11 Months Old!

At 11 months old, Nathan weighs 25 lb 6 oz.  He's definitely getting heavy!  Here are a few of Nathan's accomplishments this past month:

- Nathan learned how to 'high-five'.

- He will shake his head "no" if you try to get him to do something he does not want to do, such as making him walk somewhere he doesn't want to go, or putting him in his car seat.

- He will nod his head for "yes".  He's really good at doing this if you ask him, "Do you want more?" or "Are you hungry?"

- Nathan learned to go from a laying down position to sitting.

- He has also learned how to stand up in his playpen and crib.  Every time I go to get him from his crib he's standing up, waiting for me.

- Nathan has tantrums like no one's business if he doesn't get what he wants.  He usually throws himself on the ground.  Cute, but not so cute.

- When he doesn't want to eat anymore, there is no convincing him otherwise.  I'm not quite sure how I want to handle this one yet, as there are times where I feel he needs to eat more to finish his plate.  I don't want to parent my children differently, but it wouldn't kill Nathan if he was short calories every now and then.  On the other hand, I want him to learn that he has to finish all of the food on his plate.

(He heard the airplanes in the sky...couldn't see them though because of the clouds)

- Nathan said his first, second, and third words!  He learned how to say dog (gawg), duck (gawk), and dad.  When he saw Jon walk in the front door after work on September 4th, he quickly started butt-scooting towards him saying, "Dad, Dad, Dad".  Jon's pretty proud.

- He can climb stairs (and really fast)!  We do have a pressure-mounted gate that we can use at the bottom of the stairs to prevent him from climbing, but between Matthew, Kayla, and myself, there's usually someone to watch him climbing up during the day.  Luckily, there is a landing halfway through the flight of stairs so even if he were to fall, at least it would only be down seven stairs.

- On September 11, we realized that he could take steps.  This was totally unexpected as I thought he wouldn't walk until after he turned one.  Now, I'm thinking he might walk before his first birthday!  I guess he'll just never crawl!  He easily can take up to ten steps, when he feels like practicing.

- He knows our bath time routine.  He stands by the edge of the tub and willingly lifts up his arms to get his shirt off and lifts up his legs to step out of his pants.  Any other time you try to undress him he is not very cooperative.

- Nathan still gets three 8-oz bottles a day (after his morning nap, after his afternoon nap, and just before bed) and prefers the milk to be warmed up.