Charlie: 11 Months

The milestones that this little boy is reaching are incredible! His personality is really developing and good grief he is ornery; but he is also one of the sweetest babies. 

Here's a little bit about Charlie this month:

• He hates getting his diaper changed
• It takes at least 10 minutes to get pants on him because he moves his legs so much. As soon as you get one leg in and try to get the other one in, he pulls the first leg back out! 
• We bumped him up to size 4 diapers and 12 month, 12-18 month, 18 month and 24 month clothes. A lot of the 12 month and 12-18 month clothes are quickly becoming to small. 
• HE HAS A TOOTH!!!! His bottom right tooth finally came through!!! 
• He loves to laugh with the kids or John & I
• He still prefers to play with cords
• He really enjoys taking a bath with Mellany and Johnny
• One of his favorite toys is the little black piano in his room and any type of magnet. He is also fascinated with any of Johnny's tractors, trucks, cars, planes, etc., legos and phones. He also likes Mellany's Elena of Avalor scepter of light. 
• He has started "reaching" for people when he wants to be picked up or held by them. 
• He can give hugs and kisses, high fives, and "pounds"
• His favorite show to watch is Baby Einsteins and even a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger
• He can play hide and seek with a blanket VERY well.  
• A trash can is his gold mine!
• He thinks it's hilarious when John takes a drink. Literally any time John takes a drink out of a cup, Charlie starts with his giggles. 
• As long as he is being entertained he will sit for a good length of time

Sleeping:
It was my hope that I could say Charlie was continuing to sleep through the night, every night, but unfortunately that isn't the case. He is waking up around 2:00 or 4:00 to drink a bottle on most nights and then goes back to sleep. So while it could be worse, he definitely isn't sleeping straight through. Getting him to sleep isn't an issue at all. You just lay him down in his bed and he will go to sleep. He takes one nap in the afternoon around noon/1:00 and sleeps for several hours then will go back to bed around 7:30/8:00 and then wake up for his bottle somewhere around 2/4:00am and then wake up for the day around 7:30.


Eating Habits/New Foods:
Bottles: 4 ounces every 3 hours with 2T of oatmeal....At times he still doesn't seem that interested in the bottle, and acts like he would rather be playing. I guess this is a good sign because in a month the bottle will be slowly going away.

New Foods!!: Avocado, Tortilla, mixed berries, crackers, yogurt, yogurt melts, biscuits. He doesn't do the greatest with the yogurt, as it usually comes back up but overall he has come quite a long way with eating food and keeping it down and not having the gas/burping issues. His spitting up has slowed down and we are usually making it through the day in one outfit.

His absolute favorite foods are still puffs and peaches or pears. If he doesn't like a food he lets you know it by making the most awful face and then refusing to eat it anymore. He's gotten pretty vocal about what he does and doesn't want. He will also tell me if he wants more by saying "more" or if he's all done by signing "all done" with his hands.


New Discoveries:
He has discovered the pantry and bathroom. I have found him pulling everything off my pantry shelves that he can reach and attempting to play in the water in the toilet. Now our doors to those areas stay shut while Charlie is awake.

Accomplishments:
Climbing the stairs! He is really good at climbing them too. I've even started showing him how to climb back down them.

Words: "hi", "mama", "dada", "more", "no"

Places:
Church, Meijer, Kids Club at the gym, the bank, Johnny & Mellany's soccer practice,  daddy's office, Michigan to get our Yukon, Indianapolis zoo, Optometrist for Mellany and Johnny's eye appointments, Mellany's elementary school

Special Memories:
I think that one of the most special times/memories for me is feeding Charlie his bottle. I am quickly realizing that in a month or so, he won't be sitting on my lap for a feeding anymore because he will be eating all solid foods and drinking regular milk (crossing my fingers on this). And that for a period of time, he won't want to sit on my lap anymore (until the time comes that I can bribe him to do so like I do his siblings). So while at times it is difficult to sit for 10-15 minutes to give him his bottle, those are also the times that I will miss so much and will cherish forever!

11 Month Photo Shoot
Again, it's a huge feat to get any kind of picture of Charlie sitting still..... but he's always good for a smile! (Just for reference his onesie is 24 months!!)