eleven months

I've caught myself answering the "how old is he?" question with "almost a year"...and that makes me want to cry. When Jake was a newborn, every other parent told us that time would go quick and I believed them, but seriously...this past year eleven months went fast. And the days aren't slowing down by any means either. Jake's a pro at crawling now, which means I'm a pro at cleaning up toys/Tupperware/letter magnets/everything now. He still loves to cuddle and we've taught him to hug (lay his head on our chest) after which he'll put his arms under his belly and snuggle in a little closer. He could be walking on his own by now but he will not budge unless he's got a firm grip on our fingers. Once he's feeling confident, though, its full steam ahead complete with some hyperventilating and a goofy grin. Jake is quite the foodie now, rejecting baby food in favor of bits of lettuce wraps, pad Thai, and barbeque chicken. Probably our favorite thing about this age is Jake's fake cry/pout, which involves sticking out that lower lip and squinted his eyes shut just for a second, then a peek to see if we're watching. I laugh every time and I think Jake's realized we're not falling for it. At first he used to actually let out a cry but now its just the tiniest whine, as though it's not even worth the effort to try. Jake loves to be outside and is perfectly content playing in the dirt for hours while I garden, with a quick check every few minutes to ensure he hasn't eaten yet another leaf. (Seriously, when is the stick-everything-in-your-mouth stage over??)

We love every bit of our teeny, fuzzy-haired, bubbly little guy. He's made our family so much better.