The Tough Times Make You Stronger: Grady is 11 Months Old!

Grady still wears size 3 and 4 diapers.

He wears 12 month, 12-18 month, and 18 month clothes.

He wears size 5 shoes.

Sleeping/Napping Schedule

This is a sore subject for me this month. His sleep has remained exactly the same and in a nice, predictable pattern. But the moments like this are going to come to an end in the next month:

Each day, at 9:30am and about 2:30pm, Grady and I sit in his dark, quiet room while he drinks his bottle. Usually he doesnt fall asleep in my arms, but occasionally he snuggles in close and drifts off to sleep and I eat it up. Most days, he finishes his bottle, we snuggle for a minute, and then he launches himself towards his crib in an effort to get to sleep. Just like his big sister, he LOVES his bed.

But since those bottles will be a thing of the past, I fear these sweet cuddles are not far behind. So I am eating them up day after day, making the laundry and cleaning wait while I get in the last month of baby cuddles from our last baby. Sniff, sniff.

Thankfully, Grady is really a great sleeper and Daylight Saving Time hardly effected him at all. He can sleep anywhere, and a quick 15 minute nap is just enough to re-energize him if we are on the go.

I know the cuddles wont come to a screeching halt all at once, but I can tell they are dwindling...and by the time he's in a toddler bed, they will be long gone.

Im trying to see the bright side and the silver lining and celebrate the fact that I will finally be able to get rid of that hideous rocking chair in his room.

Eating
Grady continues to be an awesome eater, gobbling up any fruit or veggie we put in front of him, and tackling whatever we eat for dinner (pork chop, chicken parmesan, salmon, anything)!

He still gets some baby food since its super convenient and ensures he is still getting the fruits and veggies I might not always have in the house. He LOVES spinach and potato baby food, and while he will eat green beans whole, he still likes the baby food option when we are on the go.

I have been digging my heels, but now that he is officially 11 months, I am going to start dropping a bottle/swapping it out for a sippy cup each week. This morning, he had no problems taking formula from a sippy rather than his normal bottle. But at his nap, he definitely let me know he wanted that bottle and NOT the sippy.

So, Im going to make the swap one bottle at a time, and by this birthday he should be done with bottles completely.

He takes sippy cups with water, formula, or even the milk we have started giving him, but he definitely prefers the bottle at a nap time. Sniff, sniff. Do I HAVE to take it away!?!?

I know kids look silly when they are giant and walking around and talking while drinking from a bottle. And really, I am sorta over the whole bottle cleaning routine. But I also remember the years I wouldve done ANYTHING to have bottles to clean because it meants I would be a mommy!

He looks so "baby" to me when hes drinking a bottle, and Im sorta savoring the end of that phase.

He eats snacks like a big kid now....except he usually dumps them on the floor and then eats them 4 at a time. Yogurt melts are his favorites.

No more bottles? No more nap time snuggles?

Still my baby.

Personality
Grady just gets better and better every month. He is so laid back and happy, it really makes life easy.

He loves his sister and thinks she is hilarious. (and he's right! She IS hilarious!)

He loves Disney and the beach and the swings at the park.

He loves his Mac and Gramps and lights up when he lays eyes on them.

He still makes the best, funniest faces.

And he is ALL boy. He loves trains and cars.

If it has Chuggington or Thomas or McQueen on it, he wants to touch it and scream, "CAAR!!"

Trains and motorcycles and cars are all "CAAH!!"

He loves his brown and blue blanket and I recently tried to weed some items from his crib, but he hugged them all and buried his face in them as I tried to toss them to the floor...so he still sleeps with Alligator, two Monkeys, blue/brown blankie, and Buzz and Bailey. Its super crowded in there, and a safety nightmare, but he is happy and totally fine.

He is snuggly when he's tired, and soooo smart. Two weeks ago, at gym class they had a big bubble machine going. Last week when we walked through the door to gym class, he proudly yelled, "BUBBLES!!!'

He loves his blue car and after only showing him one time, he remembered how to work the John Deere ride-on train we got down from the attic.

He crawled into the laundry room and started clapping. When I asked him, "Where are you going?" he smiled and said, "CAH!!" He knew the car/garage was on the other side of that door.

He understands "No" and "Yuck" and tries to imitate both. He LOVES bath time, especially if his sister gets to join in the same tub.

