Eleven Months

This one makes my big mommy heart ache... 

31 days (less now) and my baby boy will be a year old. Where has the time gone? As much as I enjoy his spunky personality that he has now, I'm trying my hardest to hold on to my newborn infant. 

Ryker Kay at 11 months you:

• sprouted a bottom front (left side) tooth this morning (7/17)
• now have 6 teeth total (4 on top and one other on the bottom that came in a few weeks ago)
• love Red Vines and graham crackers
• are still a booby monster (ha) - I worry you are never going to want to stop nursing, at night especially
• are starting to furniture cruise a little bit
• still don't show any signs of walking anytime soon - thank God!
• are a crawling machine! Man, you are fast
• are the best eater, and I'm not even kidding. There is nothing you don't love
• do have your favorite foods though; chicken, potatoes, watermelon, blueberries, and black beans
• are wearing 9 and 12 months clothes
• still wear a size 3 diaper
• probably weigh around 23 pounds - I say probably because you were wiggling on the bathroom scale
• are such a water baby!!
• squeal with delight whenever you find water; toilet water, dogs water (inside and outside), the bathtub, the kitchen sink..
• have your very own baby swimming pool at home and at Grandma's and we can't hardly keep you out of it. You like to splash and splash 
• unfortunately you don't sleep through the night. Depending on your mood, you're up any where from 2-4 times a night. You're killing us son!
• have started throwing fits. I want to laugh because it's so funny seeing you tense up and get all red in the face with your fists clenched
• can say mom (pretty much everyone is mom), dad, and the occasion hi/hey, more, dog, cat, ba[ll], and something else I can't real right now
• loved the fireworks on the 4th of July. You ever tried to grab the sparks as they dropped from the fountains and sparklers 
• went to your very first parade in Pocatello on the 4th of July - you didn't seem to mind it and would watch the floats as they past
• like to crawl in our landscape rocks (or stand on them to get to the dog water) and I don't know how you do it barefooted. You have stronger feet than your sissy dad, that's for sure
• enjoy sitting in front of the dryer and watching the clothes spin around, for a second anyway
• have your favorite tunes or jams where you'll start bouncing too if you hear them - one of them being The Hotdog Song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
• can do a few of the hand gestures for Itsy Bitsy Spider - it's sooo cute!
• are obsessed with the vacuum cleaner. You will follow me around trying to get your hands on it
• are learning how to "clean" your face and tray after you eat with a wet wipe. You're not doing too bad actually. Then after you're done, you want to clean everyone else's face
• have a ear piercing scream
• are getting out of the stranger danger faze and now instead of giving skank faces to people, you give them your best cheesy grin and wave
• are so so funny; you just do funny things. I can't explain it. Your personality is second to none :)
• are ALL BOY - you're interested in trucks, rocks, dirt, tools, the lawn mower..
• are your mother's pride and joy and your daddy's moon and stars. What we did to deserve you is beyond me, but I will never question why. Thank you for giving me a reason to strive to do my best, your daddy too. You are so loved I couldn't even put it into words. While I miss you being a tiny little newborn I am so excited to watch you grown into the little human that you are. My worst day with you, son, is better than the best day without you. 

Happy 11 months, baby boy. We love you so.