Joanna is 11 Months Old

This little stinker just keeps growing up! Joanna is 11 months old today. We've started to plan her first birthday party, and I'm flabbergasted that her first year is coming to a close.

Joanna has a sense of humor. She loves to do things like pretend she's going to share her food with us, only to snatch it back at the last second and crack up. She also purses her lips together and says, "MMmm," for a kiss. When we move in for a smooch, she shoves us away and laughs hysterically. These are very funny jokes to Jo.

Joanna is good at communicating with us these days. She's learned the word "more" and points to whatever she wants and says, "More." Her first word was actually "Gesundheit," which she spoke on her 10 month birthday. She also says, "Mom." I cannot believe that she can say three words. It's crazy! She's also practicing new sounds, including a lot of S noises.

She's down to two nursings a day, one in the morning and one at night. She sleeps through the night most nights, and she falls asleep for her naps all by herself (I just put her in the crib).

Jo crawls everywhere. Although she's pulling up to a stand more often, she's still not very keen on it. She really only stands when she wants something, like to see inside the bathtub. She walks while I hold her up, but she doesn't walk on her own at all--not even while holding onto furniture. She also hasn't started climbing the stairs yet. Basically, I'm saying that our lives will become a little more difficult in the coming months as she chooses to do those things.

She loves food. She eats entire jars of baby food and baby yogurt, and she also loves chowing down on crackers, Cheerios, and other finger foods. Her favorite "real" foods are diced peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese quesadillas (I smear baby food on the inside of the tortilla to give her veggies).

At 11 months old, these are the things Jo likes and dislikes:

Likes
*Daddy coming home
*Nursing
*Being held, especially by Mommy
*Water--baths, the pool, the shower, anything water-related
*Food
*Tastes of peanut butter
*Playing her jokes on us
*Grabbing Mommy's hair
*Lego Duplo blocks

Dislikes
*Her winter coat
*The "snuffy" (nasal aspirator)
*Hats
*The car seat
*Prunes
*Bananas

11 Months!

These months are flying by! Oliver is eleven months old today. Oh my goodness; I can't believe it! I've been tossing around party ideas and starting projects for it, and now I can't believe it's going to happen in a month.

Oliver's feisty personality has really bubbled to the surface this month! This little man throws tantrums, let me tell you. Thankfully, they only last a couple of minutes. They're a little funny, but I know I need to nip them in the bud as much as possible because they won't be funny for long! Today, he threw a fit when he spilled his cup of water. Yesterday, he threw tantrums when he couldn't flip the keyboard over, when he couldn't open the washing machine door, when he couldn't put his diaper on himself, when he couldn't open the DVD case (he was leaning on it as he tried to open it), and when he couldn't figure out how a water bottle worked. It's crazy! I must admit, though, that it seems he got it from me. I was famous for my tantrums as a young one, and the only time I got really mad was when I couldn't do something (like tie my shoes). He's definitely following in those footsteps!

Play with Oliver is becoming more fun. He likes to go to the park and explore places and objects. He gets so focused on poking and prodding and objects that he drools all over his shirt. Once he figures something out, he's not as interested in it. Thus, we're constantly showing him new toys and household objects. We walk a fine line between giving him things that will keep him occupied for 5 minutes and giving him things that are too complicated (which results in tantrums, as previously mentioned). Right now, his favorite things to play with are his car seat and the firewood holder by the fireplace. This changes almost daily, though.

Oliver's been eating much better this month, mostly because we've started giving him big boy food. He adores eating waffles! He has one for breakfast every morning. He snacks on Cheerios every day. For lunch, I usually give him a jar of vegetable baby food (we do jars now because I get them for free through WIC). Today, instead of a vegetable, I chopped up a quarter of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich (made with organic, creamy peanut butter and blueberry preserves) for him, and he was completely thrilled with it. Very recently, he's started eating our dinners. Yesterday, we had garlic and cheese tortellini. We ran some under cool water and chopped them up for Oliver. He loved them! I'm hoping he'll be OK with the cheese.

Our baby has gotten sick a few times this month, too. As a result, he's started nursing more frequently instead of less. I don't regret doing that, of course, but it's pushing back my hopes of having him weaned by the end of the year.

Having a few bouts with viruses has caused him to sleep better at night. That's such a relief! Some nights, he sleeps from about 6:30pm to 6am, getting up once. Other nights, he sleeps from like 6:30pm to 7:30am, getting up twice. He usually only naps once a day at about 12:30pm for 45 minutes these days. Sometimes, he naps for longer; sometimes, he naps twice. It just depends! Recently, he's gotten better about putting himself to sleep. At night, we've occasionally put him in his crib completely awake, and he's gone to sleep himself. For his nap just now, I put him on his mattress (he sleeps on it on the floor for his naps). He sat up instead of laying down. I put my hand on his back and whispered, "Shhh," and he laid down and went so sleep!

He crawls very quickly when he wants to. I equate it to sprinting because he'll motor across the room faster than I could run it. His shins as well as the tops of his feet have become red and irritated from all the crawling. I've been putting him in pants more often than I have in the past, but he gets pretty peeved at them. Also, he hates long sleeves and freaks out when I put him in them. We'll have to work on this for the winter!

Here's a list of 11 month old Oliver's likes and dislikes:

Likes:*Mommy
*Water
*Playing "This Little Piggy"
*Being naked
*Unrolling the toilet paper
*Flushing toilets
*Watching us fill the tub
*Playing with door stoppers
*Climbing into his car seat
*Making a lot of noise with the fireplace log holder
*Watching the clothes in the washing machine
*Trying to get into the dishwasher
*Family reading time (we do that every night before bed)
*Spinning wheels on toys
*Splashing water
*Climbing up the stairs
*Pulling clothes out of drawers
*My silicone bakeware
*Ladels and other cooking utensils
*Making the signs for "hurray!" and our made-up one for "rolling"
*Listening to music
*Turning the pages of his board books
*Cardboard boxes
*Pulling down the SNES video games from the shelf
*Playing with Dad's face, especially in the morning to wake him up
*Hearing us laugh
*Taking off his diaper. He even takes off Baby Owen's if he catches sight of the tabs.

Dislikes:
*Clothes. He pulls at them and cries.
*Not being able to do something, like open the washing machine door
*Diaper changes
*Other people holding him
*Loud noises

Pictured: Oliver at Kendrick Lake Park enjoying the swing and the musical chimes. These pictures from today also include the first time Oliver crawled on grass, the first time he ate dirt, and his first sandwich--peanut butter and jelly.

The next time I write his monthly update, he'll be a year old! That is so crazy.