He amazes me with how he can keep himself entertained. I dont do it often, but every so often there is an occasion where he is left in the playroom by himself. Without gates or trapping him in a jumperoo, he is able to safely and happily play with all his toys and books by himself. He could probably play for more than a half hour if I let him.

People continually ask me how I get him to keep his hat and shoes on. I guess I just got lucky with two kids who like accessorizing. :) He rarely takes his hats off, and only took his shoes off for the first time last week.

A list of words/things Grady knows (according to a note in my phone):

Mama

Ball

Car (cah!)

Bug

Bottle (baba)

Bubbles

Buttons

Book

Bailey (Bay!)

Cup

Hi (HA!)

walk, walk, walk

go, go, go

dances

shakes head yes and no appropriately

locates nose, feet, hair, eyes

"jumps"

elephant sound

dog sound (woo, woo!)

Letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, K, M, O, P, Q, U

Keep in mind, he will not perform most of these tasks "on command", but he has done them enough time and with enough accuracy for us to say he definitely knows them :)

Activity

Nope. Still not walking. This is another one of those "Im finding the silver lining" milestone moments.
I WANT him to walk soon because it will make things easier for me and more fun for him.

He would have a blast exploring the park and Disney and even our porch.

He would have so much fun walking Whitney into school and dancing with her at chapel.

And I wont have to carry him as much.

Which also makes me sad.

Because I wont GET to carry him as much.

I DONT want him to walk because then I will REALLY be chasing him. And he will have access to more areas of life that he currently hasnt explored much.

He will walk anywhere holding one hand, but he hasnt even tried to take one step on his own. He can stand on his own for several seconds, even clapping or waving to someone while on his own. But as soon as he realizes he is standing on his own, he drops to his knees and crawls again.

He loves to climb and mastered using the ottoman to get onto the chair in the playroom. He used to lose his balance and roll backwards when he climbed on the PBK chairs, but now he has it under control and rarely tumbles backwards, smacking his head on the ground.

He still LOVES to be chased. As soon as I look at him and say, "Im gonna getchoooou!!", he squeals and takes off crawling as fast as he can. Sometimes he crawls away and sometimes he crawls right into my arms and buries his face in my neck for a hug. LOVE it.

He loves anything that beeps, honks, has wheels or buttons, or belongs to his sister. He is pretty gentle with things when we tell him "be nice" or "use nice hands", and he really understands "no" well enough to stop playing with something he knows he shouldnt touch.

He can find a 2" square of dirt in a split second and digs right in. He has taken a break from putting EVERYTHING in his mouth, but still tests shovels or bath sponges or any other foreign-looking object occasionally.

SOrry for the picture overload. (no im not.) I just want to make sure I get all these pics loaded here since Ive been slacking with the blogging lately.

He found one of Whitney's doll's crowns the other night. He knew it was hers, as he held it in the air and proudly yelled, "Bug!!"

....then hid it behind his back when I asked, "What do you have, Dude?"

He then sat down and tried to put it on his foot like a glass slipper. :)

He tried that for a while until I told him "It goes on your head, silly!"

And he knew exactly what I meant :)

He then pretended it was a phone, held it to his ear and shouted, "Hi!"

That's my new favorite thing he does. Any pretend phone (or, apparently, a crown) goes right to his ear where he gets a serious face and says, "HI!"

Sibling Fun

These two little people are amazing. She is so in love with him and he thinks she is the best thing in the world.

She wants to hug him and hold him and kiss him and make him laugh all day. Sometimes he is a willing participant, but our favorite laughs come when he tries to escape her grasp :)

They both squeal and laugh and squeal some more.

She inevitably gets her hug...or at least gives him a good squeeze as he's trying to escape.

And, for now, he thinks its a fun game she's made up. I keep waiting for the time when he doesnt think its funny anymore and decides to bite her or pinch her or pull her hair.

But for now, they play nicely and are definitely more giggles and laughs and fun than I wouldve imagined or dreamed. I hoped they would grow close and really enjoy each others' company, but I really couldnt have hoped for more than this. They are really, really awesome together.

She has so much patience for him and has started saying, "Oh, i LOVE when he does that!" or "Mommy! I think he's about to take his first steps!!!" She is so excited when he learns new things, and is his biggest cheerleader.