Andrew: Months 9-12

Okay, so I've seriously slacked on Andrew's milestone posts. But that's probably because he's been keeping me so busy over the past three months! Andrew has changed and grown so much in the last 1/4 of his first year of life, I can hardly begin to recap.

He's walking now. He took his first real steps that added up to any amount of significant distance on 7/12/11. Now that he's figured out walking, he walks everywhere. He'll still plop down from time to time to crawl but with every passing day he is crawling less and less. We put shoes on him the other day to see what he thought of that. He acted as though we had put his feet in lead weights. He didn't know what to do! Mostly he just fell over. Hopefully he'll get the hang of that in the next week as his birthday party is next Saturday and I'd love for him to be able to show off his moves to our guests.

He's trying to hard to talk. He imitates a lot of what we say which is just so funny and amazing to me. Recently he started trying to say "I'm gonna get you!" which is a game Phil started playing with him while he was in his high chair. The words aren't clear and I'm sure no one else would have any idea that that's what he was saying but he's definitely trying to say it too. So funny! He started doing the same thing with Mickey Mouse the other day, too.

He loves to play! It amazes me how much he interacts with Philip now. The boys both love to play with the stacking blocks together. Philip will build a tower and Andrew will crawl around it, circling it like a shark, before reaching out to knock it over. When either he or Philip knocks the tower over Andrew laughs so hard! He has the best little nasal belly laugh. It cracks us up!

He still loves to play peek-a-boo. Sometimes we will hide behind something and play it and he will anticipate where we are going to appear next.  He likes his alone play time too when Philip is napping or at preschool. He gets all of the toys to himself and you can tell he enjoys himself. He will play by himself for quite a while. He's very mechanically-inclined at this point. He can fit things into small places with little difficulty which is really fun to watch. He loves cars and will push them around on the floor while making a motor sound with his mouth. I have no idea where he figured that out as Philip is not a car kid! He also loves to play with things that are not toys. Cell phones and remotes are two of his favorites.

When you take something from him or prevent him from taking it he gets so upset! He starts whining and pointing right away. Sometimes he'll even throw himself face first onto the floor in full-blown tantrum mode. He's been expressing his frustration this way for a while now but it's definitely... intensifying. I got his first inconsolable, roll on the floor tantrum on tape the other morning. Philip was a little bit older for his. Andrew already has to be a head of the game!

He's such a sweet little boy and he still loves his mama best which makes my heart swell. In the mornings when I go to get him out of his crib, he wraps his chubby little baby arms around my neck and gives me the best hug.  He holds on like that for a good ten seconds before letting go. It's one of my favorite parts of the day.

He's sleeping great. Bedtime is always right around seven o'clock and he will sleep straight through the night until around eight. He takes two naps during the day, between an hour and a half and two hours a piece. I think he's making up for all of the time he spent awake the first six months of his life! We are definitely enjoying his desire for lots of sleep now.

He loves to eat and is mostly on table food now with some chunkier stage three foods mixed in. Some of the new foods he is eating are oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and yogurt; steamed green beans, broccoli, sweet potato, and carrots; grilled cheese, noodle soup, spaghetti, meatballs, fish, and chicken. He loves to eat and will try pretty much anything which is so nice. If we're eating something, he will point at it and cry out to let us know he wants some of it, too.

He goes in for his 12 month well child visit on the 25th and I will know his stats then. Right now I'd say he's probably around 25 pounds. He's a sturdy little boy with chunky legs and broad shoulders like his daddy. His hair is getting thick and grows really fast. It's still light, light blonde, and his eyes are still the prettiest blue I've ever seen. He's really a handsome little boy, just like his big brother.

He is such a joy and we are so grateful to have him in our family. Almost a year later, I can hardly remember what it was like to not have him here with us. He brings so much happiness and love into our family. We are so lucky to have two sweet little boys to share our lives with!