Eleven Months Old

Well, here we are. The last month before Asher turns a year old. All this time, I've been complaining about how quickly the time has flown, but suddenly, within the past couple of weeks, it's felt as if time has slowed up a bit. I find myself feeling like, you mean, it hasn't been a year, yet? Surely, it's been at least three? I don't know why the sudden change of perception. Maybe it's due to the fact that Asher is now all over the place and into everything constantly and we're so tired and worn out from it that the days feel like they're 48 hours long. Maybe it's because our days have become so much less monotonous and redundant as Asher matures. I have actually been able to differentiate between days lately, it's amazing! Whatever the reason, I'm thankful for it. It's horrible to feel like you're being robbed of time. I'm sure that feeling will come back soon enough, but for now, it's nice to feel like it's completely possible that Asher is, in fact, eleven months old.

Nothing new and exciting has happened over the past month. No walking, yet; though, he has begun to briefly let go of things while standing to practice his balancing skills. They aren't very good right now, but I have a feeling that pretty soon he'll be able to stand on his own two feet without support like a pro. He's starting to "dance" a lot lately, bopping his head and bouncing up and down. His language skills are increasing, too; no "real" first words, yet, but he's getting there. He's catching onto the meaning of words. If I say, "Look, there's Sammy Cat," he will typically turn to look and find the kitty. He's beginning to appropriately refer to us by mama and dada...sort of. Usually, when he's upset and crying, he'll cry out "mamamamama." The rest of his day, he'll spend jibber-jabbering all about dadadadadada. He also is starting to refer to his bottle as "ba-da;" I've caught him saying this a few times either when taking him upstairs with his bottle to drink it, or when I've asked him if he's ready for a bottle. There was also something else the other day he was referring to repeatedly by saying "ba-ga" - I think it was his buggy (pacifier), but can't really recall for certain. Anyway, he's becoming very vocal, including ways other than his cute gabbing. He's apparently into SHRIEKING like a banshee, SQUEALING like a little girl, and SCREAMING like four cats fighting when he wants to let us (and everyone within a mile radius from us) know that he is NOT happy. Luckily, it's been brief so far, but we've had glimpses of being "those" people - the people you don't want to be seated next to at a restaurant, the ones who look like they've had every ounce of their dignity beaten out of them while their rugrat screeches bloody murder.

We've started introducing Asher to whole milk this month. The doctor recommended that we not put him on milk "full-time" until after his first birthday, but that it was alright to give it to him every now and then. We're trying, trying, to keep him on formula, but most of the time these days he wants nothing to do with the stuff. When he's only drinking about 12 ounces of formula a day, I figure he needs something else. So, milk it is. And speaking of drinking, he has mastered drinking from a straw this month. He drinks from a straw better than he drinks from a sippy cup. This doesn't surprise me, though; I've tried using those sippy cups, and they're hard to use! I don't think even the suction of our Dyson vacuum could get more than a few droplets out of those darn things.

Asher's first Thanksgiving was very nice, which makes me even more excited about his first Christmas in just a few weeks. I've been buying and wrapping presents like crazy. I know I'm driving Stephen nuts, dragging him through the toy aisles every place we go. But that's okay because he drives me nuts with his rants about how much he hates toys, and how he's ALWAYS hated toys, even when he was a kid, and how they're a waste of money. Can we say bah humbug much? I haven't decided whether or not to put up the Christmas tree...I really, really want to, but with all of the packing and cleaning I've been trying to do in preparation of moving, and with the certainty that it will be nearly impossible to keep Asher out of the tree, I'm not sure it's a good idea. I can just see him swallowing an ornament hook or crushing a fallen glass ornament in his hands.

As crazy as it sounds, in just one month I'll be posting his one year post. I guess I should probably get my butt in gear and get his party planned, along with getting my Christmas cards out, the Christmas shopping completed, his birthday shopping completed, presents wrapped...What the hell was I thinking, again, arranging to have his birth be just a week after Christmas? I could have birthed a ten-pounder...at least that would have only been a one-time pain in the ass, instead of an annual one.

Here are Asher's November pictures.