11 Months Old - July 2010

I am so swamped but I want to do an update on what Mitchell's into these days.  In one word: everything.  But I'll elaborate.  He had his tubes in about a month ago and so far, no more ear infections (yay) and he seems to be feeling better.  Of course, about 10 days after he'd gotten his tubes we got the dreaded call from daycare that he had a fever and we had to come and get him, but that turned out to just be a virus.  He's also on Singulair daily now, since he's still pretty congested and the pediatrician finally conceded that maybe he does have allergies (we've been pushing that possibility on her since about 6 months).  But anyway, ENT front, we seem to have made some progress.  Hooray for that!

He's been walking for about 6-8 weeks now but I can hardly remember what it was like before!  Sadly, a friend was visitng recently whose child is about 5 months and therefore not even sitting up by herself yet, but in my absent-minded mommy mode I nearly plopped her down on the floor like I do Mitchell when I was holding her.  Sheesh!  Mitchell is just really inquisitive and so loves exploring.  I think he has a real future in the service sector:

Maybe cleaning?

Or construction?

Or traffic control?  Who knows...

He still eats great.  He loves fruit (blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, grapes, canteloupe, nectarines, & apples are faves) and most vegetables.  Corn on the cob has been popular lately due to its equally effective use as a teether.  I cannot complain in this department, as he eats most anything, so I won't bore you with going on.  If you are a regular reader you know how much he loves to eat by how many pictures I have posted of him covered in food.  Enough already, right?  (Ok, here are a couple more!)

Outdoor post-pool picnic

Contemplating the harvest: we went to Crabtree and picked blackberries last weekend.  Mitchell did lots of quality control for me and I was kicking myself that I didn't have my camera.  He was covered in them and looked like the Joker with all the juice he had smeared on his face.  He loves 'em!

He's really starting to look and act so much more like a toddler, and more importantly, a BOY.  It's been a bit hard for Momma to acknowledge that, but there's really no denying it.  He is very curious about things and is constantly pointing to things and making a "hm?" or "eh?" noise that indicates he wants to know what it is.  He's not saying that many more words, but he babbles constantly and it's very apparent that he's just connecting a lot of dots these days.  He occasionally shakes his head no when he knows he is not supposed to do something (but sometimes does it anyway); he's not really doing it to say no yet, but I know that is coming very soon!  He is pretty content to play by himself but he does love other children and it is obvious that he's going to be a social butterfly.  He is also relatively fearless.  Case in point, daycare called today and he apparently "collided" with another child and busted open his lip.  By the time they called the bleeding had stopped and the teacher assured me he was OK.  I called back a couple of hours later to check on him and she laughed before telling me he hadn't missed a beat.  I think he's definitely going to be a bruiser, but really, he just doesn't let ANYTHING slow him down!

We just love our precious boy and cannot believe he's almost a year old.  We are so thankful for...

 for his laughs...

 and his cries; 

his giggles,

 

his snuggles,

 

his wiggles,

his smiles,

and last but not least,

HIS THIGHS! :) 

Just kidding, but they are still huge and I still love 'em.  I hope he doesn't walk off too much of that baby fat right away!

One more for the road...