11 Months

Dear pear bear,
Happy 11 months!The biggest development this month has been the appearance of your first (and second and third) tooth! Since you've been gnawing on things for months now, we didn't really think anything of it at first. But then, a few days after your 10 month birthday, the top right one made an appearance. And an appearance it was! Let's just say that we had a few...unpleasant nights there, particularly since the top left and bottom left showed up just days later. Let's just say we're glad that you've returned to your normal habits.

Oh, well, except for two nights ago. When your slight cold turned into slight wheezing. We called the doctor who asked us to bring you in, despite it being a Sunday, and they gave you a breathing treatment. Although you were miserable the night before, I was sort of embarrassed when we got there because you immediately started smiling and flirting with all the nurses. A tricky one, you are. They gave you a quick nebulizer treatment and you felt much better after that (although you loathed the process). Here's to modern medicine and the return of sleep.
You continue to be active as ever. Many babies I know love bath time. You? Well, you love the water. However, there is no way in the world we could actually get you to sit in the bathtub. Instead, every time we put you in, you immediately try to stand up, which generally involves much slipping and sliding. Needless to say, showers are our preferred method of getting you clean.

This activity level hasn't helped your skinniness. Your pediatrician, who we love dearly, said that you were probably just fine, but that we could bring you in for a quick appointment in between your 9-month and one-year ones just to ensure you're growing. You had put on a few ounces, but you stayed below the 5th percentile in weight, while hitting the 75th in height. Since you've hit all your milestones and are otherwise happy and healthy, the doctor wasn't concerned, so I think you're just destined to be a skinny mini. Every time I see you with other babies your age, I just have to laugh to myself because you just look so little in comparison.

Despite your evident teenyness, you continue to love food, especially anything with a little kick (e.g, Indian, Thai, Mexican). I love that you are willing to try out anything - even if you're not hungry at all, you'll give anything a chance. I love that about you - you're always willing to try something out. I love that you love food, although with parents like your Dad and me, it would be hard to imagine you NOT loving food. You've also maintained your love for spoons, as well as cups - any time you see anyone with a cup, you frantically crawl your way over and try to drink from it.You continue to love to point at anything and everything - most particularly airplanes. Your grandma kindly taught you what they are, and you now get excited any time you hear one (which, since we live 10 minutes from an airport, is about every five seconds). The first time you pointed to the ceiling after hearing a plane, despite not seeing it since we were inside, I about died from the cuteness.

You are still a little chatterbox. You love to babble all day long, and have a few intelligible words every now and again, too. Your favorite word is undoubtedly "da;" your entire face lights up whenever your dad walks in the door from work and you start frantically pointing and calling out to him. When he goes into the bedroom to change, you follow him around like a little shadow. It is the sweetest thing ever. I love how you absolutely adore one another.Reading books is still a favorite pastime of yours. Not only do you pull your books off the shelves multiple times a day, but you now take the time to sit and page through many of them. I love how you have clear preferences for books and manage to find the ones you like best, and sit and look carefully at them. You love going to story time, too, although I think there, you're still too fascinated by all the new people to pay much attention to the books. You do, however, love the songs, and, for that matter, music in general. We have a lovely morning routine in which we read from the scriptures together and then I practice my violin, and we both love it more than I can say.

Speaking of pastimes, you went on your first kayaking trip this month. We had a dear friend from South Africa in town, and we all went kayaking on the Potomac River. We thought we'd have to take turns, but it turns out they had infant life vests. It was a perfect night, and we all loved the experience (well, at least you did when we were facing away from the sun).
I love how easy it is to make you laugh. You giggle hysterically any time we play follow-the-leader and you see me crawl around. You love rolling balls back and forth to us. And you get so pleased with yourself when you manage to figure something out (such as climbing off your little "car" by lifting one foot over), and laugh at yourself for it. Tug-of-war with anything is the funniest thing ever to you. And dogs! Well, dog. There's this one little dog in our complex who you absolutely adore. While most other dogs interest you, you've never laughed at their antics. This one, however, well, you spent a solid 15 minutes laughing like crazy every time she moved or caught a ball.

A friend wrote a while back how while most people tend to let their guard down, so to speak, around their families and sometimes let their their uglier sides peek through, her baby son manages to save the best for his family. I couldn't agree more - you have this wonderful way of not only being cheerful with your family, but of being kinder and better to us than anyone else. Even when you were sad and in pain this month, you would still just look up at me with those big eyes and sweet smile and anything bad would melt away. I am just overwhelmed with gratitude to have you here, and with me forever, to learn from and love. I love you, tiny son.
love,
mama