William walks everywhere now. He has his hands up like a little T-Rex when he walks...with his palms and fingers wide open. He is also testing how loud his vocal chords will let him go. We play with the range of sound.....He can get very loud!
Here he is hanging out, walking around the house. He just goes non-stop! All of these were taken within 5 minutes of eachother. He has such a personality!
I had some more super cute ones, but the flash was not working for me....only sporadically so several came out too dark. I was so frustrated, but I did manage to get these ones :)
Gran Gran took William for a photo shoot when she visited! It is so awesome to have professional pictures done of William. Check out his photos! Isn't he adorable?!? Thank you Gran Gran!
In the first pictures, William is dressed in John's old overalls. How adordable!
William is 11 Months! Only one month left of his first year. I don't want to miss him for a single day, it is flying by so fast. He changes on a daily basis. Its amazing what you miss if you aren't around him every second.
These are my own measurements, we'll compare to the doctor's next month :)
Weight: 22.2 lbs
Height: 28.25 inches
He is a growing machine!
Vocal Skills:
William is now playing with more and more sounds. He has become much more vocal over the past month.
The cutest one at the moment is his surprise face. He does it the most often first thing in the morning. He lifts up on his tippy toes and stretches his whole body, opening his eyes as wide as they'll go, his eyebrows up in a surprise look and says "Oh" or "Oo". It is absolutely adorable. My friends and I have tried to capture it but pictures just don't do it justice, :)
He has also learned a new form of screaching. He tries to get louder and louder each time. He can get pretty loud :)
He has started a form of whining as well. It started when I was visiting my friends in Raleigh, NC which is probably because I was talking and not paying 100% attention to him like he is now getting used to. I am trying not to respond right away to those so that he doesn't think that is the way to get my attention. *****
In addition to the above sounds, he continues his vowel and consonant sounds changing his pitch and volume levels as he repeats it over and over. Unfortunately, I haven't heard Mama in a long time. I'm still trying to have him repeat after me, but he just says "oh" back to me.
The big milestone that I'm working on with him vocally is repeating a sound that I say.
*****On the otherhand, his whining is more proof of just how very attached to me he has become, which I absolutely LOVE. I have a new perspective on life and I don't mind if he cries when I put him down or walk out of the room. I don't find it frustrating that his Love for me makes it difficutlt to get chores completed sometimes. I soak up the fact that he wants me to hold him all the time and wants to play right next to me no matter where I go in the house. Those days will be gone one day, so I'll enjoy them while I can! When he naps, I get lots of chores done :) Forget the checklist. I feel accomplished every time I make him smile or laugh his great big belly laugh.
When we returned to TX, William cried for the first time when I left him with the Nanny. He has never cared when I left before. This time he cried and reached for me as I walked out the door. It was so hard. He only did that for two days and then was back to his routine.
Motor Skills:
William started walking in his 10th month. He is taking more and more steps. He has also learned to stand on his own without holding on to anything for balance. He can stand, then squat and come back to standing again. He can stand, throw an object, gain his balance, and start to walk. He is doing great!
Will got his first pair of shoes for walking around in the airport and outside. They are Robeez and are soft on the bottom so he feels like he is still barefoot, but it protects the bottoms of his feet.
William loves to dance. He even dances to the blender :)
Problem Solving:
William is learning to stack blocks. He showed interest for the first time when we were in NC the last week of July. When we got home, I went out to Target and bought him some blocks to continue working on this skill. He enjoys smashing them and throwing them more than stacking though :)
He loves to play with cups. He takes all other objects and puts them in a cup and then out of the cup. He started with just one toy, in and out. Now at bath time, he'll take the rinse cup and put as many toys that will fit into it. Then he takes them out one by one, and repeats.
Williams continues to explore and get into everything. He helped Mommy put dishes away and found the best toy of all has been hiding in the kitchen! He has been playing with this spoon for days now :)
That is why this new toy is so great. He can take the toys in and out of the gator's bucket. Then he can push it around the house too. When he is older, it has a handle to be a wagon too.
