11 months

Henry is now 11 months old!  He seems to have gone from baby to little kid over night. I wonder if he went through some big developmental leap/ wonder week type thing while we were all sick and we didn't notice. I feel like every day he is doing new things and he just seems different somehow.  Walking is obviously the big milestone but those first steps seemed to have opened the floodgate and ushered him into toddler-hood in many ways. 

The big change is his communication. He suddenly figured out some subtle ways to communicate and it has really made me realize how much he understands things going on around him. When we say "kiss" he plants an open wet mouth on our face (love this).  When he sees a bottle and is feeling peckish he pulls his soother out to signal he would like it replaced with a bottle. He claps. He high-fives. He innitiates games of peekaboo. He points to what he wants and where he wants to go.  This is fun but also a lot of work since he is getting quite demanding. It's like before he would forgive his ignorant parents as we simpletons simply didn't understand what he wanted but now, now he knows we know what he wants and that we are willfully ignoring him. He gets squawky and sometime downright outraged when we don't heed his commands to go somewhere or to be brought something (usually food). He also had his first full blown public temper tantrum meltdown a couple days ago. We were at a local park / lake and I took him out of his stroller thinking he would like to stand by the waters edge to admire the ducks.  He loves ducks, we walk at this park almost every day and he always admires the ducks. Well since he had been released from the shackles of his stroller he was not content to stand idly by and simply watch the ducks. He went limp and crumpled to the ground in an effective maneuver to free himself from his mothers grip, he hit the ground and started crawling, through the mud to the water. I quickly scooped him up and it kicked off. Screaming, writhing, bucking. He layed on the bark mulch path and wailed. Plagued with all the injustices in the world and cursing his blasted mother who would not let him crawl into the lake and out to meet his ducks (and certain death). 

So I guess I am enjoying seeing more and more personality and understanding in Henry. But it seems to have made him a very willfull and demanding little man. Hopefully as the initial flush of power wanes so to will the demanding ways. 

Generally he has been a bit of a pill lately.  Not sleeping well, refusing to nap (maybe trying to drop down to one nap/day???) and generally having trouble regulating his emotions. Hopefully it's all just a phase an we will settle back into a nice little routine soon enough. 

A 3am self portrait of a bitterly under slept daddy

Henry climbing the back of the couch. His walking seems to have generally made him more brave and confident in his physical abilities. 

Tunneling....endless tunneling.