11 Months

The little fella is 11 months old!

I told my sister that I'm in the honeymoon period of motherhood right now because Bradley is so interactive and is learning and doing all kinds of new things, and he entertains himself sooooo well. It is so much fun to have him around, and I'm seeing the rewards of teaching him things. I want to treasure every single moment!

Mom took his stitches out on 3/26 and put some silver stuff on it to help it heal and not get infected. (She is a wound nurse, after all.) :-) It bled a little bit after the stitches came out and scabbed up. I put Mederma on it, and hopefully it will fade away with time.

I've written a little bit about his "tricks," but I will try to sum them up here. He likes to grab my index finger and make me point to things and tell him what they are. He loves to play patty cake. I ask him where my nose, cheek, and chin are, and he points to them. (He doesn't know where his parts are yet.) He crawls like crazy, including up the stairs, and stands up on his own regularly and has accidentally taken a step. He picks up the phone and puts it to his ear and talks. He says mama, nana (banana), and meow very consistently. If I ask him where my mom is or where Casey is, he looks at them. He signs "dog." He knows what a lot of other signs mean when I do them (eat, drink, nurse, etc.). He plays his xylophone. He claps for himself when he does something right. He LOVES reading a book called Baby Cakes because it makes you do things like clap and tickle and hug. He giggles FOREVER when I read that to him. He likes to grab books out of his pile and "read" them on his own. He will tell you how the horse goes sometimes. He mimics sounds. Yesterday, he woke up from his nap, pointed at his cup of water on the end table, and said, "dinnel." I gave him the cup, he drank FOREVER, and then put his head back down on the pillow. That was sweet. He likes when you act like a monkey. His favorite thing is still when I put a bunch of things in a bag and let him pick them out and look at them. He is starting to be able to play with Alex a little bit. He loves to go outside and dig in the dirt. He is a very chatty fellow. He points at things and talks and talks and talks. He eats constantly. He usually takes a 2-hour nap in the morning and a half-hour nap in the afternoon. He hates to be covered up, so I have to make sure he's in good pj's so he stays somewhat warm.

I guess those are the basics. These are fun times. Except any time I hear a thump now, I say, "Is there blood??!!" :-)

Thank you to the people in my family who generously donated to the March for Babies we are walking in this week. Our goal was only $5 each, but we surpassed that, and our entire team has raised just over $1000. Woo hoo! It will be fun to see everybody and walk in the sunshine for a few miles and honor little J.C.'s life. Our friends are expecting another little boy in a couple of months.