Eleven months!

Eleven months - October 24, 2014

Well, I think it is my fault. I blinked. And when I did, you took advantage of the moment to get another month older, Sammy. This has been a month of rapid changes. Every day you are a different kid. You keep moving farther and farther away from being a baby, and closer and closer to being a sweet little boy.

Standing up is old news for you by now. It takes very little effort to pull yourself up. You grab the couch, or a chair, or a bookshelf, or mommy's legs, and stand up tall. You have started cruising around furniture, walking very carefully while holding on. We have a wheeled toy that transforms from a sit-and-scoot bicycle to a stand-up walker, and you have mastered the art of walking around the living room while pushing it ahead of you. You aren't quite interested in trying to walk while holding onto mama or daddy's hands, but I'm sure that will happen very soon.

You are a boy on the move. You scoot around the house, chasing cats, finding leftover Cheerios under your high chair, throwing a pacifier or ball around and then chasing it down (yes, you play fetch with yourself!). You are also a MASTER at climbing stairs. This was a big surprise to us. You must spend a lot of time climbing the mats at daycare. Because man, do you know what to do around an up staircase! You pull one knee up the step, then follow with the opposite foot, pulling up to standing. Step by step. We haven't started working yet on the harder process of coming down the stairs.

You still love eating. You'll try anything, and you love most everything you eat. You prefer to feed yourself. We go through about a bazillion Cheerios a day. At meals, you eat a bit of whatever mama and daddy are eating, so you keep tasting a wide range of foods. On this past week's visit to Chicago to see Mormor and Grandpa, you figured out that oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon is pretty delicious. So also are potstickers and egg rolls, guacamole, scrambled eggs, meat loaf, grilled cheese, lingonberries, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin, cranberries, apple cider donuts, chicken noodle soup...so many things! Eating is getting easier now that you have three teeth on the bottom and two teeth coming in on top. Teething makes you a little cranky, but not too bad.

At mealtimes, one of your favorite things is to drink water. You most prefer to take sips out of mama or daddy's glass, and you are getting better at it. You still sometimes forget to close your mouth so it all dribbles out, and you still sometimes inhale it instead of swallowing, leading to crazy coughing fits. But you're doing all right. You're also starting to figure out how to use a sippy cup. You can't quite figure out how to hold it and drink from it at the same time, but you are great at drinking if someone else holds it for you. Water is something exciting right now, and you haven't learned that it is something different than food.

You continue to be a busy busy boy. Your Duplos are your favorite toy right now. You like banging them together and dumping them out of their box, and are starting to get curious about how they fit together. You also love your cell phone and your dump truck - both great gifts from your godmother, Charisse. You love pulling books off of your bookshelves, and the stripy cat lift-the-flap book is your clear favorite. At Mormor and Grandpa's house, you also have fallen in love with this pink stuffed pig (Ham from Toy Story) that was your mama's back in high school (or earlier?). We ask, "Can you give piggy a kiss?" and you crawl over to him, tackle him, hug him to your chest while grinning and squinting up your eyes, and then you touch his snout to your mouth. It is ADORABLE.

A video posted by Stephanie DiLillo (@stephaniedilillo) on Oct 10, 2014 at 11:50am PDT

Something that isn't so adorable is your growing independence. Don't get me wrong. I love that you want to try new things, and to explore your world, and to take things on. I adore your "concentrating face" that you make when you are trying to figure out how something works. But with this new independence is also the realization that you can be demanding and can throw temper tantrums. You have this whiny scream that you do when you are trying to get your own way. It's different than the way that you cry when you are sad or scared or hungry or upset. You are starting to lose patience when you don't always get your way. It is frustrating. I know that this is how you grow into a toddler and how you grow into your world. Mama tries to be gentle with you, assuring you that you're fine. But sometimes she also has to say, "Samuel, that's enough!" We're figuring each other out right now. Mama isn't the instant fix that she used to be, even though she's pretty good most of the time.

Some of this strong will is starting to show up overnight. When you wake up, it is sometimes very hard to get you back to sleep, not because anything is wrong, but because you have decided that you want to be awake, and you are angry that anyone would try to convince you otherwise. For the most part, you are sleeping well, but the hard nights are extra frustrating these days.

You like getting up early in the morning, around 6 or 6:30 a.m., and are perfectly happy playing in your room while mama or daddy, sits on the floor next to you, half-asleep. You are happy and sweet in the wee hours of the morning, which makes it a little easier to want to get out of the warm cozy bed to come play with you.

You aren't saying any real words quite yet, but you are getting closer. You still babble to yourself in your own little language, and string together syllables like you are trying to say words and sentences. You say "ba" and "ma" and "mama" and "dadadada" pretty regularly, and are getting so close to saying "mama" like you mean it.

These days, you love swinging at the park, going for walks or jogs with mommy, petting the kitties (you are learning to be so kind and gentle with them!), loving all animals, clapping when you're happy, crawling around with a sock in your mouth, and giggling and kicking your legs like a crazy man during diaper changes. Daddy counts "one....two....three!" and then tickles you. Except that you know the game so well that you laugh when he gets to "three," even before he's touched you!

Sam, you are growing up so fast. I can't believe that the next monthly update will also be your one-year update! You are a sweet bunch of blond hair and blue eyes and big smiles and crinkly-nosed giggles. Even on the hard days, you are a light and a joy. You love people and animals and are a kind, silly soul. I love watching you explore your world, and I can't wait to see what your next adventures will be!