11 months of Judah

We are one short month away from celebrating a one year old! How did we get here? We feel so blessed and are continually experiencing more and more joy with this little boy. It's been awhile so let's get into it:

Food: Judah is 11 months old and weighs about 20 pounds. He's still super skinny and tall for his age, but he is starting to get an awesome baby Buddha-belly because of his deep love for food.

(Stealing Natania's banana bread)

He started off slowly with food, but once he got into it, he really got into it. Until a few weeks ago I have made all of his food. Fun and healthy things frozen into cubes. We'd get a few out for each meal and he just loved it. Two weeks ago we were in North Carolina for a week for a women clergy conference (Brett and Judah came with me because I'm still nursing Judah). Since we flew we had no opportunity to make his food or bring it with us so we fed Judah from our plates along with a few store bought items during the week.

To say he loved it is putting it mildly. That boy ate...and ate...and ate. He tried so many new things. We jumped from trying new things slowly/every few days and being cautious about allergies and choking hazards to all of a sudden eating everything and many new things a day and things with spices and things that were mixed...oh man, he was loving life.

So then we come home and I have all these great cubed things...which he now won't eat. *Sigh* So now we cook for him at every meal. He loves eating, I mean he LOVES it. He can't get enough, he's never full. He always wants more and we just eventually cut him off. Tonight for instance...he had a rice wafer, 5 oz. of mashed carrots and corn, 4 oz. of banana and plum, some of my soup, some of Brett's soup, 2 oz. of shredded chicken, some cut up red pepper and 5 oz of yogurt and applesauce mixed. His meal times take forever...sometimes 45 minutes! But it's so much fun, this kid loves food.

Favorite foods: Red pepper and green beans


Communication: This little boy has always been a pretty happy one, but he is increasingly happy and loves life. He laughs all the time, he smiles and grins. He giggles (mostly at daddy, I'm not nearly as funny). He has joy that inspires me. He loves life, it's so great.

However, he is also discovering the oh-so-human manipulation tactics. If we take something from him or if he doesn't get what he wants he will throw himself to the ground or go limp and lean back away from us. I'm sure when he's 13 we won't think so, but right now his temper tantrums are the cutest! He's an adorable little pouter. It's so hard not to give in when he does this.

Judah is starting to communicate really well. He was doing some baby sign language but now he's given that up in lieu of words. He babbles constantly...we are aware of four words for sure: more, dad, mom and uh-oh. It's so great to know what he's saying to us!

* "More" was his first and only word for a long while (said mostly in the context of food - of course). When he started saying more it was "mum-mum" along with his sign language for more. We were very aware that he was saying "more" and not "mom." A blow to my ego, but there it is. Now it actually sounds like more.
* "Dada" - oh, he knows who daddy is. Daddy is the funniest guy in the world and the best playmate. * "Mama/Mom" - there is a distinct difference between more and mom now. A side note about this one: I usually put Judah to bed, the other night I was at a meeting and so Brett put him to bed instead. Judah would ask "mama?" and Brett told him I wasn't there right now and Judah cried and then would ask for me again. This is both heartbreaking and also heartwarming for me.
* "Uh-oh" just this week he learned "uh-oh." He uses it both for when things fall and for anything he doesn't like. Yesterday Brett put him in the car and he yelled "uh-oh" at Brett for awhile. He says it at 2:30 in the morning when he wakes up and wants out of the crib. We've also learned that it can be a warning, he'll say "uh-oh" and then throw his food/cup/toy on the floor and then point at it. It's adorable.

Along with words he also waves, hugs and kisses us (love this!),  points at things (where's mommy? he'll point at me) and shakes head no (Judah, do you want to nap? he shakes head and grins).

Motor Skills: Judah is developing and moving along as I suppose is normal. He loves to dance, he's standing on his own completely sturdy now.

He climbs on anything he can and he's even started taking a few steps! He still loves the bath and splashes around and plays on his belly and swims his toys around the tub. He enjoys daddy's Motiv boxes and bags and loves to climb in them, drag them around and flip them over.

He absolutely loves to explore; he wants to get in things and on things and under things. He wants to open every door and drawer and cupboard. He wants to fit into small spaces and get onto high spaces. He moves and explores constantly.

He's such a busy little bee. It's so much fun to see him grow and learn. It's also a little bit terrifying, so many things could happen! I'm sure this terror just continues to grow as a parent when kids get more and more independent.

I know this was a long one, thanks for reading...like I always say (because it's absolutely true) this little boy is such a great source of joy. We feel so blessed to be his parents and thank God for him every single day.