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Leo at 11 months

So, age is a funny descriptor for a baby. For a while, you say "He's so big, can you believe he is only twelve days old!". At some point, not that we aren't keeping track of every day of his wonderfulness, but it becomes "He is three months old, can you believe he already grew out of his newborn pants!". Now as we reach eleven months, increasingly we find ourselves saying "Almost a year - can you believe this toddler coat is too small on him!". Note, Leo remains big for his age. At this rate, it won't be long until we are saying "Well, he's definitely in his first decade somewhere". Or maybe it goes back to months again at a year and a half; the literature on the matter isn't entirely clear. 




Stats: Still unmeasured, other than by the tightness of his 18-month coat (see, this age measurement thing is hard)




Hair: Not yet thick and luxurious (as we know it will be, given his lineage), but definitely getting long. We'll work on the auditioning for Hanson next. Is that still a thing?




Eyes: Soulful, deep, evocative, and certainly brown. Probably time to retire this item. 




Likes: Opening and closing anything - doors, books, cabinets, items on his play table. Taking all of the books off of his shelf, repeatedly. Eating (see below).  Living a pacifier-free life (cold turkey post-Christmas). Shaking his head "no", even when he means "give me more peaches". Looking out the window. Twisting off the changing table, and turning off the light. Spot's Favorite Numbers(the book). Pooping in a nice, clean, freshly changed diaper. 




Dislikes: Being put down when he would rather be held. Long car rides (but really, who does?). Stopping him from getting where he wants to go, even if that place is a pile of electrical cords. When you stop reading to him - this is a real situation.



Eating: Leo continues to be a great eater. He really loves his fruit - clementines are his favorite (he'll regularly eat two in a sitting!), but blueberries, bananas, and peaches are all highly rated as well. Anything with pesto is a big winner (giving him pine nuts was totally an active choice, not a post hoc rationalization). A pretty normal day will be breakfast of cheerios and fruit, lunch of a protein (breaded chicken, turkey meatballs, or cheese), a starch (sweet potato or squash), and a fruit or vegetable (green beans with pesto or baked apple), and a dinner of pizza toast and prunes. Did we mention that Leo regularly eats better than we do? Leo has also started drinking out of a cup with a straw - he may not know it, but his bottle days are starting to be numbered. 



Movement: Leo is cruising both directions now, left and right (a future politician?). His crawling is also quite excellent - not the fastest among his peers, but high technical marks, and ability to avoid obstacles. He stands up regularly, and occasionally will let go with both hands briefly, until he notices that he is standing and grabs on again. He is being cautious, which we can appreciate. 





Language: Still lots of babbling - but he is clearly starting to understand language spoken to him. When you ask him where "cat","mommy" or "daddy" are, he looks around until his eyes light upon the correct answer.  He will do "so big" arms up, at least when he is in the mood, which is mostly when he is eating (we may have accidentally food trained him on that one). He looks like there is a great internal monologue going on, and he'll figure out how to let us in on the action soon. 







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