Cash is 11 months old today!
Cash is a good eater who has just started self feeding himself. Cash began protesting baby food in the middle of October. He would slap the spoon out of my hand as it approached his mouth, and we’d both be covered with pureed fruits and veggies. I finally stopped buying the baby food, and now just give him chopped up people food. He usually eats what we eat. Luckily, he will try just about anything. He even ate some of my shrimp tacos this past weekend. He makes it very clear when he doesn’t like something though. He pounds his fists on the high chair and then uses broad sweeping motions to push all of the food off onto the floor. He has started to use his own version of the baby signs “more” and “all done”. For “more” he claps his hands and says MMMMM, and for all done he waves his hands and slams his body against the back of his high chair. He screams if he wants more, and he screams when he’s all done and I don't get him out fast enough. He pretty much screams all the time.
However, Cash does have one true word - “Mama”. I walked in to childcare last week and he said it. “Mama”. It was a sweet, sweet sound. He also uses mama to tell us he wants more of something.
Our Cash is so active these days. It’s close to impossible to get him dressed or change his diaper. He squirms all over the place and does the alligator death roll while screaming and crying. We have to move fast. He cruises along all of the furniture, and will now step from the coffee table to the couch while holding on. Last week, I saw him let go and stand all by himself for about two seconds. He loves his walker and walks all over the place with it. When the walker is out of reach he pushes dining room chairs around to get where he wants to go. He’s a super fast crawler, which means we have to be lightning fast when getting into the refrigerator. The refrigerator is one of his favorite places to play, and as soon as he hears that door open, he bolts over there. He’s become interested in opening cabinets and drawers. As of now they are rubber banded shut, and I think that will deter him for a while. But for how long, who knows?
Cash loves his big brother, Holden. Holden makes funny noises at him in the back seat when we’re driving, and Cashy cracks up laughing. I love it, and usually end up laughing myself. They take a bath together every night, and now that Cash has moved out of his bath seat, they are in there squirming around together. The biggest challenge is that Cash wants to stand up in the bath now, so I’m constantly having to sit him back down and tell him that we sit in the bathtub. He's also started to lick the bath water.
Cash goes to bed around 6:30. After their bath, I get Cash dressed in his jammies while Holden dresses himself. Then we all sit in the rocking chair together and read books. Lately, we love all the Sandra Boynton books. There is also an Interactive Touch and Feel book that Cash LOVES. He feels the fur and squeaks the squeaker on the mouse page. We turn off the light and rock for a few minutes. I turn on soft music and lay Cash down. He goes down really easily and puts himself to sleep. Since the time change, Cash has been waking up around 4:45 each morning. I hope he adjusts soon and we start getting some sleep in time in the future.
Baby Cash is almost one. I really can’t believe it.
