Noah :: 11 Month Update

Dear Noah,

Today you are 11 months old! Every time I sit down and write to you I think to myself how amazingly fast these days, weeks, and months are flying by. Didn't I just write your 10 month letter last week?! That's certainly what it feels like anyways. We packed quite a bit into this month and I can't wait to tell you all about our month together. But before I forget, after nearly 3.5 months with no new teeth, you finally cut your 3rd tooth last weekend! I have a feeling a few more are on their way soon, too. 

This past month it seems like you've turned into a little boy almost overnight. You are drinking from your sippy cup like a champ now and you are even learning to use a straw, too! You also decided that you were ready to say goodbye to baby food making the switch over to 3 full meals (plus a snack or two) of "big boy" food! At the moment, your favorite foods are cheese, eggs, and yogurt. Your typical menu on any given day usually looks like this:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, toast, or yogurt (it varies, but you usually have a combo of 2 of these foods)

Lunch: Cheese (usually cheese cubes or a quesadilla), sweet potato, black beans, left-overs from dinner the night before, or sometimes Mommy shares her lunch with you if it's something that you like (and isn't too spicy...Mommy loves her hot sauce!). 

Snack: Yogurt or fruit pouch 

Dinner: You usually just eat what Mommy and Daddy have for dinner. Your favorite meal that we cook right now is tacos. We make you a little taco bar with ground beef, cheese, tortilla, black beans, and a little lettuce. You gobble it right up! 

Oh, and speaking of turning into a little boy, Mommy forgot to mention to you last month that you've started crawling up the stairs. You can climb the entire staircase in less than 30 seconds! You love climbing the stairs, especially when Daddy cheers you on from the top. You continue to cruise everywhere, but this month you've also started standing on your own without holding on to anything for a solid 10 seconds at a time! It's actually kind of entertaining, because once you realize you are standing all by yourself, you usually start laughing as you sit back down. Maybe you are just so impressed with yourself that your laughter knocks you back down? ;) Much of your attention this month has been related to standing and cruising. You are also becoming quite fast while walking with your push toys. I'm sure it won't be very long before you take those first steps!

This month we took a day trip to the Cleveland Zoo to celebrate your first 4th of July. We were originally planning on taking you up to Lake Erie to play at the beach, but since the weather forecast looked like rain, we decided to take a chance on the zoo instead. While I'm sure the beach would have been a blast, we were SO glad we ended up visiting the zoo. The Pittsburgh Zoo is much closer to home, but we haven't had the best luck with seeing many of the animals during our visits there this summer. At the Cleveland Zoo you were able to see so many more animals...some of them really close up, too! We ate lunch right next to the lions and you even got to see Mommy feed a giraffe! Pretty cool, huh? The rain held off and we had a fantastic day together!  

We also took another day trip this month to Idlewild, an amusement park for kids. You are still a bit too young to really appreciate the park, or ride most of the rides, but we still had a fun day regardless. You did, however, get to ride the choo-choo train and the carousel (2x!). You were a little unsure about the carousel, but you loved riding the train. We also got to play at the water park with you, which you absolutely LOVED. You had a blast splashing in the baby pool and playing with all of the sprayers. You were actually quite brave for being just a little guy with lots of older kids running around. Mommy and Daddy were pretty impressed with how fearless you seemed around the water. 

Last month, I wrote about many of your current favorite things (and not so favorite things). You actually still like/dislike most of the things I mentioned from last month, but there are a few more things to add to that list for this month. One of your new favorite things to do is to give toys to us. It's still somewhat spontaneous, but you will hand things over when we ask if you feel like it ;) We've caught you trying to give your toys to the puppy, too, which absolutely melts our hearts! Sharing with others is so, so important, and Daddy and I hope that you will grow into a very giving little boy. 

Well, kiddo, it looks like you're waking up from your nap as we speak (we're off to story time today), so on that note, I'll wrap things up and just say I love you. 

Until next time, here are some of my favorite snapshots from your eleventh month. 

It's fun to clap! :)

This face melts my heart <3

4th of July at the Cleveland Zoo

You, Daddy & the polar bear

(and the battle of keeping the hat on)

Bubbles in the pool

Riding the carousel at Idlewild

Playing at Idlewild

Water park fun!

Busy days make for tired babies

Monkey'ing around :)

Taunting the dog ;)

Fun afternoon at the park with friends

Mommy's grocery shopping buddy

Standing on your own!

(finally standing long enough to snap a pic)

 Happy guy :)

No official height/weight stats this month, but we did take a quick weight check using our home scale, and you weigh about 21 lbs. Still in 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

I love you,

Mommy