11 Months

Philip is 11 months old!

It has been another exciting month.  Philip learned how to throw things. He loves to toss his things around and hopes that we will pick them up for him!  He also started to play with several toys appropriately (putting cars in their race track, hitting the nails in his toolbox with a hammer, putting jungle animals in their treehouse, etc.).  I noticed that a few times he handed me toys - not sure if he was purposely trying to share, or if it was a fluke, but this was something new!

He is starting to take his first assisted steps.  He began cruising (taking steps while holding onto furniture).  He also uses a little walker and can get across the room with it as long as we are making sure the wheels don't move too fast.

One big discovery he made was how to open cabinets.  We need to get to work baby-proofing!  So far we only have locks on two cabinets!

He crawls over as fast as he can when he hears our pantry door open. 

He has a blast checking out all the goodies!

He got his seventh tooth and he is eating three meals a day.  We introduced him to Cheerios and of course he loves them.  Unfortunately, he started to move backwards in the eating department.  Although has a good appetite, he has decided that he only wants to eat fruit and carbs.  While he used to try some vegetables, cheese, beans, and meat, now he pretty much avoids them when they are on his platter and he grumbles loudly when that is all he finds to eat.  (Last week we noticed him trying to hide his vegetables from us - it starts so early!)

He started saying Mama and when my father came to town he started growling a lot!  He was especially growling when he was playing with my Dad's watch.  Guess he wanted to warn us not to try to take it from him.

Andy and I also noticed that he has gotten a really strong hug this month.  When we pick him up, he wraps his arms around our neck and holds on tight.  It is hard to explain, but he is definitely hugging harder this month!

I can't believe we will be celebrating his first birthday next month!  Time flies when you are having fun!

As always, here are some of our favorite shots from the past month.

Busy

It has been busy around here recently so I haven't been able to keep up with blogging.  Just want to put up a quick post as I've had some photo requests.

Last week Andy was out of town on business and my Dad came and stayed with me.  It was so much fun to have him around to keep me company and he got a lot of house projects accomplished.  Philip has come such a long way since March when my in-laws were in town.  He warmed right up and was crawling around on my Dad and reaching out for him in no time.

Meanwhile, I took on an extra hour of work each day.  A co-worker resigned at the end of May and I volunteered to help fill in on some projects while they hire and train a replacement.  What was I thinking?  Work is so busy right now that I really need to work the three hours a day to keep up.  But it leaves me with almost no free time.

To add to the craziness, my email account got hacked last week, so I had to change accounts.  Now I am trying to transition all of the accounts that are linked to that email address.  Such a pain and taking longer than planned.  Hopefully by this weekend I will be caught up with that and able to add some more posts.  In the meantime, by special request, I am adding some photos.  I got a new camera last week and am having fun playing around with it.  Luckily I have a willing photography subject.

Happy baby

Sad baby

No more pictures today Mom!

Swinging

We took Philip to our local playground the other week for his first ride in a swing.  The pictures turned out so cute! 

Here is what he looked like most of the time - not too sure about this swinging thing.

Once I started tickling his feet, he got into the spirit!

Mamaaaa!

It is official.  Philip is starting to say Mama!  Yippy!  Is it bad that he mainly does it when he is upset?  Must be because I am such a great comforter!

We have a rule in our house that if Philip wakes up before Andy goes to bed for the night, he is the first responder.  In the past, Philip would often cry while he looked back and forth between the door and the rocking chair where I usually sit with him.  Andy said he started to notice Philip making Mama sounds a while back, but it has become really clear this week.  I wondered if Andy was conspiring to get me out of bed by telling me that Philip was calling out to me, but last night I definitely heard it clearly.

He is also quick to cry "Mamaaaa" if I take something away from him that he shouldn't be playing with, or close a door that he wants open (usually the refrigerator or pantry).  Is this an early form of talking back?  For now I am encouraging it, giving him big hugs and praising him anytime I hear him say my name!