Jenson update: 11 months old

I had this post halfway done a month ago, when he was actually 11 months old.  Now he’s a year old already (!!!!!!!!), but I still want to get posted what he was up to at that age since you know I haven’t been good at writing in the baby book!  He became pretty verbal this month – lots of mama, dada, Bff (boof), along with LOTS of noises and jibber jabber (Lo calls it a mouth full of consonants).  He also became mobile for real, when he started crawling like a pro in mid- August.  We went from only crawling backwards, to just crawling like normal one day and never looked back.  We were stunned when he just took off after Boof’s toy like he’d been doing it for weeks.  He also started clapping (all the time) and pulling up to standing against furniture.  He just became so interactive with us – he’s a blast!

Monthly Jenson update:  August 7 – September 6, 2014

• Age:  11 months old (posting late)
• Weight:  approx. probably 20-21 lbs
• Length:  28 or so inches
  
• Size:  He’s wearing 9 and 12 month clothing, moved up to size 4 diapers at some point when we ran out of three. He didn’t need to move up, but there’s so much overlap for sizing.
• Diapers:  Cloth diapers, except at night.  Not much change here.  He’s gone back and forth with diaper rash, but I think it’s related to trying new foods
• Hair and Eyes: His hair looks like a wig.  It’s always in his eyes or over his ears unless I’ve recently brushed it to the side.  His first haircut is looming (he has since had it)  His eyes are more grayish blue now, and so big and bright.

• Teeth: We thought for sure he was getting his top two teeth this month, but it was just a cold.  He’s still just rocking his bottom two – though they are much bigger now.  It’s adorable. 
  
• Sleeping: Sleep got rough again when he got a cold and he never went back to sleeping well.  He would wake once before 11 p.m. and then again (or twice) before 6 a.m.  I was usually only nursing him one of those times, or when I finally would relent and bring him in our bed.  Lots of times he’d immediately stop crying once in our bed.  Just wanted to be close.  He started being ready for bed slightly earlier now…closer to 8 than 8:30 most nights.  We  know his wakeups are just habit…the problem if figuring out what to do about them!

• Eating: He became even less interested in nursing this month.  He dropped the after work feeding (most days) and doesn’t nurse in the night every time he wakes.  He takes 4-5 bottles of 3-3.5 ounces when I’m at work.  As a result of him taking less milk, I started pumping less often/less long some days.  I have to be careful to not get too full to avoid plugged ducts/mastitis though.  I’m so ready to be done with pumping.  He’s a pretty good eater – now if you are eating something around him, he wants some too.  Like Boof.  He eats pretty much whatever we give him, but sometimes he gets bored of something and will reject it one meal, but eat it the next.  There’s nothing that he has rejected every time I’ve given it.  Usually when he doesn’t want something, he calmly picks it up off the tray and drops it on the floor for Boof.  I usually save his fruit or yogurt bites for after his meat/beans/veggies, because at some point in the meal, he gets fussy when he’s tired of eating what’s on his tray.  If I give him the fruit or yogurt at that point, he’s happy and will sometimes eat more of the other food.  We don’t force him to eat a certain amount though.  Sometimes he cleans he tray two times, sometimes he leaves a ton of food.  One of his favorite things this month was roasted beets, oddly enough.  They were a bit messy, but he loved them.  He also love watermelon rind, with a little of the fruit left on it.

• Movement:  He started crawling on my birthday!  He just randomly took off one day after Boof’s toy while we were hanging out, and he never looked back.  He also started pulling up to stand against things.  He’s pretty stable while holding on.  He can really sit and play with his toys now that he can get back and forth between them.  He started clapping and that soon became one of his favorite things to do.  Sometimes he claps inappropriately, like when he’s crying, or nursing.  He can give High 5’s, but isn’t consistent.  He plays peekaboo by putting something in front of his face and pulling it down.

• Words & Sounds:
  Dada, Mama, Bff (Boof), Nana, Yeah!, BapPap (repeating Pappap). He loves babbling and cracks up when you imitate a noise he makes.  He’ll go back and forth like that – holding a conversation with us.  He often sounds like he has a mouth full of consonants too – total jibber jabber.  He mocks the “mwah” sound I make when I kiss him sometimes.
• Milestones:
  – Crawling (August 17th)
  – Pulling to stand
  – First Crew game

– First cold
-New words
– Clapping

– High 5’s

Favorite Toys/Activities:
– Pulling books off the shelf and looking through them
– He loves the book “The Dog that I Love Best”.  It has a finger puppet in the middle that i make bark after each page, and he turns to kiss/bite it each time (if he’s playing with something and just listening).
– Clapping (seems to have a preference for Queen songs?)
– Loves kisses (giving and receiving) and having his face stroked
– Looking at himself in the mirror
– Standing up to play with his toys
– The ball tower that he can stand up against now
– Playing on our bed
– Playing in the exersaucer

– Watching Boof and trying to get her toys
– Watching and playing with Braxton

– Playing with the doggie door and the doorstop (that makes the boing noise)
– Sleeping between us in the bed
– Likes being tickled in his armpits and his chunky thighs – laughs like crazy and get excited when you try to tickle him
– Swinging

Dislikes:
– Getting his hair washed and rinsed – he tries to climb out of the tub
– Getting stuck on his stomach when he’s sleeping.  Even though he can roll, he seems to get stuck or forgets when he’s sleeping.  He’s not really awake, but just fussing.
– Laying down to get his diaper changed – he has things to do!  We usually have to give him toys or sing silly songs to keep him from screaming at us.
– Waiting for something he wants or when you take something away from him.  He does this “temper” thing, where he clenches his fists and grunts.  We call it “hulking out”.
– Wearing the weekly and monthly sticker.  I have to try to get a picture really quick before he discovers it and rips it off.