Happy 11 Months, Baby Boy!

... And just like that, Collier is 11 months old!  Just 1 quick month and we'll be celebrating his very 1st birthday.  This past year has simply been amazing.  I have fully enjoyed his "babyhood" and love my youngest with every bit of my heart.  He has stolen ALL of our hearts!  This past month has brought on something that I've been anticipating for 7 months... his very first little tooth! I've tried and tried to take a picture but he just won't have it.  The funny thing is that its one of the top teeth.  He doesn't have his bottom 2, which is normally the first 2 to come in.  I'm fairly certain that a fall he took a couple of weeks ago, in which he busted his top gums on the window sill are what prompted this little tooth's apprearance!  At least we now know he HAS teeth! :) 

Collier is still the happiest, most social little boy.  He jabbers NONSTOP.  Seriously.  His favorite word is still "dada" and he has now begun saying "hi" and "bye".  While he's eating, he'll say, "mmmm, mamaaa."  But that's the only time he'll will say my name!  Whenever we are out and about, he will stare down strangers until they look at him, at which point he will smile and begin "talking".  I can tell he's not going to meet a stranger and will more than likely prefer to be the center of attention!  He has also learned to wave his hand from side to side (sort of like a pageant wave) instead of the open & close wave that babies first learn to do.  It's precious to watch!  He is always so excited when Noah comes home from school and misses his brother during the day (as do I); but it is nice being able to have some one-on-one time with Collier and giving him all of my attention.  Although sometimes, I think he would rather stay at Noah's school because he loves "talking" to everyone there. 

He still isn't walking on his own but cruises, uses push toys, and a walker to stay on the go.  Speaking of being on the go, the child moves non-stop.  BUSY BUSY BUSY.  We went to a birthday party for one of Noah's friends at Forest Jumps and Collier had a BALL playing in the "toddler" jumpy house.  He loved it!  It has a small slide that when I would sit him in the top of it, he would turn over on his belly and slide down, laughing the whole time!  I also took him down the BIG slide, which he loved too!  It was as though he thought he was a big kid, trying to get right in the center of the party with all the others.  I definitely had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't get run over by the 4 and 5 years olds! The other night, Jamie said, "I wonder, if we just let him play without laying him down for a nap, how long it would take him to just crash out of exhaustion?!"  I'm not sure that he would... I just WISH I had the energy that he has.  But the crazy thing is that he knows as soon as I lay him down in his crib, that it's time to relax and go right to sleep.  And that's just what he does!  He's still on the same schedule nap and food-wise although I do give him a sippy cup with milk/water/juice throughout the day.  He gets little snacks here and there but mostly he's still on baby food.  He still has a tendence to get choked so I have to be careful with the things I feed him.  Just in the past couple of days, he's tried macaroni and cheese, pancakes, scrambled eggs, chocolate cake, birthday cake (at the birthday party), vanilla wafers, and animal crackers. He definitely enjoys real food.  I know the more "practice" he has with eating, the better he'll get and the gagging while get much better.  We've got to get him ready for that big birthday cake he'll get to eat next month! :)