11 Months

Baby Joe enjoyed his dinner so much he decided to wear it

Baby Joe turned 11 months old this past weekend and is just about at that magical year mark for us.  He's been getting ever closer to walking on his own; he can stand unsupported for a few seconds at a time and does well walking when we are holding his hands.  I'm hoping that he will at least be taking steps on his own by his first birthday in 4 weeks.

He has also been teething again - his molars coming in on the top have caused large hematomas to form on his gums and he's been pretty unhappy about it on most nights recently.  His diet has changed significantly, though... he's eating solid foods a lot more and breastfeeding a lot less and, aside from the teething, has been sleeping more at night.  He really enjoys eating sauteed spinach and avacado, but also really enjoys ground up chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

When I come home from work or he sees me for the first time every day he usually has a huge smile for me and will wave and motion for me to pick him up.  He's been getting a lot better at communicating with us - he can let us know when he wants to go down on the floor, be picked up, when he wants to go to a specific location or wants to hold something, and he also has been doing better about forming sounds and putting together sounds to get closer to speaking whole words.  Just in the last few days he has started saying 'daddy' and 'tick' when we tickle him and he looks like he's trying very hard to form new words when he hears us talk.