11 Months Old!

11 months.  Holy guacamole.  For the last few days or so I have found myself watching Harrison go about his normal activities and simply taking it in. How far we have come! With the big first birthday just around the corner its hard not to be really excited, yet kind of sad.  My baby will no longer be a "baby" and we will be entering the toddler years.  I have made it a goal for this next month that I will not be sad, I will not wish for the days past, but will  live in the moment of each day.

Harrison has been growing in leaps and bounds (quite literally) as of late.  He is now running.  Of course this isn't quite the same as an adult running, but his little legs do try to move his body as fast as they can.  He has also learned how fun it is to be chased.  With his dad or I in the other room, Harrison will come peak around the corner to get our attention-- a "come and get me" look-- then turn around and book it as fast as he can down the hallway.  The cutest part is his little peak over his shoulder to see how close you are. This is followed by a big belly laugh when you've caught him.  I love that each month a new activity and a new understanding of his world appears.

I think we may have had another growth spurt! Tight jammies!

Harrison has also learned how to clap and smiles with glee by our enthusiastic praise.  We have been struggling lately with his eating. Harrison seems to have regressed some and has been putting up a fight when it comes to eating table foods.  His favorite time to applaud himself is when he manages to eat something like a noodle.  "Yay me!" he seems to say.  Another new activity is dancing.  Harrison has started "dancing" to his favorite songs (The Little Einstein's theme song, or The Wiggles).

Harrison and his lunch buddy Winston

Harrison continues to be quite the snuggler.  He is very into sitting on laps now and will curl right up.  He also loves giving kisses.  We have progressed from "Harrison, can you give Mama a kiss?" to Harrison initiating the kisses on his own (melt my heart!!)

First time in leaf pile!

The past month has also been a blur of booger and sneezes.  Harrison developed a cold starting the first day he went to daycare and while it has come and gone in severity I don't think it ever quite went away.  I've settled with the idea that the boogies may just be part of normalcy for awhile.  He handles is pretty well and so far has managed to continue sleeping through the night, but man do his sheets look gross when he wakes up.  Laundry has definitely ramped up significantly around here.

In other news, we have a third and fourth word!  Harrison's third word was "bye-bye" along with his little wave.  It sounds a little bit more like "die-die" but I choose to ignore that.  The fourth word was "kitty"  which sounds a little more like "giddy" but he definitely gets his point across as he runs across the living room chasing the cat!

Hangers are a new fave

We also have another tooth!  Yesterday at the doctor's office while Harrison was getting his flu shot I was finally able to get a good look in his mouth and the tooth that broke through was definitely a molar!  Three of its four corners have broken though.

For the last few weeks now Harrison has gotten to hang out with his cousin Noelle on the days I don't have to work.  It has been such a joy to see those two interact together.  It is very apparent how much they learn from each other.  In just the time we've spent over there, Harrison is already more vocal and has improved on his "bye-bye's" and clapping.  I guess it helps when there is another little one to do it back to him!  It has been especially fun for me since I was never really around when they were together the first time and I've been able to see first hand how much they like each other.

Harrison and Noelle--11 months

With the planning of Harrison's birthday party under way, we look forward to what the rest of Month 11 will bring and anticipate what is to come in the next phase!

Splish Splash!

Last week Harrison and I started swimming lessons at the Shoreview Community Center.  Harrison has always loved baths and this summer showed how comfortable he was in pools so what better way to kill some time in the evenings!  Now that its getting cooler out I'm thankful we have another activity to add to our arsenal.  Harrison has had two lessons so far and has had a blast at both.

We have been practicing back floats, blowing bubbles, kicking, and "scooping" with his arms.  The "scooping" is a little advanced for him (the class goes up to 24 months), but he has the kicking and back floating down.  The back float is definitely his favorite.  He lays there calm as can be, hardly moving at all.  Even his instructor called him out last night saying, "And then there is Harrison, who looks like he may fall asleep"  We're continuing to work on blowing bubbles, right now he is still more set on drinking the water than blowing into it.  I find it wonderful that he has no problem putting his face in the water though.  One thing I'm glad we did was get Harrison used to having water on his face at a young age.  While his daddy and I never intentionally dumped water in his eyes, if he was splashed or water ran down his face during bath time we never made a big deal about it.

It has been decades since I have been to a swimming lesson and from my perspective things have changed throughout those years. I was definitely impressed by all of the songs and games they have for the little ones.  Lots of splashing, and singing and spinning and even tossing the babies in the air.  For the adults its more like a water aerobics class using a 30-lb kettlebell.

The only bummer about the classes is that the Community Center has a "no video/camera policy"  (Seriously??) I understand the need for security and privacy, but how sad to not be able to record my baby's first swimming lesson.  Thankfully, my mom came with to our class yesterday evening and was able to sneak a picture of us before we headed out to the pool!