11 Months Old

The biggest news of the month is that Holden is walking!!! He walked across the room for the first time on January 21st. Now, there's no stopping him. He walks around with his arms up by his head (for balance), holding an item, or clapping his hands. It's pretty cute to see him go.

Holden has eight teeth, but refuses to put them to good use with any chunky food. We (I) couldn't wait for the introduction of "real" food; we had no idea he would totally protest! I am really to blame because I continue to feed him baby food when he won't eat the chunky food. I've been told he'll eat what I offer when he's hungry enough, but I have a hard time letting my baby miss a meal so I bring in the back up (baby food). I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to play hardball though. Chicken cubes and green beans or Nothing! We'll see what happens, but Holden may be the only guy you know going to college still eating Earth's Best fruits and veggies.

Feeding him is more challenging, but dressing Holden has gotten a little easier this month. He'll pull an arm or leg through, instead of totally fighting the process. Diaper changes are a tad easier, but I still need like 5 arms most of the time to keep him down and get him closed back up.

Socially, Holden is a little ham. He LOVES to dance anytime music comes on. I've been told he's even rushed in from playing outside at Childcare to boogie to the beat. He enjoys all of his little friends, and has recently started stealing the little girl's pacifiers at Childcare. Even though he's never wanted a pacifier a day in his life, I had to bring one for him so that he wouldn't take the others. Guess what happened once I brought one in for him? Yep, you guessed it, he didn't want one anymore. He loves Childcare so much that he sometimes shakes his head No to me when I go to pick him up. He'll dive back into his teacher's arms, will point outside (to play), and will refuse to come back to me. I've taken him to the park for the past two days after school. See Holden, Mommy is fun too!

He's communicating a little more but not really saying any new words. I really can't explain it, but we know what he's trying to "say" most of the time.

The picture above was taken on Monday, January 22nd. When I picked him up from Childcare, they had gelled his hair into a cute little style. He looked so darling! You may notice his red lip and nose; he got an "Ouch Report" this same day. He was playing outside pushing a little car, got ahead of himself and fell. He recovered quickly and hasn't really seemed fazed by it at all.

Here he is walking along.....