11 Months

Dear Lincoln,
Your birthday is tomorrow so I better get to last month! You turned 11 months in the cold and snow of Minnesota just after Christmas. We spent 10 days visiting friends and family. I hope that we get to move back there some day. I miss them all so much, but you are lucky that you have so many friends here. It seems that there are babies everywhere!

You have gotten so smart this month! First, you took your first steps! You started with just one, but by the time Christmas was over you had taken 3 steps all by your self. I love the look on your face. You are so proud. As you should be. We are proud of you too. You cruise all along the furniture, too. You can get from one end of the kitchen to the other it seems. I used to be able to run in to the other room and you would be where I left you, but now it seems you are half way up the stairs or in the other room. Usually I can find you in the bathroom trying to get in to the bathtub. You love bath time so much you will play in the water until your lip is shaking cause the water isn't warm any more.

You have been a wonderful sleeper lately. I am grateful that we can give you a bath, a bottle and a kiss and you fall asleep. You wake up early, but that's ok since we have to go to school/work most days. Two naps are still required for you which is fine by me. It makes the middle part of the day a little crazy when we are home together, but we try to knock out our errands and get you home!

Eating has been so much fun for you lately. There are so many new things to try! Your favorite foods are definitely fruit- oranges, blueberries and pears. You also learned how to drink the food pouches all by yourself when we were at the airport flying home to MN. You just drank it like a big boy. You also like meatballs and veggie burgers. You've had a little cheese here and there, but we still haven't explored too much dairy.

It has been fun to watch you discover language too. You understand what we are saying more and more. When I say "shoe" you grab your feet!

You are still my little skinny mini. You wear 12 month onesies and shirts, but your pants are mostly 9-12 months. Some of the Christmas gifts you got will fit next winter I bet! We finally made the transition to size 3 diapers too although you still have a bunch of size 2 at day care that fit for the most part.

The biggest transition for mommy this month was ending nursing. You are so active and curious about the world that it was getting harder and harder to get you to sit still. We started giving you formula for a few bottles in December and then we were all finished by the end of the year. I miss our special time together, but you seemed ready and that is what is most important. Sometimes we call you our little hamster because Daddy or I will hold your bottle and you will just come by and have a sip when you feel like it.

We went to a restaurant this month with some friends and you were kind of a mess. You grabbed everything in site! We realized that as much as you go with the flow, you are sometimes, just too curious to take you to grown up places. It was just another sign that we have more and more of a toddler and less of our little baby! It makes me a little sad, but also excited to hear you talk and explore.

We got pretty lucky with you, Bubba. We love you so much.

Love,
Mama

PS. I'll add the pictures in soon!