Eleven Months!

Dear Vinny,

Today you are eleven months old! It is hard to believe that you are nearly one year old, but you are. Although, if I think back, a lot has changed in you since you were born.

Lately, you've been pulling up a lot. If there's anything vaguely vertical, you will grab onto it and hoist yourself up on your feet. Sometimes you cruise, taking a few steps while holding onto the couch or the outside of your crib, for example, but it kind of freaks you out and you start screaming. But I don't think it will be long before you start walking.

Another thing is that you've recently realized that you need to take the binky out before you try to put food in your mouth. Before, you would just try to stick food in, and get kind of bewildered when it didn't work. Unfortunately, you've also used this new-found realization to remove the binky before trying to bite Mommy or Daddy, which is not so cool.

You've been biting a lot because you're teething. You now have twelve teeth: four teeth in the front on the top, four more on the bottom, and then one molar on each side, for a total of twelve. I think those molars really hurt, because you were pretty cranky when they were pushing through.

Your babbling is becoming more refined. It almost sounds like words, but they're not words that we can really understand. You've also completely discontinued the use of bottles; now you get all your juice and milk from sippy cups. You're eating a lot of new baby foods that Daddy has bought for you, such as oatmeal with cinnamon applesauce and turkey dinner.

Your crawling is getting much better and much faster. You are also very curious, especially about fans and vents. You love the feeling of wind blowing through your hair. Daddy left you in your room while he was taking a shower, and returned to see that you had removed the vent and dropped some toys down the duct! You've also pulled the box fan over on several occasions. Luckily, Daddy has the foresight to turn it off before you look at it, because you enjoy sticking your fingers in it.

You still have a contagious laugh and a winning smile. You charm everyone you meet. The Friday before last, we went out to dinner with my new boss and his family, and you charmed everyone at the table. Even his eight and twelve-year-old sons succumbed to your power. And my friend Jodi from Illinois and her two sons came to visit over Labor Day weekend, and they just loved you. You even brighten the day of complete strangers. At every restaurant we went to, patrons at neighboring tables were cheered up by your flirtations. You are an incredibly charismatic little boy!

Love,
Mommy