11 Months

11 months old on Christmas Day

1 month away from being 1!!! Where did the year go?? We're having so much fun with our little man. He's a busy guy and into everything. He's very animated and still loves being held just like he did when he was a newborn. He loves trying to play with Maggie more and more each day, and he eats like a horse (I have NO clue where it goes because he is still the skinniest little baby!).

Loves to be held

Catch me if you can!

 

More 11 month William updates...

• Taking steps, but not walking. He will walk from the couch to the ottoman - or walk from the couch to the TV stand, but he's not consistently walking. He's taking a good amount of steps, but crawling is still the preferred mode of transportation. 
• Says, "Ooooo..." a lot, which is pretty funny when you're showing him something because it's as if he's truly admiring whatever it is.

He loves balloons and he's definitely saying "Ooo..." here.

• When do you know it's a first word? William may not know what he's saying, but he definitely mimics words... every morning we'd say hello to the Christmas tree and I swear I'd hear "tree" come out of his mouth. Today he was saying "yucky" after I said "yucky" after changing a dirty diaper. Then I said "ow" after he bit my hand (he enjoys working those chompers) and he repeated "ow" back. Matt was a witness and thought it was very funny.
• He loves blocks and he's really into putting small objects into larger objects. At Gymboree he likes to drop the ducks into the holes in the plywood.
• Into sharing! He'll bring over a toy (usually a block) and hand it to me. I say "thank you!" and then he waits for me to give it back. He gets a big kick out of that. He also likes to share his food. He will hold out a piece of food toward me and laugh really hard if I pretend I'm going to take a bite.
• Napping twice a day still and sleeps for a great amount of time. Still 1.5-2 hours each. His doctor said that usually tapers off at 12 months. Down at night by 7:30p if not earlier if it's been a long day and up in the morning at 7:30a. He never, ever, ever gets up in the middle of the night. And the only time he has woken up upset was when he had a fever from his cold a couple months ago. I'm amazed at how well he sleeps. He must have inherited my ability to sleep very deeply :)
• Opening and closing doors (or the baby gate if it's not locked) is a new fun thing to do. Now that most of the cabinets are locked there had to be a replacement of some sort!
• I mentioned he eats like a horse. The doctor said he clearly has a high metabolism, so feed him until he becomes indifferent to the meal. The thing is, that takes a while! He had a whole chicken quesadilla at lunch the other day plus an applesauce and still looked at my plate wondering if there was more.

Pancakes for breakfast yum!





• Chase me! He loves to be chased and chase us. Run around the couch as he crawls after you and he's in heaven.
• Really enjoys music and does a seat dance that is pretty funny. He puts his arms up and twists around. Start to sing "Patty cake Patty cake" and he will clap his hands and smile.
• He really likes other babies/young kids. He must have little kid radar because as soon as he spots a little person he gets a big smile on his face. 

Cole came down from VA to visit us

William is one happy little guy. The year of William is nearly at it's end and 2012 has been a heck of a year. It's been very special and 2013 will be even more exciting and fun, I have no doubt! Happy 11 months, William! 

Early birthday gift from the Helies - a carseat cover

Babyproofing is fun for baby too - cabinet magnet and the gate

Good time swinging

William's First Christmas

Merry 1st Christmas, William!



Christmas Day

For a first Christmas, I'd say William had the best! We did so many fun and festive things over the past few weeks. From picking out the perfect Christmas tree to baby Secret Santa to Christmas Mass and actual Christmas Day!

Home Depot special - our best tree yet!

William likes the bells on his stocking

William's very 1st Christmas present - Mr. Potato Head from Coleson!

Baby Secret Santa!

Matt and I brought William to church on Christmas Eve at St. Margaret Mary and William did great. With all the people and singing there was constant entertainment. 

Good spirits on Christmas Eve

More into spit bubbles than smiling for the camera :)

Christmas morning we were up and at em around 7:30a. French Toast Casserole for breakfast (and a big warm bottle of milk for the little guy) and we opened all our presents. William made out like a bandit. He received presents from all over!

Wagon from Grandma Tisone

New truck from Aunt Eileen

I like your new watch band Dad!

New xylophone

 

Fun new toy!

After the morning nap we headed over to Matt's parents' house to open presents with everyone. William got a stocking full of goodies and lots of presents!

William probably saying, "Ooooo..."

A stocking for William

Fun with Uncle Andrew

Cruising around while we open gifts

 

 

A great day! William also turned 11 months on Christmas, which is why the 11 month post is delayed... We'll get on it. A wonderful first Christmas and looking forward to many more to come!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a goodnight.

We're the Two Best Friends

William and Maggie have become much more fond of each other over the past couple weeks. It probably began when William started throwing food overboard from his highchair (with the intention of Maggie taking it) and clearly Maggie will love anyone that will give her a bit of food because we never give her scraps.

Since then William will try to feed Maggie from his highchair. I don't mean dropping food, but he holds his hand out and wants to feed her directly from the table. He thinks it's hysterical and she's in heaven.

He also "pets" her. I give her a few pats and William pats her too (or slams his hands down on her rather - good thing she's a huge dog and that doesn't faze her.

Let me share my toys with you.

No worries. Maggie is extra gentle taking those toys. :)

My, what large feet you have.

Would you like a deep tissue?

 

 

 

You're a good girl, Maggie!

