11 months old!
After today, I will only have one more monthly update left for Graham. Here we are at 11 months! Almost a whole year! Graham has surprised me in so many ways. He is certainly a different kid than Owen. It’s a joy to watch my boys become their own people. I love to watch their personalities unfold. I study my kiddos and learn new things about them daily. Graham is at the fun transition stage where he is a baby, but also a toddler.
The biggest Graham update is he is officially a walker! He can walk great distances around the house. He prefers to walk instead of crawl. The only catch is he hasn’t learned to stand up by himself yet. He needs to pull himself up into something to get to walking position. If he falls down in the middle of the room, he crawls over to a piece of furniture and starts again. I never expected Graham to walk at 10.5 months old. He is a small little guy, but that doesn’t seem to slow him down. We are getting used to life with our little walker! He has even attempted to run a few times. Slow down, kid!
With his birthday just around the corner, I’ve been getting questions about what Graham would like as presents. This has been a tough question. He has more than enough hand-me-down clothes from Owen. Graham also plays with the same toys as Owen. I guess a good suggestion for Graham would be anything that Owen likes. We supervise the toys with smaller wheels closely, but Graham has no interest in baby toys. The bane of Owen’s existence is the fact that Graham wants to play with the wooden railway trains. Graham is like baby Godzilla and he terrorizes the track and Owen. I’m looking forward to the day where they can play trains together and I don’t have to worry about Graham trying to taking everything apart. I realize that day is probably a good year away… But I can dream.
Graham loves to play peekaboo. He is the cutest thing and is usually the one to initiate the game. His smile is the sweetest and his giggles are adorable. Graham is also more inclined to sit in your lap and snuggle than I remember Owen being. Graham still has a bit of Mommy clingy-ness. While that can be frustrating, I also remember that he is toddling now and soon he’ll be even more independent. This season of having a baby who wants to be held or sit in my lap is a short one the grand scheme of life. I want to be enjoy these moments. The poor kid gets endless kisses from me and I sniff his little head often.
We are at the stage where Graham’s hair is getting long enough that strangers aren’t sure if he is boy or a girl. I have a thing about saving the first haircut for the 1st birthday. It’s partially because I am cheap and lazy, but also because he can only have “baby” hair for long. A year seems like a good right of passage for a hair cut. His birthday party is in a few weeks and I want him to have baby hair for those pictures. We have family photos in the middle of October and I want him to have a hair cut for those pictures. We will have a 13 day window for the first hair cut to happen.
Graham doesn’t say too many words yet. At least not ones that we recognize. He says mostly things that start with D and he is obsessed with saying “Dad.” When I get Graham up in the morning, the first thing he says is “dad” and he looks around the room repeating that word. He wants his dad right off the bat in the mornings. Not Mom. We have worked with him to say “Mama” but he isn’t interested. Of course, he baby chatters. I am keeping an ear open to see if that chatter will turn into a vocabulary soon.
Another exciting update is Graham’s willingness to try most any food now. He never got into the pureed baby food but seems to be a much bigger fan of finger foods. He still doesn’t eat a ton of solid foods. He more interested in sampling things than chowing down, but he is trying things and that is a great development for us. This is a fun stage to see the reactions to different foods.
We love our super sweet little man. He brings so much joy to our lives. It’s hard to believe that we are the 11 month mark with the big birthday milestone right around the corner. I love the discovery at this age. These are some of my favorite days. Graham is such a treasure and I am thankful everyday that is a part of our zany family. Especially given the stress of the last month, I am so thankful for all the smiles, kisses, hugs and love he brings into our lives. We have been blessed!
Playing with a compass and wearing his hand-me-down Canada shirt from Owen’s visit to Victoria. I love all the memories that are attached to this shirt.
Playing Peekaboo
Just chilling
Happy walker!
Selfies with Mommy
Amy Scott's Thoughts 