11 months old

Every minute, hour, day and month that passes by with Logan in our lives, I find such joy in getting to know our son. Today, Logan turned 11 months old - and in just one short month he'll have been with us a full year. WOW.













I have caught myself a few times now, already saying things like "when he was little", as if he's no longer a little baby. But, he doesn't feel little to us anymore! We're definitely transitioning into toddler-dom I think. He's extremely active with quite a personality (and such a flirt to all the women). He's also very loud and impatient, reminding me of his Daddy. ;-)

He is a fast little guy - cruising around the furniture like a pro and when that's not quite fast enough, he'll plop down on the floor, crawl cheetah-fast right over to you, and then pull himself up again so he's near you. He hasn't yet walked on his own, but he's doing plenty of it assisted with either his walker toy or pushing kid-height stuff (like his toy box or the ottoman) in front of him.

I can see he really wants to walk - every time we are near "bigger" kids (who are already walking or running) he is keenly interested in watching them play, leaning way out to one side of my arms, looking over my shoulder, studying their every move. And, on several occasions, we've caught him testing his own balance by standing and letting go of things, usually when he's next to me, which my dad thinks is because he feels safer and more confident when he's with me. We'll see. He may be running around the house before we know it.

In general, Logan is a fairly good natured little guy. However, it feels like he's been out of sorts more than usual this past month. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of adjusting back to preschool after our big family vacation, topped with the growing pains of new teeth coming in. His 5th tooth poked through over the last month and the gums around his others are pretty swollen as well. Often times we now find him gnawing on his own fingers. At least he knows how to self soothe?

Another leap into toddler-dom may just be all the new foods we are feeding Logan. No more is the easy brainless world of pick a baby jar off the shelf and spoon it into our son's mouth. Oh no. Now I have to think about what to make for him; breakfast, lunch and dinner. He's eating "real" food - pasta, steamed veggies, sandwiches, mac n' cheese, you name it. It's definitely made meals more challenging for me, but I'm so glad to see his growing interest in food!

Just the other day, Jon walked in the door with Logan chatting away as happy as ever. But, what was different were the sounds and syllables he was making. We hadn't heard him "talk" these words before! The closest thing I can relate it to would be "doggydoggydoggydoggy". ;-) He doesn't yet associate the sounds with any real meaning, that we can tell, but it's definitely apparent he's building his vocabulary day by day. It's also a red flag to us that we need to point out new things we see and do more often, describing them so he can hear, mimic and learn.

Logan celebrates in many ways. He celebrated when Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, by sleeping soundly through the night. He celebrated when Daddy bought him a baby kilt (of the McDonald clan), by crawling all over the living room rug, collecting as much dog fur on it as possible. And he celebrates the end of each meal, by sharing his leftovers with the dogs, laughing as they lick every last morsel of food off his chubby little fingers.

Speaking of sharing, Logan is learning there is more to life than just himself. He's learning to share! Now, no matter what he finds or picks up to inspect, he MUST offer it to me or Jon as well. If it's his food, he'll put it in our mouths, if it's a toy, he places it in our laps. We of course, return the favor and "share" the item back, which he is so tickled about. In fact, sometimes, perhaps when he is impatient and can't wait for the game of give and take to run its course, he offers to share a toy, but then quickly takes it back before I get a chance to say thank you and take it. Of course, our smart little cookie knows exactly what he's doing - waiting for the surprised confused look on my face with a HUGE grin on his. And that's when I tell him to stop being an Indian giver.

In California, though recommended, apparently Logan's car seat is not required to be rear facing (I had been holding out until he reached age 1, because I thought that was the requirement before we could turn his seat around). So, we recently turned him forward facing so that his little legs and feet wouldn't continue to smoosh up and get cramped against the seat backs of our car.

It's a little weird driving around town now, seeing him RIGHT THERE, staring back at me. But, it's also a lot more fun to talk to him about his day as we drive home from school. Logan seems to like the change too - he's now able to kick his feet more freely and babble loudly direct in my ear, to make sure I'm listening to his stories.

Don't worry kiddo, I'm always listening.