And Baby Makes Three

At eleven months, Benjamin almost never stays still long enough for me to take his picture. He's a baby on the go!

Another month has passed, and suddenly we’re only four weeks away from celebrating Benjamin’s first birthday! The past couple of weeks, our days have been filled with chasing Benjamin around as he explores every nook and cranny, or in some cases, every bug carcass or piece of string, he can find. We’ve also been enjoying his first attempts at speech, from the cute “uh-ohs” to the plaintive cries of “ma-ma” when he’s distressed about something.

Benjamin’s personality, interests, and activities at eleven months:

• When he’s happy, he grins from ear to ear and loves extra attention, whether it’s getting tickled by Daddy or acting silly with Mommy.
• When he’s excited, he clenches his fists, bends his elbows, and shakes his arms. It looks like he’s doing a strong man pose, but it’s really just his way of containing his enthusiasm. He does this when he tries a new food and likes it, when he sees an animal (in person, not on tv), or when we hand him a water bottle or some other fascinating object.
• When he’s tired or sad, he puts his forehead down on the floor and cries. It’s as if he’s given up on the situation or is too exhausted to move another inch.
• When he’s angry, he arches his back, screams in a high-pitched tone, and his face turns red. This series of events is often followed by the silent cry, which is soon followed by the yelling, forceful cry. Some things that make him angry include us taking something away from him (the tv remote, a cell phone, or something else he really shouldn’t be playing with), or us putting him somewhere he doesn’t want to be (in his exersaucer, his high chair, or his crib, depending on his mood).
• He has an eagle eye, just like his mom! He carefully picks up anything out of the ordinary off of the floor, whether it’s a bug, a leaf, or a scrap of paper. And he continues to study objects closely, whether it’s a shoe string, a clothing tag, or the buttons on a remote control.
• He can now stand on his own, with no help from a piece of furniture or a grown-up. We’ve been trying to snap a picture of him, but he doesn’t stay standing for long when we are trying to make him do so. He’s more likely to stand up when he’s not thinking about it. Recently, though, he discovered that he had this capability to stand, and after he had started bending his knees to get into a crawling position, he pushed his legs back up into standing. It was the cutest thing – like a baby squat. Here’s a picture of him standing:

• He loves the book Good Night Moon! I’ve already mentioned that this has become the middle of the night soothing technique of choice. (Who needs mama’s milk when you have “three bears sitting in chairs” and “a bowl full of mush”?) Now, any time I sit down in the glider with him, he reaches out his hand toward the book, which always sits in the ready position, and starts saying “nigh nigh, nigh nigh.” I am guessing “nigh nigh” is his way of saying “Good night.” Once I pick up the book, he gets excited, clenches his fists, and says “naaa!” every time I turn the page. Reading to him is so much fun now that he’s interacting with the books and wants to help turn the pages. I look forward to taking him to Toddler Story Time at the library after he turns one.
• He is imitating our speech more and more often. He has learned to say “uh-oh,” “hi,” “ball,” “night night,” “da da,” and “ma ma.” He hasn’t perfected the annunciation, but to us his words sound amazing! I often find myself repeating words to him now, and he will copy me. I guess that’s how he will learn.
• In addition to his speech development, Benjamin has started to understand more of what we say to him. At some point in the past couple of weeks, we started noticing a look of recognition in his eyes when we’re talking to him. Examples: if we ask him to go show someone his toy, he will take it over to that someone. If he’s playing one of his musical toys and I tell him to dance, he does it. And if he’s getting into something he’s not supposed to (like the cabinet under the tv where we keep our Wii equipment, or the speaker wires for our sound system that are partially hidden under a rug), he generally stops, or at least pauses and looks at me, when I say “Benjamin, no sir!” We’re still working on the minding thing, since he only heeds my command about half the time at this point.
• He enjoys playing independently in his play room – Although Benjamin still requires nearly constant supervision when he’s playing anywhere else in the house, we are able to get things done in another room when he plays in his play room. And he is perfectly happy to entertain himself in there. Sometimes he looks out the window, others he studies every detail of his various toys. I mentioned above that he’s been known to play with dead bugs. Just yesterday I saw him holding something small and black from across the room. I figured it was a piece of lint, but upon closer inspection I discovered it was a long dead bug, perhaps a fly, but it no longer had wings or legs. Gross! He is apparently fearless when it comes to insects and animals.
• I enjoy watching him from the other room when he plays in his play room. I recently saw him putting his two bears up on the window sill, and then taking them off again, over and over. He does this regularly now.

Benjamin completes the apparently important task of putting his bears in the window, and then taking them down again.

• He’s shown an early interest in sports, whether it’s a Tech basketball or football game (he’s been to two of each) or a beach ball in his play room. He had fun playing with this football a little bit at our Lifegroup Super Bowl party:

• We’re just starting to branch out into “real” food. My early attempts at homemade baby food came to a quick end after the first batch. I just never took the time to cook it and freeze it, it was easier to buy the ready-made baby food, and Benjamin liked the jarred stuff just fine. But, now I am wanting to transition him out of the perfectly pureed concoctions from Gerber and Beech Nut, and into the Hershey repertoire of culinary delights (and occasional failures). To that end, we purchased a food mill, with which we plan grind up/mash up our food into baby friendly bites. I’m sure I’ll have more to report on this once we get situated. Meanwhile, he has successfully eaten mashed up banana, and avocado, without gagging or throwing up. He had been doing fine with the Cheerios until last week, when we had two unfortunate vomiting mishaps – one at Blue Mesa Grill! Despite the gagging and occasional throw up, we are pleased that Benjamin has a healthy appetite and an adventurous palate (he likes everything from prunes to peas to pineapple/ham dinner).
• He likes to “kick it out.” This mostly happens at night, either right before or after his bath, or when we put him in his crib to go to sleep. It’s like he needs to expend the rest of his unused energy from the day. We’ll lay him down on the changing table or in his crib, and he immediately starts flailing his arms around and kicking his legs, all while giggling and chattering away. Maybe I should try this technique on the nights when I have trouble settling down. It certainly seems to work for him, since he’s usually sound asleep within minutes and generally sleeps all night.

This picture shows the cute swirl of hair and a few curls on the back of Benjamin's head. A sweet head of hair on a sweet boy!

So, that’s our boy at eleven months. We plan to have a small family gathering to celebrate his first birthday next month. It should be fun and not too overwhelming for Benjamin, who prefers a quiet, routine evening at home with Mommy and Daddy over a large, busy gathering of friends.