Dayton ~ 11 Months

Dayton Thomas,

    Oh baby. You are 11 months old. Where has the time gone? I love the stage that you are at, but I have been inwardly emotional about you getting so close to turning a year old. I am just not ready for it yet. You are my baby! As much as I love each stage that you go through, I wish you could stay my baby forever. I love your sweet cuddles, your smiles, you belly laughs, your sad faces, your lion sounds, your pterodactyl noises, your slow then fast crawl, your bold steps, and most of all that sweet little face of yours. I love you when you're mad, happy, silly, and sad. You're the sweetest baby. You are constantly growing and changing. Daddy and I love you more and more every day that goes by. You're my whole heart and my whole world. I love you to the moon and back my little bug.

Love,
Mama

__________________________

Size: 24.5 lb

Hair: Brown - you have longer hairs on the sides and the back, but the top is still shorter. You're a pretty bald looking guy. Your little hairs are starting to hang over your ears on the side. It's adorable. You may have curls when your hair is longer. We'll see.

Eyes: Dark brown.

Teeth: You have 6 teeth - 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. The two spots next to your bottom teeth are red and puffy. I think those two teeth will come in some time in the next month.

Food: You still love to eat. You've decided you want nothing to do with baby food. You won't even take the squeezy packages anymore. You are completely on toddler finger foods. You are so good at eating too. I hope you're always like this - even though I know you won't be some day. You have not said "no" to anything that we've put in front of you. Love how well you eat all of your meats, veggies, and fruits!

Your schedule is-
7 am - nurse
8 am - 1 serving each of protein, fruit, and complex carb, sippy cup of breast milk
9:30 am - snack and sippy cup of breast milk
11:30 am - 1 serving each of protein, veggie, complex carb, and fruit, sippy cup of breast milk
12:30 pm - sippy cup of milk
3:30 pm - snack and sippy cup of breast milk
5:30 pm - 1 serving each of protein, veggie, complex carb, and fruit, sippy cup of breast milk (or nurse)
7 pm - nurse

Sleep: You are a sleeping champ. You are sleeping about 12-13 hours at night. You are ready for bed around 6:45-7 pm and you let me know that it is time for bed, you cranky butt. Most nights you sleep perfectly and wake up between 7-7:30 am on weekdays and some time on the weekend you sleep until 8 am or later. Ah child, I love you and your sleep habits. Every now and then you crank around a little at night, but nothing too disturbing.

You brought back your morning naps for a little bit after you had fifths disease, but now they are gone again. We were only letting you sleep about 30 minutes in the mornings. In the afternoon, you like to take your nap around 12:45 pm and you sleep till about 3:30 pm on the dot. Every now and then you sleep a little less, but you still nap so well!

Clothes: You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, but some of them are getting a little tight. I'm not quite sire when I will switch out your clothes. I may have to have a little of both.

Words: You say "mama" and "dada!" I love it! When we ask you what "the lion says" you open your mouth wide and say "raaaaa!" It's adorable. You also talk, a lot, and say all kinds of sounds. Another one of your favorites is a car noise thing that you do with your lips. We have whole conversations like this.

Development/Activity: Oh baby boy, you give truth to the saying "busy bouncing boy." You are busy busy, but we love it. I think I could sit with you on the floor and watch you play all day. It's just fun to watch you figure things out.

You are standing by yourself, walking from object to object and you've started trying to take 1 step to get to me. You also do this funny crawling thing where you crawl at a normal pace then when you get excited you go into this super fast crawl. We call you speedy. You're also getting really good at picking things up and trading back and forth between your hands.

You've also started hugging. It. is. adorable! When I pick you up from daycare, you crawl over to me, I pick you up, and you wrap your arms around my neck and squeezy. We give squeezy hugs a lot now and I adore them. When I was home with you one morning, I was sitting on the ground with you. You crawled up on me, put your arms around my neck, and then just rocked from side to side for quite a while. It was the sweetest thing and I would have loved it if it had gone on forever. I love your sweet cuddles. You have also become very possessive while you are nursing. You just don't want to let go! I don't mind though, it just means extra cuddles for me!

You do so many new things, that it's hard to keep track of! It seems that every day, you do something new. We are loving this stage!

Temperament: You're a pretty happy little guy, although your stubbornness has started to come out more. When you want an object or to play with something, you want it. We have started disciplining you by telling you "no" and moving you to a new object. You throw a few fits, but they isially last about 5 seconds. Nothing too terrible yet.

You're also going through a major mama only phase. When we drop you off at daycare, you're fine. However, when we hand you over at church, to friends, or even the babysitter you cry for me. (Sometimes you even do this to daddy. What can I say, you love your mama!)

Likes: You like playing, crawling, walking around the couches, pulling up on things, opening drawers, going for walks, mama and daddy, playing "flying" with daddy, eating, sleeping, your toy snake, balls of any size, shape, and color, trying to chase or pet the dogs, and your friends at daycare.

Dislikes: Getting your diaper and clothes changed and being hungry or tired. You don't like the word "no," but you do listen!

Small Moments: It's so hard to choose, but I think this month I think I have to choose your mama only phase. I'm not going to lie, I absolutely love it!! I love being needed/wanted by you. You're the light in my day little man. I love you so much!!