11 Months Old

Today marks Austin's 11 month birthday! I've put together my usual list of things about Austin (there are 11 this month):

*Austin started crawling! At first we would have to bribe him to crawl, but now he does it out of curiosity! He crawls fine on the wood floor, but is not too fond of the tile! I wouldn't either- it's hard! Austin enjoys playing with anything that he is not supposed to play with- electronics, cords, outlets (which are now covered), etc. Fun times.

*He learned to pull up on our leather coffee table the day after crawling. He had been trying, but couldn't do it without my assistance. Austin's favorite things to play with include coasters, remotes, really anything on the coffee table.

*Austin spends a lot of time playing in his crib. When he wakes up in the morning or from a nap, he usually spends 20-30 minutes just entertaining himself. We usually find him with his 2 stuffed animals sopping wet, with all blankets pulled into the crib (that were hanging on the railing), his socks off & sometimes on the floor, and the ultimate crib sheet pulled loose from one corner. I'm just glad it gives me a little more time to get stuff done!

*He is learning how to use his tongue a lot more. We especially notice this when we are in the car driving. Austin will sit in his car seat and babble, but you can see that he is moving his tongue around and playing with it- obviously learning how to use it more for talking. All I know is that he ends up with a ton of saliva all over his face.

*Austin is still sleeping 12+ hours at night, and taking 2 long naps during the day. One day this week his morning nap was 3.5 hrs!! We've also noticed that he moves around a lot more while he's sleeping. When he was younger he never moved because he was swaddled until 6 months old, but now we find him in all sorts of weird positions! He's also very good about going to sleep- we just lay him in there & he goes to sleep (sometimes he fusses a few minutes, but nothing major.)

*He continues to eat more solid foods! I'll pretty much let him try anything that isn't too hard or spicy. The only bad thing is that Austin eats an early dinner (just due to timing of when he wakes up, etc.) So, when we get around to eating... he thinks he needs to eat again too. So most nights Austin eats 2 small dinners. Another funny thing is that he is ALWAYS talking while eating (like between each bite.) Sometimes it sounds like he's saying "mmmm" between bites, sometimes it's fussing because he can't get the food in fast enough, and then other times he's just making noises.

*Austin sticks out tongue when doing something (in concentration.) Now many of you probably know that he obviously learned this from his mommy. Shane always teases me about it, but now I guess he will be the odd man out!

*He has learned to clap- but hasn't perfected it yet. He still doesn't flatten out his hands completely, so he doesn't make a lot of noise. Once he figures that out, he will LOVE it.

*Austin laughs a lot! The things that really get him going are peek-a-boo, daddy tickling him, and mommy snorting like a pig (odd, i know.)

*He thinks it's fun to chase Max (on the other hand, Max does NOT think it is very fun.) I've also noticed that he always stops what he's doing to watch Max eat. It's cute to see how much more he notices things like that than he did just a few months ago.

*Austin has gone to the nursery at church a few times. So far he has done better than expected! He went with the ladies without crying or even looking back, but evidently got upset after the newness wore off & he realized mommy & daddy were not there. He lasted 45 minutes the first week, and 30 minutes the second. We'll keep trying!!!

I love how he's sitting in this picture!


I can't believe that next month will be the big 1st birthday posting! I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!