Walking attempts

12.12.12 marks the day William made his first walking attempt. We were sitting in the family room that evening on the ground with him and he was standing by Matt. I held out my hands sitting a couple feet away and he took 3 steps wobbling toward me! So funny and I wish we caught the big moves on video! Then at Gymboree the next day I think he was inspired by the majority of walkers in the class. He kept taking 2-3 steps here and there! I wonder how long it will be until we have a walker. He's so fast crawling that I'm not sure I see walking taking #1 mode of transportation for a little bit of time... but we'll see. Go William Go!

He's very good at standing by himself and he'll pick up pretty heavy toys, shake them and still be standing all alone. The balance thing is pretty much down pat. I guess continuing to balance while moving forward (or backward) is another thing though.

Here's some pictures from William at Gymboree. He LOVES that class!

Santa Claus

William met Santa Claus for the first time! It started out like this...

Bottom lip sticking out...

WAHHH!!!

And then everything was okay!

It actually wasn't Santa that made William cry. One of Santa's little helpers was a bit overzealous in trying to preemptively avoid a crying baby and in doing so made William very upset. The man was holding a glowing twirling wand and kept shoving it in William's face. Glowing twirling wands do not make William smile though. As you can see in the first picture William is a little leery of what the guy was doing and then boom - waterworks! We kind of said... I think he'll be fine if we just leave him alone... and we picked him up, calmed him down and put him back on Santa's lap. Good to go! Smiles all around. A great first picture with Santa!

10 Months

10 months old!

10 whole months! William is extremely busy nowadays to say the least. He crawls very quickly, he's bound to be climbing the stairs if you aren't watching, opening cabinets and drawers is a breeze (and leaving a big mess behind), funny noises galore (the owl noise is popular now "oooo oooo..."), standing by himself, and then walking with help, and so on. He has a lot of different expressions from raising his eyebrows to furrowing his brow when he's confused. And he definitely shows his emotions (he spots a bottle before drinking it and it becomes waterworks time). He's waving bye bye sometimes, he has a 6th tooth coming in, clapping is still lots of fun and I swear he's grown several more inches since he is wearing 12-18 month clothing quite comfortably -- Nevermind he is able to reach things I never thought possible... such as kitchen gadgets hanging off the edge of the counter.


Soaring high

He loves bathtime and splashing in the tub.

William is not a picky eater and begs for food nearly as bad as Maggie!



Clap! It's dad's birthday!

His quiet time aka bottle time

William shakes his head "no" - but he doesn't associate the shaking of his head with no. Well, initially he didn't and now I think he may. It all started with me making him laugh and it clearly made an impression, since it stuck. I shook my head "no" at Maggie a few days ago and he looked at me and shook his head at me and burst out laughing. It is pretty funny. I'm trying to nod my head "yes" more often in hopes he'll be more of a "yes" baby than a "no" baby!

Ahhhhhh! Banging toys together is fun!

Pump up the volume

One of his many expressions

It's not always smiles :) Most of the time it is though!

What else is going on in William's world?

• Loves to feed himself bits of food... from string cheese to chicken to scrambled eggs. He still loves pureed food too. We haven't found one food he doesn't like. He even wanted a piece of feta from my salad the other day. I didn't think that would be a winner, but then he asked for more.
• Moving those bottles down too... only a couple more months and they'll be gone for good! I may be just as sad as William when that happens. Bottles are easy! 
• Walking with assistance as you may have seen in one of my last posts. He loves walking with the cart and he enjoys pushing other toys across the floor like the cart.
• Babyproofing gone wild! Gates and latches everywhere.
• Mama and Dada are the only "words" I can make out. Sometimes I think he understands me. If I ask him to come to me then he usually comes back. 
• Two naps a day still, but the pm nap looks looks like it's going from 2p to 3p. The afternoon nap is usually his longest most of the time around 1 1/2-2 hours long.
• Wants to be chased. He gets a kick out of it when he turns his head like he's going to crawl off and you pretend to go after him. He also likes to play peek a boo.  

So much is happening as you can see! He's getting so big and so much more in tune with the world. The next month will be fun with Christmas coming up. I'm sure he will enjoy all the bright lights and music that come with the season (that's another thing - he loves music and rocks whenever a good tune comes on). We are looking forward to December and the end of 2012. What a great year it's been so far. Only getting better.

Happy 10 months, William!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are enjoying this post with a nice big slice of pumpkin pie. I know I'm writing this post with a nice big slice of pumpkin pie sitting next to me. Thanksgiving Day we celebrated here in Orlando this year. William's first Thanksgiving! We did nothing all day - joyous. Relaxed at home in our pajamas and fixed a couple dishes for Thanksgiving dinner to bring to Matt's parents' later that evening. William took his first steps with the support of his cart, which was very fun to see! He pulled himself up and pushed the cart along all by himself then we tried it a couple more times. Here's video of those attempts. Watch those little legs move!

Thanksgiving Day parade

The day was going great - until afternoon nap time. William is very good at going down twice a day and I wasn't worried a bit that he wouldn't go down in the afternoon then pop up by 4p so we could make our way over for Thanksgiving dinner. Nope. William fought the nap. Finally fell asleep an hour later and then we woke him up early to leave the house. Not a pretty sight. Pictures probably describe the situation best. Here we are... Not looking so thankful!

Not a happy camper

Crying...

Uncle Andrew trying to reason with William

More crying

William just wasn't happy last night. He did enjoy some food at the table though. He liked the stuffing and the turkey. How do you explain to a 9 month old this is the best day of the year so no tears! Oh well - many more Thanksgivings ahead of him!

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!