11 months

the count down is on to the end of infancy....and frankly people i am sad about it....and excited about all the new things to come. we kicked off our last month of infancy with a trip to the park.
so here are the stats:

- he is wearing 12-18 month clothes and size 3 diapers
- he eats 3 meals a day and 4 bottles....typically at 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 6pm
-he gets up around 9am (i am still crossing my fingers it stays this way) and he goes to bed around 8:30pm.
- he has been eating less than normal since he was sick a little over a month ago....i really think he lost his appetite during that time and realized he could say no to food...and thus he has become rather picky at times. he tends toward fruits and often chooses jar baby food over what mom makes. he has also dined on gold fish, french fries, birthday cake and chicken fingers this month, and of course loved it!
- we got him a push walker that he loves to show off walking. he looks a little like the tin man walking without bending his legs but he rocks it. he is standing more without holding on to things, and often sitting down without holding on to something.
- he is showing he understands words like "do you want to eat dinner" or "it is time to feed buck" . when you ask him a question he will come to you and want to be picked up. he and dan have a new tradition of feeding the dog together at night.
- he loves saying "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh" and shakes his finger when he is doing something we have asked him not to do...and then he proceeds to continue what ever it is he has his mind set on.
- oh my changing his diaper is quite the job. he hates being held down, and frankly he is very strong so we have had many gasping moments of him almost flipping off the table.
- he has started brushing his teeth ...all 6 of them, and loves it
- he has started handing things to us and looks for us to make a big reaction and then he grabs for it back after we ask if he "would like to hold it" ...this is usually done with the remote.
- although we keep him on a tight schedule, when he is off his schedule, and there are people to entertain him (not his parents), he seems to thrive.
- he loves to dance. when he hears music he bobs and sings.

you make me laugh

donovan has always been interested in looking at the front and back of things. he will open and close doors to see the front and back, turn books from front to back and most recently he has started taking the top of a drum that he has and looking at the front and back of it.....despite it being clear.

this has progressed into a game for us. while looking from the front to the back of his drum top he began pressing his face against it. i think he was trying to find something to chew on and looking to find his fix came his smooshed face for me to see.

i cannot get enough of this. he has now learned he can make me laugh when he does it so he will do it for a reaction. and i have found that if i say "peep-eye" in an excited voice when he is playing with the lid i can get him to perform. at my house we call anything "peep-eye" if it involves covering our face with anything...even if our eyes stay in view. so here is a shot we recently got.

st. patty's day

ever since dan murphy came sweeping into my life st. patty's day has become...well a big deal. and it just so happens that the st. patty's day parade in charlotte has also increased in popularity, and we have taken part in each year. we did not take part in last year due to my very pregnant self on my birthday weekend pulling the very pregnant card. this year we were in. we have several friends that have made it a tradition of meeting for the parade and then lunch, and this year was no different.

we had 80 degree weather and a big turn out. donovan did great. he rocked out from 8am to 8pm with a 30 minute snoozer in his papoose. the parade is in "uptown charlottte" and then we had lunch at rock bottom where we had a table for 16......st. patty's is a big deal! donovan showed off his new skills of "cheers-ing" with his sippy cup. he took it all in....although now that i think about it, not only did he take it all in but he was a willing participant. the pictures show him enjoying the company of other little ones.

despite donovan's history of homecooked organic meals, his st. patty's day was full of french fries and chicken tenders...not organic. he and his dad bonded in the men's bathroom for the first public restroom diaper change, and later that day he had a parent tag team of full on public diaper change in a sidewalk alley. we enjoyed the afternoon at an irish festival in the city where we enjoyed people watching and sidewalk playtime.

we finished the evening at home filthy but still all smiles. since his marathon day i have accused donovan of taking the street drug "charlie sheen" to keep him going. he seems to have had a full day of winning! despite his lack of naps.

new shoes

guess who got new shoes...and a new hat....that makes him look like a little boy??

and guess who likes to crawl around in the driveway showing his new duds off?? donovan does.

mama's birthday

i just celebrated yet another birthday. birthdays are a big deal for me. i have a history of referring to my big day as a birthday month, and more recently birthday week. as i get older and try to talk dan into my extra large birthday celebrations i now squeeze out a birthday weekend.



although i sound a little like "her majesty" i really don't demand that much. just a couple of days full of my favorite things. this year my couple of days of favorite things included coffee, yoga, pizza, cake/cupcakes, lunch out, funny hats, spring weather, dinner cooked for me, nothing planned and presents. it was lovely!









the pictures with the hat are from a mid-week birthday party thrown by my mom and aunt, and the other pics are from opening presents with the fam.

a detail you all might enjoy is that i decided to make myself a birthday cake as a way to practice making donovan's birthday cake. i have been trying to think of how to make a cake that looks like brown bear, brown bear from the eric carle book....which is donovan's favorite. so after lots of research and thinking i made a delicious cake that looks like a rodent of sorts. oh well.

uh-uh-uh-uh-uh

we find ourselves saying "uh-uh-uh-uh-uh" instead of "no" when donovan is doing something we do not want him to do. for example playing in the dogs water, or the buttons on the tv. he thinks it is funny when we say this so he typically says it back to us and then goes about his business. this video is a perfect example of him totally shutting us out.