Tyler- 11 Months

Tyler has been 11 months old for a couple of weeks now so it's about time to document his current ups and downs (literally!).

He loves:
-stairs and we basically trust him 90% of the time to go all the way up and all the way down on his own. He knows when he gets to the top to turn his body around and go feet first. Sometimes it takes him a few tries to get his legs over the edge, he looks like he's pulling into a parallel parking spot. Here's a video- and please note, no babies (or Tyler's) were harmed in the making of this video although it looks a bit precarious for a moment or two!

-doors. He's learned how to swing them open and closed and really does not appreciate when we shut them enough to latch and not allow him to continue playing.

-knowing what he wants. He's started this high pitched, dare I say annoying, whine/cry when his parents are messing up his world. It is amazing when it is instantaneously stopped with the mention of whatever he actually wants....for example, I'll say, Tyler do you want milk? and immediately whine/cry/rant done and smile. Or Tyler do you want to eat? and immediately he crawls to his high chair. I know this has been said before but he comprehends so much more than he can say (which is nothing, at this point).

- books. Tyler has loved books for a long time so this isn't new. He still can be easily entertained by one board book for at least 10 minutes, throw 2 or 3 on the floor near him or within his reach on the table or chair and he's golden. He turns pages, flips the book, opens flaps, finds different textures on certain books, etc. We have basically watched his small motor skill develop through page turning- now he turns one at a time- when he first started he would get half the book at once.


-swimming! He went in a small baby pool for the first time this past weekend and he loved it. Never mind the freezing water or the big kids splashing and jumping around him or the sprays of water that ended up all over his face- he pretty much smiled the whole time. Credit to Kevin who doesn't take it easy on Tyler at bath time- getting water in his face is such a common occurrence it appears to not even phase him.

-sleep! Tyler's bed time is anywhere from 6-7pm. He wakes up between 6-7am. He takes a morning nap from 8-10am and an afternoon nap from 12-2pm. These days it's pretty much like clockwork and we love him for it.

-holding on. He's not so interested in standing or walking on his own yet but he gets where he wants to go while holding on to anything sturdy enough to hold him up. He sometimes lets go and accidentally takes tiny steps but for the most part, he's rock solid with holding on and doesn't appear to be interested in other methods yet.

-after all of our (my?!) agony over his eating habits, he is definitely coming into his own. Puffs are one of his all time favorites, they turn his frown upside down immediately upon hearing the container rattling out of the pantry. He also eats toast on his own a lot of mornings. The only thing I can really remember him turning down recently is broccoli on it's own, he eats it when it's in combination with other things but didn't enjoy the broccoli "soup" he had the other night. He plows through pretty much any jar or pouch combination we have including one with beets and blueberries, that actually tasted like beets!

-his new car seats..now that he's not a little guy anymore, we graduated him to the next seat this past weekend. Here's his serious face, first time, mom what are you doing to me look...