11 Things About our 11 Month Old

In a couple of week we will have a 1 year old, so I had to hurry and put together this post while Peter was still 11 months! I've written one about all the others kids at this age and it's so fun to look back and compare what they were all doing at this age. Here's Henry's, Claire's, and George's. I cannot believe that I've had the privilege of having 4 of these sweet little 11 month olds! 😍 This age is one of my favorites!

-King Peter-

There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it...Peter is everybody's favorite! The kids have dubbed him "King Peter" because he's ruler of the house (according to them),  and love to dress him as such. He seems to gladly have accepted the title. 😂 I'd say the feeling is mutual; Peter loves his brothers and sister SO much! He follows them around the house, plays with them, laughs at them, and lights up when they come into a room. He is SO sweet and happy, and flashes the biggest grins at anyone who looks his way. He's so easy to love! He's not consistently saying any words yet, but makes consonant sounds, squeals, shrieks, and giggles constantly. 

-Toothy Grin-

Peter now has 8 teeth; 4 on top and 4 on bottom. He is eating 3 meals a day, plus a snack in the afternoon, just like his siblings, and putting these teeth to good use. We've also had a couple incidents of him biting me and one time almost broke the skin. We're hoping he'll use his teeth for good and not the harm of his family members. 😂

-Toothy Tricks-

Speaking of teeth, Peter has a new trick. He carries stuff around by his teeth like a dog. 😂 He just crawls around with stuff hanging from his mouth and laughs when we play "tug of war" with him. Who needs a puppy when we have a Peter??

-Pulling Up-

Although he hasn't taken any steps or stood on his own yet, Peter crawls everywhere and pulls up on everything. He is finding all sorts of stuff to get into. 😉  He cruises the furniture, so I'm sure we'll have a walker before much longer! There's that cat meme, "If I fits, I sits"...Peter has a version that goes something like, "If it's still, I stand". 😂 Not as catchy, but he will use anything still for support, including...

-Mama's Shadow-

...me! This sweet angel baby loves his Mama and when I'm standing in the kitchen at the stove or the sink, or any time I'm standing still, I often feel his little hands grab my legs, and he holds on as he stands there next to me. When I have to move, I'll lower him to the ground and he'll follow me and stand right back up when I stop moving.  Looking down and seeing his precious, happy smile is one of my favorite things right now! 

-Sandy-

We gave Peter a Jellycat puppy for Christmas that we named Sandy and he loves it so much! It's just like George's "Oreo", but a different color. Peter sleeps with him, but also will sometimes carry him around the house in his mouth (see previous point 😜). Sandy smells like his sweet baby breath and I just love how much Peter loves him! We always hand him Sandy after laying him in the crib, and he hugs and snuggles him. It's sooo cute!

-Sleep Struggles-

Peter has been a hard one in the sleep department, and it's totally my fault. I sleep trained the other kids around 4 months old and let them cry it out, and while they would have regressions and occasional night wakings, sleeping through the night was the norm. Not so for baby Peter because I couldn't bear to let him ever cry! I kept putting off the sleep training and up until a week and a half or so ago, he was still waking every night and drinking a bottle. I finally bit the bullet and let him cry for a couple of nights, and he has been consistently sleeping all night since then. But crying was much worse at 11 months than it would have been at 4! I did so enjoy all of the middle of the night snuggles though!

-Official Buggy Rider-

Peter is officially riding in the shopping cart at the grocery store, and is even partaking in the free cookie at Publix after nearly attacking George for his one day. Ha! What a big boy he is! For so long Henry pushed Peter's stroller while I pushed George in the cart, but now he is able to sit in the cart with no problem and it makes grocery runs much easier! He also sits in high chairs at restaurants now that he's eating real food. No more carrying the carseat into restaurants; he now always has a spot at the table!

-Roly Poly-

Peter is the chunkiest baby we've had! He has arm rolls, wrist rolls, ankle rolls, knee rolls, thigh rolls... :) He's slimmed down a bit which is fortunate, because in the winter I was having a hard time zipping some of his clothes over his legs! I'm so excited to have him in bubbles this summer. His fat baby legs are just begging to be shown off, and people comment all the time about how perfect and squishy he is. He's just so kissable!

-Little Piggy-

There's definitely a contributing factor to the aforementioned chunkiness, and that would be Peter's affinity for mealtime. 😂 He LOVES to eat and so far has not been a picky eater. He loves food that he can hold himself, like waffles or pancakes, sandwiches, cheese sticks, crackers, etc. He is getting very impatient with things that we feed him from a spoon, like pasta, applesauce, or sweet potato, as was the case last night. He shrieks and screams between bites because he wants to be fed faster, and he does not like waiting for me to take a bite of my own food. He loves fruit, drinks water from a sippy cup, and has had more bites of sweet things than his siblings before him had at this age. 😉

-Little Lovebug-

Peter is such a sweetheart! He loves to be held, hugged, kissed, and tickled. He is warm and soft and cuddly and I just can't get enough! He's been so cute this baseball season because he claps his hands when everyone else is clapping and cheering. The other day we were outside and George was doing well on his balance bike and I said "Good job, George!" and Peter started clapping. He actually claps better when he hears "good job" then when we say "clap your hands" 😂 He enjoys when he has everyone's attention and tries to do things to make us laugh, but also doesn't demand constant attention. We'll see how much longer that lasts. 😉

Peter is an utter delight and our whole family is so blessed by having him! I cannot believe he will be 1 in just a couple of weeks!