Finn at 11 months

Finnegan Nash is 11 months old! And–surprise!–he was sick again this month. This time it was a low-grade fever that lasted a couple of days which led to a double ear infection and then more cold symptoms and low-grade fever (two visits to urgent care!) And then, his first molar! The exact scenario happened to Harper when she was 12 months – so he’s just a month ahead of her. His second molar is very close too. He also got another bottom tooth two weeks earlier. So he’s up to 9 teeth now. But that doesn’t mean he likes to use them! He still prefers purees and will only feed himself a Mum Mum cracker or a puff. If I try to put a piece of food in his mouth, he clams up or immediately spits it out. He’d rather swipe all his food off the tray – that’s way more fun than eating it.

Now that Finn is crawling, there is no containing him! He’s all over the house now – he even climbs the entire staircase. He hates to be put in the jumperoo or the pack-n-play so we reserve those for when we need to put him in a safe spot for a little bit. (As much as you think your house is baby-proofed, they will always find trouble!) He loves to walk holding our fingers and even will take a few steps holding only one hand. When I practice having him stand alone, he’s starting to last a few seconds before he slowly lowers himself to the ground. When he’s loose in the living room, he will always go for the cats, the cat food, Harper’s food, or any small piece of furniture that he can scoot across the floor. He’s getting really good at pushing his walker around by himself. He’s been coming home from school with more bruises on his forehead and legs. Lately, he’s been doing this monkey crawl thing where he’s up on his hands and feet. He can get going really fast! He has also started doing yoga–downward dog being his specialty. He loves pulling Harper’s kitchen stuff out and banging the pots and pans on the floor. He also really likes to rip pages in a book! He likes to crawl after balls, pick them up and throw them and crawl after them, or roll a ball back and forth with us. He will crawl over to his crib and reach through the slats to grab his lovie.

We’ve been able to spend a fair amount of time outside lately so he gets a lot of swinging time. I discovered that I can zip him into the trampoline and let him safely crawl around after some balls. Genius!

He still loves baths but will not sit still and wants to stand up. And he splashes the entire time, so I end up completely soaked. So sibling baths didn’t last very long – Harper didn’t like to be splashed the entire time and I don’t blame her. He also loves to brush his teeth.

His dislikes still remain getting his face wiped, getting his nose wiped and getting out of the bath.

He babbles a lot – mostly in a growly voice. And, lucky us, he’s recently discovered the joys of high pitched screaming. He recognizes words like mama, dada, ball, and swing. He’ll point his hand towards stuff and say “dat.” Perhaps the cutest thing he learned this month was to sign “all done.” He signs it a lot now – particularly when he’s done eating or when he wants to be done getting his diaper changed. Sometimes he also seems to say “ahh daa” when he signs it. He also learned to clap this month, though I’ve only seen him do it twice. He loves playing peek-a-boo and shaking his head no. Whenever he’s fussy, I’ll give him my water bottle and that will keep him happy for a good while.

He is such a doll and is so much fun to play with. He still loves his mama the best and our morning snuggles (before he gets too busy for cuddling.) He’s going to need his first haircut really soon – but he’s going to look so much older! It’s crazy that I’m preparing for my little baby to turn one. I’m not as sad about it as I was with Harper because I know how much fun the second year is. No matter what, they will always be my babies!