Letter to an Eleven-Month-Old on His Birthday

This month has been insane, buddy. Remember how we said last month was the baby proofing month for us? NOPE, this month has been the baby proofing month, as you've quickly discovered all the cracks in our system.

We have four gates, I repeat, four gates, at various points in the house. Rundown of areas in which you are not allowed: The Bathroom of Danger. The Front Room of Inescapable Problems. The Stairs of Doom. The Tiny Hallway of Cat Doo-Doo. AND The Patio of Thorns and Concrete.

We have purchased foam corners for half of our house. I remember seeing them on the shelves months ago thinking, "A little overboard people, eh?" Now that my son loves to ram his head at full-speed into any edge that might crack open his skull, I cleaned that whole shelf in an afternoon. Budget be damned.

Since your big increase in mobility, I have to love to take you out of the house.  You get uber-fussy if you're indoors all day. There's a neat little play place nearby. It has a special area just for little babies like you that are crawling, but not yet walking. It's padded (phew) and has all sorts of fun stuff for you to explore.

through the door

playing piano

You're seriously the most social kid ever. Whenever a new baby arrives in "the pen," you squint up at them with your new-toothy grin (two bottom and four top!) and point. Then you immediately crawl to them and try to hit them square in the face. I know it's a friendly love tap, but I can't imagine the other mamas are too impressed. I try to say "gentle buddy, gentle" and guide your hand, but I think you're a little too young to grasp what I'm saying.

While most babies ignore you, you connect with other similar social babies and you crawl around the play area together having fun. This month, I've gotten a few adorable glimpses of the joy your future friendships & bro-mances will bring you.

In general you don't really care for toys. In fact, you care mostly for things that are distinctly not toys. I don't know how you know the difference, but I swear you do. If it's designed specifically for you, you tend not to be too impressed. Of what you do like? The trend is: Things that make a loud noise and things that you can fall from climb or ride.

You have however found a renewed interest in books. Which of course makes me giddy, because books are my sanctuary and I hope you find peace there too. You love to turn the pages and when we read to you, you get all interested and quiet and thoughtful and you coo and point at each page. In a room full of your toys, you'll head to the bookshelf every time.

Daddy & I now take long walks in the neighborhood with you. You are so serene on these walks that Daddy & I actually get to talk to each other. We feel like we discovered a loophole :-). We stroll you to the two parks nearby our house, both of which have your fave: the baby swings!

You now wear 18 to 24 month old sized clothing. You must not be aware that YOU ARE NOT YET ONE YRS OLD, LITTLE MAN! I love dressing you so much though, anyone who says boy clothes are not adorable has not seen your wardrobe. I kick the day when you want to dress yourself.

Your nickname officially seems to be "Munchkin," because that's exactly what you are: an adorable & charming little baby who loves mischief. That's the definition of munchkin. Look it up.

this is what a munchkin looks like

Your sleep is all over the place again. I thought your naps were all set, but it's so random now. Sometimes they are three hours, sometimes they are 30 minutes. Sometimes you take two naps, sometimes you only want one.  I thought it was too early for that? I wouldn't be surprised though if you transitioned to one nap early, because as we all know, you sort of suck as a sleeper. Truth be told, I look forward to when you're officially down to one nap--I think it will be easier to manage your sucky sleeping.

I took some mommy breaks this month, which means you spent some fun time with the family. At the beginning of the month, your Nonnie took care of you for a few days in Carlsbad so mommy could go to a conference in downtown. You hung out on the beach and charmed the pants off of everyone.

Dax chillaxing on the beach with Nonnie and fams!

You weren't the best napper (surprise surprise), but your cousin Tatum would do pretty good by whisking you away and holding you and bouncing you until you fell asleep. Then she was smart enough to know that you needed to sleep right there on top of her if you were gunna sleep at all.

taking a nap on your cousin Tatum

Then later on this month, I drove with James to our cousin Katie's wedding to Vince in Pine, Arizona! AND I left you and your father to just bond all weekend long! He LOVED it & so did you! You did better than I thought you would, and that made me pretty darn happy. I think I had the hardest time of all--I missed you so much! I was literally just dying to hold you and listen to you giggle! When I got home, Daddy was schooling me on all sorts of new fun stuff about you.

While you look an awful lot like your Daddy, your Daddy says that your spirit's got an awful lot of me. For example, when you poke people and then laugh like a maniac? Your Daddy swear that comes from me! I have no idea what he's talking about :-).

Your eyes light up and you laugh when you see people you love. Your eyes are full of fire when you're excited. You bring us such ridiculous joy little buddy. What an amazing blessing to have you in our lives. I can not believe that in one month you will be one year old. Blows my flipping mind.