photography dreams...  ;)

This month was a HUGE one for Joshua!  The biggest milestone, obviously, was him taking his first steps.  Within less than two weeks from his first tentative steps, he was walking more than he was crawling, and confidently toddling all over our apartment.  It's incredible how FAST his learning curves are!  These days, the only time he crawls is when he wants to get to something to help pull himself up to standing.  And he doesn't always need to pull himself up on something -- he's managed to stand up on his own, in the middle of the floor, just by pushing himself up off the floor and using his wee abs!  Such a strong boy!

Joshua has also gotten even more playful this month.  He learned how to clap (though he still can't make much noise with his hands yet), and will gleefully flap his hands together or hit his chest Tarzan-style when excited.  It's much more fun, though, to clap two toys together -- he still loves banging coasters, but he has now added Mega Blocks (a jumbo version of Legos) and wooden blocks to his banging repertoire.

And he's learned how to play peekaboo!  This is seriously the cutest thing ever -- he'll grab a blanket or his sleep sack and put it on top of his head, and then fling it down with a huge smile on his face, waiting for you to yell "peekaboo!" at him.  I really, really need to get this on video!  He also got this great peekaboo lift-the-flap book for Christmas, and delights in lifting the flaps to find the babies.  It's so awesome watching him learn to love his books!

We're also transitioning him away from purees and towards table food.  He's figured out how to take bites of larger things, so we're slowly giving him larger pieces of bread to gnaw his way through.  And he'll mostly eat nicely off a plate -- as long as there's food on it.  Once he's finished his diced carrots or cheese cubes or bits of meat, you've got about two seconds to refill the plate before he picks it up and throws it on the floor.  :)  We're working on his table manners...

We did have one negative milestone this month -- his first real injury.  In Indianapolis last week, we were all hanging out in the family room after dinner, and I think everyone was assuming that someone else was taking point on watching Joshua.  A steaming mug of hot tea was left on an end table within Joshua's reach, and he toddled over to grab the cup, and poured its entire contents down his front in an attempt to drink from it.  I'll never forget the way he screamed... We immediately took off his clothes and put his little neck and chest under cool running water.  Thankfully, the tea mostly hit his clothes, with just a little splashing at the underside of his chin and at the top of his chest -- none of it hit his face.  We took him to urgent care, where they told us to put bacitracin on the worst of the red marks (there was some peeling under his chin) and keep an eye out for infection.  Surprisingly, after that first terrible scream, Joshua seemed completely fine -- he was toddling about in the waiting room, flirting with the nurses, and didn't seem bothered at all by pain.  And the marks are all but gone now, a week later.  Still, we will never, ever, ever leave any hot drinks unattended in the same house as our curious little guy!

(I was unsure about including this particular memory in the Joshua Watch, but I wouldn't want to be accused of sanitizing our baby's history... So there, Keddiebears isn't always totally saccharine!  ;))

But I've got to close this out with a little bit of sweetness... Our absolutely adorable little 11-month-old!  Who looks more and more like a little boy every day...





Can't believe we only have one more of these posts left!  You're growing up too fast, little one...  It's so incredible, though, watching your mind and body and personality develop.  We love you so much!