When I first brought this toy home, William played with it for 2 hours!
William likes to throw toys down and watch for your reaction. If you react with him, he will laugh hysterically :)
I caught William with his Poo face again. He gets very serious while he is pushing. Then after he relaxes, he looks at you innocently and gives you a great big smile, All Done Mama! Back to Playtime.
William is getting more teeth! In the month of July he got his 7th and 8th tooth, both on the bottom. These ones were much more painful than any of the others. He did not sleep well and was very fussy for several days.
In this picture, you can see his first two teeth on the bottom. #7 and #8 were just trying to pierce the skin on either side of those. He got the top 4 teeth in early June.
Those things are sharp too! I have plenty of bruises on my arm where he has tried to chew on me and I didn't pull him away in time. He likes to gnaw on me when he begins to get tired.
William absolutely loves water. When I turn the water on, at bathtime he looks up at me and gives me a huge smile. Then I set him in the tub and when his feet touch the water he does it again. He likes to be in there when you start to fill it up so he can put his hand in and out of the water gushing out of the spout. He tries to grab the running water too, but hasn't been able to do it yet :) He also loves to splash.
Here he is splashing in the water.
Watching the bath fill up.
And enjoying the pool.
And finally, when he is tired, he is so cute. He puts his head down and rolls around on the floor. So exhausted he can't crawl or play anymore.
He is getting better about bedtime.
At the first of July I would set him in his crib and he would walk around and play with everything no matter how tired he was. I would stay until he showed more signs of being tired. Then I would rock him in my arms until he fell asleep. I'd lay him down in the crib and sneak out the door.
By the end of July, he has let me lay him in his crib tired but awake. He lays there staring into space while I pat his back. Then he drifts off and I walk out. It is a much faster process now. He is such a good sleeper! He goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up around 7am. Then he takes a 2-3 hour nap.
All this sleep makes him such a happy baby.
First Step:
Two weeks ago, while Grandma and Grandpa Edwards were here, William was playing with a pillow on the couch. He turned to the side with the pillow and took one step before falling face down on the pillow. He continued this a few times until....
First Step With Purpose:
Yesterday, Great Grandpa and Bonnie were babysitting William took a step without holding anything to get from his bouncer to the ottoman. When I got home from work, they were telling me about it and showing me the video. Then William took a step from the ottoman into my arms!!! It was so special :)
First Time Taking Multiple Steps:
Today, his Great Uncle Steve and Aunt Maria stopped by to say hello. William took 3 steps from the ottoman into my arms!!! It was so amazing! He did it several times while they were here. It was so exciting!
Grandma and Grandpa were in town for the 4th of July and got to see how much William has grown. On the 4th of July, we went to Great Grandpa's house to celebrate. Will got worn out playing with his toys and great grandpa's shoes that were twice his size. Can you believe, William will be wearing those one day?! I can't imagine. Here is a video at great grandpa's:
Later that week, Great Grandpa showed us a beautiful state park. The restaurant we ate at had a pretty view over the lake. We got some nice pictures at sunset.
William showed everyone how he could push chairs around the dining room of the restuarant. When we were outside, he crawled on his feet (not his knees). He's learned to protect his poor knees on cement.
On Grandma and Granpdpa's visit, they helped me get lots of stuff done around the house. They babyproofed the stairs and cabinets. We dug up the rotten fence posts and replaced them. They worked non-stop on all kinds of stuff around the house.....not much of a vacation, but I REALLYappreciate it!!! The best parents EVER!
However, they did get to babysit which is plenty of reward :)
Peekaboo William!
William showed how he can't sit still for anything.......changing his diaper, getting dressed....its all such a battle now because William is such a wiggle worm!
Barely got his diaper on here....now I'm trying to get some clothes on him:
Willam also gets into everything....which is why we've locked the cabinets. This the drawer that was left available for him to play with.....now a lot to clean for Mommy.
William now smiles with such a big smile that you can see his 4 teeth on top and 2 on bottom!
William is such a cutie pie. Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa eventually have to go home though. We were all so sad but it was such a nice trip!
