Dan is 11 Months Old!

Eleven down and one to go! Dan is now 11 months old. He didn't gain any weight over the last month (thank goodness! He's already a solid kid!) so he still weighs in at 25.4 pounds. He did grow a little and is now 29.75 inches long.
 

11 Months Old!

 He is walking almost everywhere now and only gets down to crawl when on uneven surfaces or to go down a flight of stairs. I don't think I mentioned last time but Dan is really good and going up and down stairs! He is so aware of where stairs are, too, which is super nice. He will tumble if he doesn't focus on what he's doing, but as long as the dogs are behaving we are in good shape :) It is super adorable when he gets ready to go down stairs. He knows that he needs to go down backwards so he'll sit down, turn around, and start crawling backwards anywhere from 1-3 feet away from the top stair. The farther away he is, the cuter. Also, the farther away he starts, the more correction he needs to make as he doesn't quite turn completely around all the time before he backs up. He does really well knowing which direction he needs to turn when he does run into a doorway or wall before the first step. Our sitter has a baby gate with a cat door in it. She leaves the cat door open so her cats have free reign of the house. Just this last week Dan sat himself down, turned around, and tried crawling through the cat door! Lucky for our sitter, he was too big to fit through.

Daddy teaching Dan how to use a whistle.

Getting it to his mouth, but not making any noises yet.

Dan is also playing peek-a-boo with himself now. It is super cute watching him pull blankets, shirts, or whatever he can get a hold of, hide his face, then "peek-a-boo!" He gets a kick out of it. When I change him I sometimes need to distract him to keep him still long enough to get a clean diaper on. That includes singing, dancing, and blowing on his feet or belly. Well, now he is placing his hand to his mouth and blowing on his hand! Just last night Dan was placing a ball into a cup (it's not a cup, but we'll call it that) then dumping the cup so the ball would run down a ramp on one of his toys. I thought it was pretty spectacular. Jason wasn't as impressed. It is all a part of the learning process of how things work on their own and in unison with other objects.

So with all this movement comes with even greater opportunities for mishaps. Dan has fallen down the stairs twice now, which is a rare occasion. This second one was just yesterday when he wanted to go down the deck steps like a big boy. One step and he caught himself on the cement driveway with his head. He now has a nice scrape, but after some cuddles he was off to his next adventure. He's also pulled the dog crate on top of himself while he was trying to pull himself up to see over it.  I know there will be many more bumps and bruises in the future. I have told him that bumps and bruises are okay, just no broken bones. I hope he's listening!

Take care!

Family picture :)