Eleven Month Stats (what??!!)

How did time fly by so quickly? Our little man is almost one. This is his last "month" birthday until the big one. The big 1-2 months, one whole year. We are so in awe of the things he has accomplished from last month to now... it's incredible. Just as Dad-E mentioned in his previous post, Aiden has been on the fast track to figuring things out this month. Just when we thought he would never crawl, instead, he starts walking. Oh, and he'll crawl too, and fast, but it's only when he wants to. He has quite the personality, the ladies at Chesterbrook call him Mr. Drama. So, in true big sister fashion, Alli will mock that too and we've heard her on several occasions say, "Stop crying, Mr. Drama, stop crying!" He still knows how to turn the waterworks on, still knows how to whine with the best of 'em, and still loves being held most of all. Now that he's almost a year old, I'm not complaining about that so much anymore. The fact that he still falls asleep on me is just incredible, and I'm going to hold on tight to those moments... Alli's were gone in an instant. I know Aiden's won't be far behind.

He loves playing with doors or anything that swings open... cabinets, doors to the playhouse, window to the box playhouse we made, etc. Being anywhere near his big sister is still an all-time favorite, he just wants to be near her and do whatever she's doing. He likes to bang around in the play kitchen, and another favorite is taking the microphone from our little boombox my mom got Alli for Christmas and talk/babble/yell into it. He laughs and laughs at himself, and continues to rub his mouth all over it. It's adorable. He loves to say "uh oh", with huge emphasis on the "uh" part... and he can wave bye-bye and clap like a champ.

He had his first true "sick visit" to the doctor's office on Tuesday... and got diagnosed with his first ever ear infection. They also gave us some eye drops because his eyes had some gross green gunk coming out of them, but thankfully, he takes medicine like a champ and the Amoxicillin is no big deal. We had a rough night last night and he has been coughing a bunch, but hopefully he's on the upswing. Several kids at Chesterbrook were diagnosed with RSV, but thankfully, his swab for that came back negative. So, we're hoping it's just a little bug on top of the ear infection, and he'll be on his way to health again soon. He's still super smiley, but, we definitely want him feeling 100% by his birthday!

The Stats:
Weight: 20 lbs at the sick visit, that was with clothes on though too
Length: Not sure, he's gaining on Ms. Ru though!
Diaper size: 3's
Clothing size: 9-12 month, mostly 12 month sleepers but can still fit in 9 month shirts and 9 month pants as long as they aren't one piece outfits
Shoe size: 4-4&1/2 or so, finally wearing them more often!
Food: One bottle in the AM, one at bedtime, 3 cups throughout the day of milk or water, 3 full meals and a snack... basically whatever Alli eats, he eats too
Naps: One 2 hour nap at school, sometimes he still takes two at home on the weekends with us
Sleep: Bed by 6:45-7ish, up around 6:15ish
Teeth: 6! He has the 4 across the top and 2 on the bottom
Sounds: Lots of babbling still, dadada is still the favorite, baba, "uh oh"
Play: Free standing, walking (a lot of zombie walking, hands out... it's funny), "organizing" the DVD's in the entertainment center, playing in the kitchen, rocking the mic on the boombox, blocks, cars, playing in Alli's room before bed is always his favorite... he can't wait to be done with his bottle in his room so we can head down there and see Alli & Dad-E
New buddies: A couple new friends at school, got to see and play with Tyler and Lily down the street a little more often now that it is getting nicer outside!

The countdown is on for his first birthday... and the ensuing party. He already had a good first taste of what chocolate cupcakes taste like thanks to Dad-E's work friends bringing some to him that he brought home to share. He was in love... can't wait to see what his experience with his birthday cake will be like, and what the next year has in store for him too. We love lil A so much, and we're so proud of how far he's come!

Messy face, thanks for the cupcake dad!

Sweet, sweet baby <3