Eleven Months

and THIS is my favorite age. BUT I KNOW I will keep saying that each time he "turns" something else.
This boy is the most affectionate, loving little thing. I LOVE that his first real "tricks" on command were "give me a kiss" and "give me a hug," followed quickly by "give me five." NOW, his tricks include the following:

On command he can:

• stretch
• answer the question "How big is Bennett?" in the expected fashion
• clap
• hug
• kiss
• blink (doesn't do it 100% of the time, but close)
• when we say "I love you" he smiles and gives us a hug (he started this on his own - I guess he can feel that it is an affectionate term)
• come here
• close the door (this really comes in handy when he opens a cabinet he isn't supposed to. yes it's on my "honeydo" list to get all the babyproofing completed)
• blow a kiss, without the hand. Just makes the "MWAH" sound
• "raise [his] hands" so we can take off his shirt
• dance - this is a family favorite and there is even a nice jingle we sing to get him to dance. It is quite addicting.
• bounce

On command he can find:

• duck
• truck
• book
• toes
• ear (he did this twice today, but still not 100%. I think he "gets it" though bc when I ask he will point to some feature on his face - nose, mouth, eye, etc)
• ball

He understands the phrases/words/signs:

• milk
• bottle
• food
• eat
• are you hungry?
• take a bath
• nite nite
• bed
• go to sleep (he even lays his head down on whatever is near him when I say this)
• no (he stops what he is doing, but like most babies his age, he seems to think it's a game)
• dog
• Steele
• go outside
• come here
• play
• toys
• all done

He will sit and roll/throw the ball with us forever. Back and Forth. He also loves putting things into bigger things, like a bowl or a container, and then taking them out and repeat. He loves wheels of all kinds, still. He loves to open and close doors - cabinet doors, room doors, bang bang bang all day long. He loves paper of all kinds, and electrical/computer/phone cords of all kinds. He is a super duper fast crawler. Like most milestones in his life, one day he shows absolutely no signs of doing something, and the next day he is a pro at it. He is continuing to "accidentally" take small steps by himself, whether it is to me or to a toy once I stand him up. Generally, he is all over the house and I am amazed at the speed he finds himself there.

He has been sick for a week, so he is spitting out food and not exhibiting his famous appetite for the first time since birth. BUT, other than that, he will eat anything and everything we give him. I don't really remember the last time he had baby food - it got to the point that he didn't have any interest in it. He would rather feed himself. He easily took to the sippy cup, and even though we only have two at this time, two of his four bottles a day are not bottles but sippy cups.

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His day is something resembling the following:

anywhere from 7-8am: wake up. Sometimes I hear him at 6 or 6:30am, but he will quickly fall back asleep if I let him lay back down without going in there. (thank goodness). 6-7 ounce bottle once he wakes up, then eats breakfast (oatmeal cereal mixed with applesauce and maybe some berries) around an hour later.

anywhere from 9:30-10:30am: goes down for a nap. will sleep around 1-2.5 hours.

when he wakes up: 6 oz formula

around noon: lunch

around 2:30-3:30pm: 6 oz formula or a snack and goes down for a nap - this is now his longer nap of the day...generally 2-2.5 hours

when he wakes up: snack and playtime, daddy [usually] comes home at this time

6:30pm: dinner, then bath, then 6oz formula, then nite nite!

He is a bedtime champ. No fussing or anything - he is always happy to go to sleep.

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Bennett still goes to MDO on Mondays, and I have him on the waiting list for a second day...as work is getting really busy and I can't always just assume my mother(s) will be available. Sometimes he will accompany me to meetings with my client-friends, which is one perk of the job. I'm sure I will be editing this to add more things he is doing that I forgot - he really is learning new things daily. I am amazed at how much he knows and understands that we don't realize!!

He is my little best friend and my constant shadow - following me everywhere and wanting to be wherever I am. I am soaking it up, as I know that someday in the not so distant future he will have much more interest in shadowing his Daddy.

You are amazing B! We love you so so much. (How much? SOOO much!)

and now for my favorite from the past month:If I were MckMama , I would ask for a caption contest for this one, but alas I do not have eight bazillion readers. It sure does look like it needs a caption though :)

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I have added pictures to the Thanksgiving post, p.s.