Reid is 11 months old!

On January 3rd, our not-so-little-Reider turned 11 months old! (Yes, I know I'm behind in blog posts.) It's hard for me to believe that my little baby boy is almost 1 - almost a toddler! Where has the year gone?!?

Reid truly remains one of the happiest kids I've ever seen - his smile lights up his mom and dad's lives in an instant. We couldn't be more blessed! I'll have stats (height, weight, etc) for him next month at his one-year check... but until then I wanted to record a few of my favorite things from this last month with Reid...

I love this little baby's bed head when he wakes up! He's FINALLY starting to get some hair and it's coming in fast! Sweet thing needs a trim, but I just can't bring myself to take him for a haircut yet... he's still just a baby. =)

...But a baby who is growing up all too quickly... Just the other day, Reid took 3 steps on his own! I was so excited but at the same time wanted to sit on his head to make him stop growing so fast. What an emotional roller-coaster motherhood will take you on! Reid really started standing pretty well on his own this month... and he cruises EVERYWHERE... but I have a feeling that my baby boy will be a true "toddler" very soon. I think he will start walking any day. In the mean time, mine and Ben's favorite sound throughout the day is his crazy laughter as he crawls as fast as he possibly can back to his Dad's office. For some reason, it's his favorite place to be (probably because there is so much he can destroy in there!)... and he's learned to force open closed doors... uh-oh... =)

The boy also (still) LOVES to eat... and he somehow manages to eat everything with just his two bottom teeth. (Although, two top teeth are starting to cut through...)

Reid is definitely off of baby food - he refuses anything that we try to spoon feed him and insists on doing it himself. So independent! (This has definitely turned my kitchen into a war zone of mess and food ALL over the floor, walls, chairs, you name it... but I wouldn't trade it.) He basically eats whatever Ben and I are eating...I just make sure to tear it up into tiny pieces for him... and we are even to the point of having to order him his own kids meal when we go out because he eats SO MUCH. Currently, some of his favorites are:

Cheese puffs

any kind of cereal bar

oatmeal

cheerios

sausage balls w/cheese

oranges

fruit snacks

Grilled cheese sandwiches

french fries (healthy...I know, I know)

Raisin toast

Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets

Green beans

Granola

...and sometimes bananas or carrotts

And a new favorite that we discovered last night.... BARBEQUE! Reid truly is a TEXAN! =)

He was so proud of himself for eating all of his dinner (BBQ, carrotts, corn, and oranges) that he was clapping and saying "YAY!"....

...which brings me to another new thing this month... CLAPPING! Reid loves to clap. He would prefer me to sing patty cake all day long... he claps and claps, then rolls it up, and throws it in the pan (as he throws his arms in the air). It's really cute! His Dad is also teaching him football calls (touchdown, holding, etc)... he normally does them on command. I'll need to post a video soon of those...

He's also very into dancing (we dance a lot around here)...and definitely knows the term "Shake your booty, Reid!".... (again... I know, I know... it's just so cute!)

Reider has also started waving (selectively)... Last Saturday we hosted a baby shower for some sweet friends of ours who just adopted a baby boy (YAY!!!)... Anyway, while the girls were downstairs setting up, Ben was upstairs with Reid and a couple of his little friends in the playroom. Long story short, you can see through the railings of our stairs at anyone coming through the front door. Reid stood there at the railing with his little arm reaching through as far as it would go waving and yelling "Hey!" to every person who walked through our door for the shower. He was definitely on the welcoming committee! He's a little charmer, that's for sure (and he knows it!).

He is only saying a few words at this point, but definitely understands most of what we say to him. He will say (selectively): Mama, Dadda, baba (bottle), zoom (car), Hey (to get our attention...working on that), he's working on 'Kitty', and he tries to sing patty cake (no one can understand what he's singing but me, of course...ha!). What has been really helpful, though, is that he now points at everything he wants... and I mean EVERYTHING. Sometimes, I have to admit, the pointing and grunting can get on your last nerve... but right now it's his way of communicating, so we'll take it!

And finally, here's a quick pic of me and the little man... as you can see... he still LOVES the camera (and LOVES looking at pictures of himself)! And, yes, he knows how to scroll the pictures on my iphone... he now thinks he needs his own...

We love you so very much, Reider - cannot wait to see what this next month brings!