11 Months

My dear Ben is celebrating 11 months today.  It makes me nostalgic and sad to think we only have one month of infancy left.  He does, however, get more fun by the day and watching him grow and develop is the by far the most rewarding experience of my life.  Not that I take credit for much of it.....I now understand what my Mom meant when she would tell me that lots of me was just who I am when I was always trying to give my parents all the credit for who and what I was.  
Ben and I are in Montana visiting my dad, his Grandpa Ken.  Ryan arrives tomorrow and we head north for the wedding of my college friend, Jenna.  This trip has provided for Ben's first visit to Wyoming and Montana and at 11 months, he has now visited 8 states and tackles time changes and sleeping in hotels and guest rooms with ease.   

Ben is exploring like crazy and crawls properly on all fours (only backwards). He goes from sitting to laying, rolling and crawling much more quickly than a month ago but still reverts to rolling when he wants to get somewhere quickly.  He is just starting to be curious about the world on a higher level starting to attempt to pull himself up on things.  He loves when we stand him up at a table or higher surface but can't get there on his own yet.  His most proud moments are when he travels on his own to an all new location and looks around and then to you as if to show off his accomplishment. 

Ben still has just 8 teeth (actually a lot for his age) and his newest foods are cheese, yogurt and chicken.  All- natural turkey has been challenging to find so I think we will track down some beef when we get back home. He has also started eating more whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat bread on a more regular basis.  

In the talking department he has added ba and na sounds to his repertoire and really enjoys making b sounds and blowing along with the mouth shape required to make such a sound.  We have been working on Hi, and repeating Hi over and over to him almost always ends in hysterics on both our parts.  I would love to know why it's so funny to him!  He also laughs hysterically when he sneezes and gets a huge grin when he feels a sneeze coming on.  

Ben's favorite activities still involve water and we still work hard to expose him to it and foster his swimming development.  I'm hopeful he'll have his first lake swim this weekend :).  
It has been very fun lately to see Ben start to manipulate some of his toys in their intended manner.  We are working on stacking with blocks and turning the pages of books.  Speaking of books, despite adding many new ones to our daily reads, there is still no response better than that elicited by The Grouchy Ladybug.  I'm confident that grand response has made it as fun for Ryan and I to read as it is for Ben to hear.  
Until next month!.......