Lots of things are going on in Andrew's world. First of all - he is all over the place and into everything. He is a silent and speedy crawler; many times we turn away for just a second and look back and he is already in another room or getting into something. He loves to go into the kitchen and explore. We had to put cabinet locks on all of the cabinet doors because he discovered what fun things we kept in the kitchen! Now he likes to come into the kitchen when I'm cooking and push the kitchen chairs around (they are on wheels), bang on the oven door, open the pantry, play with the dog bowls, and leave little slobbery hand prints on every surface below three feet! Needless to say, we aren't making any time-intensive gourmet meals these days.
Speaking of gourmet meals, Andrew still loves to eat. He seems to have entered a fruit phase - he loves strawberries, blueberries, peaches, pears, and oranges. He also loves anything he can snack on - Cheerios, Goldfish, graham bunny snacks. We bought little snack cups with flaps on top to keep the snacks in, and he loves to carry it around and shake it, and he also loves to share his snacks with the dogs. They follow him around, picking up his dropped Cheerios and Goldfish remains. He is still a pretty good eater. He doesn't seem to eat veggies quite as eagerly, but he still enjoys meat and pasta. I think his favorite meal would have to be pizza. He LOVES pizza and will shout and talk and grunt until we get some on his tray, at which point he will then shove handfuls of it in his mouth! One exciting development in the last month is that Andrew drinks from a straw-sippy cup. We had bought various sippy cups with the hopes of getting him off the bottle by one year, but Andrew seemed more interested in playing than drinking. We should have known that, like his mommy, he will always drink something if he has a straw! He learned how to drink from the straw cup in the first day, and now takes water from it very well. We have also started transitioning him to whole milk. We try to give him a little bit each day. He wasn't a fan at first - he sucked up a big mouthful, made a face, and then let it all run down his face. He seems to be coming around, though.
Andrew is a talkative guy! He babbles constantly - he has long, serious-sounding conversations with himself and us daily. He still says "dadada" all the time, and also will throw in "ga" sounds too. Still no "mama"! I keep hoping it will come soon! It is hilarious to watch him talk - he will start quietly and build up in volume and intensity until he is shouting and waving his arms while his face turns bright red. I wish I knew what he was telling us!
Andrew has become pretty shy in the last month or two. He definitely clings to people he knows in new situations, and takes awhile to warm up to people he doesn't know well. He will hide his face if someone unfamiliar starts talking to him. It is difficult to tell if he is being shy or just cute and coy. He is definitely sensitive. He does not like it when people laugh - I think the noise and sudden change in mannerisms startles him. If we all start laughing really loud, he will often cry. One time the Priest told a joke during church - the congregation cracked up, which caused Andrew to start crying! I hope he outgrows this soon - especially by his birthday!
Andrew is still not a great sleeper. I guess I cannot complain - he does sleep through the night. He goes down for bed around 7:00-7:30. We had to have some crying a few nights to get him to go down easily, but now I just lay him down after nursing and he rolls over onto his belly with his bottom up in the air. He still moves all over the crib at night, but spends the majority of the night on his tummy. He sleeps all the way through, but is still an early riser. We were dealing with 4 am and 5 am wake-ups a few weeks ago, but decided to let him fuss in his crib until a more reasonable hour. He now sleeps until about 6:30ish. He still does not nap! He will sleep in your arms or nap with you for around an hour, but if you try to set him down he will wake up immediately. We have tried everything - setting him down drowsy, putting him down earlier, trying specific nap times, laying him down awake, setting him down asleep, patting his back, letting him cry, everything! He just will not nap! I know I should cherish the cuddle times, because as he grows bigger I know they will be few and far between. (Though at this point I am fairly certain we will still be rocking him to sleep in college!) I keep hoping that his not napping is some phase that he will grow out of, or that we will stumble upon some magic "cure", but at this point I'm not holding out too much hope that he will morph into a great napper! I think he's just got so much to see and do that he won't slow down enough to let himself nap!
One amazing new thing in Andrew's life is that he is taking steps on his own! This just happened in the week and half since he's turned 11 months, but I wanted to document it here! He started out taking a step or two to get from one thing to another - the door to his pack'n'play, or from the couch to the coffee table, etc. Over the past week he seems to have gotten more confident. He will string three or four steps together to get to someone or something. He almost seems to do it without thinking, and then will catch himself and realize "Oh, yeah, I can't do this, I don't have anything to hold onto!" It's amazing to see how fast he is picking this up! I think that we will have a walker in the next few weeks!
Overall, Andrew is this amazing, handsome, sweet, smart little guy that lights up our lives every day. I know people talk about how you feel that instantaneous love for your child when they are born, but for me it grows every day. I cannot imagine loving him any more, and then the next day comes and he melts your heart with his smile or his laugh or babbling, and I just love him that much more!
Great review Stephanie for such an awesome little boy. I don't know what it is but we seem to have a special connection and that is probably just me expressing my LOVE for him. He has two very special parents. This, as you were saying the other night sort of documents his life growing up and is priceless. Always try to keep it up to date so that down the road you are able to look back and remind yourselves of the things that we as adults tend to forget. He is truely a very special little boy given to the both of you and his grand parents by a wonderful GOD and for that I thank GOD from the bottem of my heart. Thank You for the post and keep up the great work. Grandpa Ray
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