What's Happening?

Around here...quite a bit! I figured it's about time I let you know what Fletcher was up to in his 11th Month, now that it's come and gone. As I said in the monthly picture post, it wasn't a boring month. We went to Stafford, VA to visit some friends, and Fletcher started doing a real crawl while we were there! I have a couple videos I'll post another time. I thought he was going to skip the real crawl and just army crawl until he walked, but that's what I get for thinking I know anything!

He also got his first (and second) ear infections. So here are some first sick pictures...All things considered, he was still doing pretty well, especially with the second one, but I just knew something was off and thought I was being an overly cautious new mother. However I was relieved to know that I wasn't overeacting. When I took him in for the 2nd appointment, just at 11 months old, he weighed 26 lbs. 15 oz., was 32" long, and had a head circumference of 19.5".

After the first ear infection diagnosis, he developed a pretty bad cough and wheezing sound. I took him back in and came home with a newly purchased nebulizer for breathing treatments and more medications. We've only had to do the breathing treatments twice. I think the first set of antibiotics didn't get rid of the entire ear infection the first time, which is why he was so quick to have a second one. The next set of antibiotics were definitely stronger and I dealt with the diapers to prove it.

He still only says Dog and Dada. He is interested in learning more vocabulary though, as he points to everything and says, "Doh..." Then we tell him whatever it is he's pointing to. I read about head bangers in my parent book and hoped while reading it that Fletcher wouldn't be one, but I truly think he is. Whenever he gets frustrated or upset, he bangs his head around and sometimes it seems like he purposely finds something to hit it with.

Oma and Opa came for a visit before Daddy left.

He showed them his moves on his latest favorite toy...Mr. Lion. He pushes this guy around the whole house and loves to do loops around the kitchen table now.

Another favorite is the phone. Of couse our's is his favorite that he can't have. He has a few little play ones and he likes this big old black one from my parent's house that I used as a classroom house center prop.

He also loves to play with Knuckles and be outside.

He loves to roll around by her and hug her a lot. Lately he has taken it a bit too far and she's been trying more and more to get away from him at times. Poor lady, but she's still so patient!

One of his absolute favorites is the vacuum! He can't get enough of it when we take it out...it's hilarious!

He also loves the dishwasher and gets upset when he doesn't get to it quick enough.

The bathroom doors are now closed. He discovered toilet paper one day when I was cleaning the bathroom and took it around the hallway into the living room. I have a video of that too. He is also very interested in the cause and effect of flushing the toilet, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He also loves to get in our bathroom closet and open our bathroom drawers. In addition, he loves to open and close any door he can. I have videos from when that started.

He also loves, and I mean loves when I turn the water on for his bath at night. He gets so delighted and excited about the whole thing. But after it's over, I have to chase him around to get a diaper and pj's on him!

One of his least favorites so far is sunglasses. I keep trying, but he keeps pulling them off. I had to move quick to get these pictures.

He required his first bandaid after reaching for my Diet Coke and cutting his finger on the edge.

He had a neighbor, Claire over for breakfast one morning. She is such a sweety. She's 2.5 months older than Fletcher.

He then went over to Joe's for dinner. He's one year and four months older than Fletcher.

And finally, he got to welcome another tiny friend to the neighborhood! Presenting Baby Claire!

He even gave her a hug!

We had our final nursing time together, which was a very emotional time, but it felt right. Once we finished out the supply of expressed milk, we decided to skip the formula step and went straight to whole milk, and he has done fine with it, as he's luckily been with most foods along the way. I started to wonder if not nursing attributed to him getting the ear infection, but he had the infection before we had stopped. Not that it means anything, but some of you may wonder like I did.

In addition to the three trips to the doctor and the road trip to VA, he attended Adelyn's baptism and had many playdates. Jesse and I took care of fun things like removing a dead tree and planting a new one, filing taxes, car maintenance, cleaning out closets for donations and consignments, and then as quick as he returned, work took him away again. The fun never stops and I'd much rather be busy than lazy, and I just can't believe we're on our way to toddlerhood!