11 Months

I'm amazed. Our baby, our last baby, is 11 months old. It just can't be! In a month, he will go from a baby into a toddler. That just sounds so sad to me. Exciting, but sad. Any other parent will know what I mean. It's just hard to explain.

So, here we are. A month from our last comparison picture. I've only missed one. I may not have blogged them all (I will get caught up), but I've taken them all but one. I'm giving myself a break and letting that one go. My husband is deployed and I have 3 boys, 2 dogs, a huge house to try to keep from falling down from those 5 beings and a huge yard to take care of! One picture isn't going to make that much of a difference. I took pictures, just not the one of him on this bedspread with those pillows behind him. :-)

He's getting so big!

So, in the last month or so, Aiden has pulled up and started cruising. He has stopped "Army crawling" and is now crawling like a pro. Boy, is he fast!

He wears mostly 12 month clothes, but we have moved into 18 month clothes as well. Some of the one piece outfits are pretty tight around the crotch if they are 12 month. When he's in a disposable diaper, he's wearing a size 3. He wears a size 4 at night because he is a heavy wetter. I still use cloth diapers, although recently we have been on the go so much I haven't had time to do a lot of laundry, so he uses them when I know I'll be able to get them through their wash cycle.

I have no clue what size shoe he wears...he doesn't wear them yet. I think the only shoe-like things he's had on has been Robeez and whatever size he's in right now is getting small and he'll be moving up a size. I think to the 18-24 month size.



He has gotten quite the temper lately. When he doesn't get his way or something isn't working like he thinks it should, he starts yelling and screaming and waving his arms and kicking his legs like crazy. Then, the fun begins. He starts throwing himself down on the floor and kicks and scoots himself all over because he's so mad. He also rolls all over all while still kicking and screaming and crying. Forget about the Terrible Twos...we are in the Ornery Ones!



Despite the temper tantrums he is already having, he can be the most loving child. Two of his favorite people are his brothers. The world is just a brighter place when he sees one of his brothers. He smiles and gives them hugs and tackles them. He laughs and just gets a kick out of both of them. I know it's temporary. Before long, he'll be joining in the fighting that is already rampant between the older two. However, I know they all love each other, even when they aren't showing it.



Just like his older brothers, he isn't saying much. He will say "Hi Da!" sometimes when Brian is on the computer. He has started waving to certain strangers in the stores (most of them have been girls) that catches his eye and he is starting to sign all done and is trying to say it as well. He also shakes his head no like a pro. :-)



The boy loves to eat. He eats and eats and eats. He can sometimes out-eat his older brothers. He's not real big on baby food out of a jar anymore. He'll take a bite or two and then push it away. He does, however, love to eat the baby food that is in the spouted pouches. He will suck the food straight out of those pouches in 30 seconds flat. The downside to that is that they are expensive! I like to give them to him to make sure he's getting enough veggies, but I try to limit those and get him to eat veggies in other things. Right now, he's not big into eating diced veggies on his try. I don't know why. He eats them much better off a fork, but I have to alternate them with something he likes better. I like to add mixed veggie baby food into foods like mac and cheese or chicken tetrazzini. I also mix applesauce or sweet potato puree into his pancake batter. It's sweetens the pancakes naturally while still being healthy. He loves drinking water out of straw cups and we will be introducing whole milk sometime this month.



So, I am going to 'fess up here and say that he is still not sleeping through the night. Yes, I know he should be by now. He's still getting up at least once a night. It had been worse, so once (or even twice) a night isn't so bad. It had been 3-4 times a night still. Granted, he got his teeth in like crazy back in May, so I think that had a lot to do with it as well as the crazy allergies that kept him from breathing right. Now, it's more of a habit than anything. {For the record, I've already been given the advice of letting him cry it out...I don't need advice at this point, but thank you!} Colten was still getting up once a night at 2:30 at this age...he'd nurse for a couple of minutes and go back to bed. When he weaned himself at a year, it was easy to break that habit since I didn't have anything to give him. I plan on this happening again with Aiden. Um, yes, I am going to be selfish and wean him at a year because I want him to. I may regret it after he's done since he's my last, but I think I'm willing to live with that at this point.

Aiden is a people person. He hasn't gone through separation anxiety yet and I think it's because he just loves people. He loves his Mommy and will come to me when he needs me, but dropping him off at hourly care is easy peasy. He LOVES our friend, Laura. So much so that he has pushed her son (who is just a few months older than Aiden) out of the way so she can pick him up. He will actually lean over to her while I'm holding him so that she'll hold him. :-) He will let people he doesn't even really know hold him. He's just a kid who loves people! Of course, since I've said this, he'll start that phase where I can't leave the room without him crying...it's just Murphy's Law! :-)

So, that's basically it. Aiden is happy, healthy and thriving. His Daddy and Mommy love him and his brothers adore him!