Caeden Elijah - 11 months

Weight: 20 pounds

Height: TBD

Eating: All is still well with nursing. I can tell he is taking in less milk and is becoming increasingly less interested in nursing. Sometimes I think that I would not be totally surprised if he weaned himself sometime before a year. But then other times I think that I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to continue to nurse beyond a year. I guess time will tell! :) He nurses the most first thing in the morning, about 10 minutes, and the least right before bed, about 3 minutes. The middle two feeds of the day are hit or miss whether he really wants them or not. He nurses at 7:30/11:30 or 12:00/4:15 or 4:45/before bed at 7:30.

Solids: Still loving food. This child loves bread products. I'm not sure if he likes bread more than Micaiah used to or if he is just more vocal about it. I can't put bread in front of him at the table or else he will fuss...loudly...and try to get out of his highchair to get at it until he gets some on his tray. Thankfully, with homemade bread and freshly ground flour, it's actually good for him so I don't mind if he eats it! Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes are his favorite fruits; carrots and sweet potatoes are his favorite veggies. He knows the cabinet where I keep the goldfish, and he will get them out if I'm not watching.

Waketimes: First waketime is 2.5 hours and the second is 2.75-3 hours. On some days he starts getting really fussy and wanting to sleep after 2.5 hours for the second waketime, so he goes down early those days. There is anywhere from 2.5-3 hours before bed depending on when he wakes from his afternoon nap.

Sleeping: Most days he only sleeps 1.5 hours for his morning nap, but 2 or 3 days a week he will sleep closer to 2 hours (or more on occasion) He then sleeps anywhere from 2-2.75 hours for his afternoon nap. He sleeps 11.5 to 12 hours at night. The boys have been sharing a room for probably a little over a month now, and it has been going really well. Sometimes Micaiah wakes first and sometimes Caeden wakes first, but they typically stay quiet until after 7:00. After 7:00 we will start to hear them laughing together. It is so fun to watch them on the monitor (because we don't get them out until 7:30 unless there are lots of tears, which is rare) with Micaiah reaching through the crib slats to his brother. Of course, we've also witnessed on the video monitor in the mornings and had to intervene on our share of a few minor issues with Micaiah taking Caeden's owl ("Whoo whoo") away from him. Or pushing him down when Caeden tries to stand up. Needless to say, Micaiah is still learning how to be gentle with Caeden as he enters this new stage of realizing he has the capacity to push him down or knock him over.

Roomtime: He's generally does roomtime for 30-45 minutes right now just depending on how the morning is playing out. I haven't added in a second session yet, and probably won't, because as his routine works right now, he is waking up from his nap anywhere from 4:30-5ish and that is usually his daddy playtime while I cook dinner. I'm satisfied with just one roomtime a day since he usually already does more han 30 minutes. He loves it and usually dives right into the pack and play from my arms. Today was actually the first day that he fussed some during roomtime, and it was because he threw most of his toys out. Micaiah went through a phase of doing that around this same age and then screamed for the rest of the time. It took about week before he wised up that he needed to keep his toys with him....it was not a fun week for me in that regard listening to all of that fussing!

This is the classic "Caeden face" he makes right before breaking into a smile.

New discoveries and other notes: Still pulling up on everything. He lets go all the time now, and will stand for sometimes 20 seconds or so at a time. It's especially cute when he stands alone and claps for himself. :) He has taken a step on two different occasions that we know of.

*He is still very much a cuddler. I love, love, love how he will just lay his head on my shoulder when he is sleepy before his nap. Micaiah never did, and still doesn't, really do that, so I've been eating it up with Caeden.

*He gets excited and vocal about books.

*He had his first ear infection this month.

*He is a very noisy eater.

*He still only says Dada and, very rarely, Mama. He learned what clapping is this past month and that we usually do it when someone says "yaaaay." He will wave bye, often unpromted but still within context. He signs more, all done, and light. We just started working with him on eat and drink. Oooooh how there is a need for him to learn to sign drink. He "asks" for his cup the same way he "asks" for bread....very loudly and insistently and trying to climb out of his seat to get it. Please and thank you will probably come after that.

*He understands simple directions (like, "go find sheep!" he will promptly go to the barn and pick out the sheep)

*He loooves to dance.

*We've noticed as he gets older that Caeden is slower to warm up to people than Micaiah is. Whereas Micaiah would break into a smile as soon as anyone in the grocery store would give him a bit of attention, Caeden needs a minute to feel them out and assess the situation.

Favorite toys: Push toys, anything that shakes or makes noise, Little People (specifically the sheep), the dog guitar, and the little kitchen. Oh how he loves playing in the little kitchen. The first thing he always does is knock the basket of pots and pans off. They are made of blue painted wood, and I've had to clean many a blue scuff mark off the floor thanks to our littlest buddy. :) He also loves touch and feel books and Sandra Boynton books.