Walking with the Cooks: Happy 11 months, Josiah!

It has been said before, but is worth saying again- what a fast year! Josiah is still our little joyous, adventuresome one, and he keeps us on our toes in the most fun way. He is thoughtful and intentional at this stage and generally sensitive to what is going on around him. He is a sweet and happy boy!

Weight: heavy
Length: especially long torso
Head: getting hair!
Diaper: cloth and size 4
Clothing: 12 and 18 month (and 24 month in one-piece items)

Likes: splashing in the bath, crawling on Daddy, Cheerios, pulling up (especially on Mommy's pants), closing himself in a room (bathroom, closet, etc.), tickling/being tickled by Sarah, scooting around on and playing with the blocks in Beep Beep (the push cart), fridge magnets

Dislikes: being told "no no", Mommy walking away, sleeping until daylight :(

Schedule: This goal was rarely achieved this month...

7 am: Wake and nurse/eat
7-9 am: Wake time
9-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and nurse/eat
11-1 pm: Wake time
1-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and nurse/eat
3-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Nurse and down for bed

Sleeping: Unfortunately, the time change wasn't the catalyst our little guy needed to get him back to sleeping until daylight. For the last month he has been waking up around 5:30-6:00am, sometimes going back to sleep, sometimes not. The last few mornings he has been waking up at 1 or 2am and then again at 4:30 or 5:30am. Not good! We are holding out hope that he will stretch out and that being out of town will shake up his schedule enough to knock him back into some good habits. (Read: really wear him out!) In other news, he has developed a sleep prop, which Sarah never did. When he sees his blue dog lovey he does his two finger throwback and either rubs his head on my should or lunges for his crib.

Eating: He is still nursing and eating like a champ. This month he tried lots of new foods and doesn't turn his nose up at much. (Avacado is still on his "definitely not" list.) We can usually give him a little something from the meal that the rest of us are eating, which is nice. It is a reminder than one day we will all be able to eat the same meal at the same time...glory!

Moving: It appears that, like Sarah, Josiah may only ever be an army crawler. He is pretty fast at it and finds it quite sufficient. The only time he gets on all fours is if we leave him in only his diaper, but he makes it look like torture that we are making him keep his belly off the floor, so we don't do that intentionally. The last couple of weeks he has gotten good at playing on his knees and pulling up. He is even cruising around the furniture and stepping between the couch and coffee table. Those are things that we had doctors teach us to work on with Sarah, so it is kind of amazing to watch him do it so naturally. The last couple of days he has been pulling up on a little push cart and walking by himself, which is also neat to see. He enjoys taking steps when we hold his hands.

Communication: He makes all kind of noises these days, but no new words. Josiah does seem to use "momma" and "dadda" very intentionally, which is fun. He definitely understands much of what we say and is choosing how to respond.

Teething: One of his top two teeth is through now and boy, was it a SLOOOOOOW process. It took weeks to get from the blister on the gums to while spot to breaking through stage. This one seemed to bother him a bit a times, which was unfortunate. The other front one is also on the move, but hasn't broken the gums yet.

Fun facts:
- A lady at church complemented his new haircut, which I think means he looks like he has real hair now. (No actual need for a haircut yet.)
- His eyes are still blue, but it is kind of a navy/gray blue.
- He was so tired once that I was able to move him from the car seat to my shoulder without him waking up. This is the first time in recent memory he has slept on my shoulder- I ate up every moment.
- He likes to chase Sarah so that she will chase him back.
- He has had a few good bruises this month. The best was on his forehead after he lunged into a low shelf.
- He is a grunter and makes lots of little man/monkey noises. Sarah does a pretty great impression.

Next appointment: Monday, May 6, 2012 at 9:40am