Eleven Months Old

Jared is now eleven months old. I can't believe he will be a year old in less than a month! Time goes by so quickly when you have children. I am trying to enjoy him being little as much as I can, but he is growing up so fast. I think he is trying to catch up to those brothers of his.

He is an expert at crawling now. He can go pretty fast when he has a mind to. He can also crawl over obstacles, and up and down the stair in our living room. He loves to sit on his knees and pull himself onto his knees whenever possible. He is starting to pull himself to his feet now. He did just that yesterday at our fireplace and was (slowly) cruising along it. His brothers think it is great fun to bring him to his feet and prop him up against something. He hasn't quite figure out how to get down from his feet yet, so usually ends up standing there screaming, or toppling over and bonking his head.

His favorite mode of communication these days is screaming. He also makes a wide variety of letter sounds - his favorite of those being the hard "c" sound. He has connected me with the word Mama and uses it a lot to call for me.
He is ever so curious. He is constantly exploring anything he can get his hands on. He loves to go into the laundry room and play in the dogs' water dish. He also loves to visit the boys' bathroom and races for open doors at the front and back of the house. He gets quite upset when you stop him from opening the pantry door or the fridge door and loves to explore my kitchen cabinets and drawers, though he gets his fingers squished almost every time.

He is getting more hair. He isn't quite as bald as he used to be. Some of it is pretty long, but most of it is still only about 1/4" long. He has Jack's hair - very blonde, fine and thin. His eyes are still blue. If I remember right, Daniel's didn't change until he was a year old or older, so we'll see how they turn out.
He has learned to wave hello and goodbye. Sometimes he will even say bye-bye. I am working on helping him to learn a couple of other signs to help him communicate better - mostly "hungry" and "more." He knows what they mean when I do them, but won't repeat them back to me yet. He loves to clap, and will usually clap when you ask him too, or when he is happy, or even when he is watching someone else clap - like on television.

He is still a very happy boy. It is easy to get him to laugh and smile. He is very ticklish and loves to play. He loves to play with his brothers, and with his little music & lights learning table that I brought up from storage last week.
I let him swing at the park for the first time last week. He thought that was pretty fun. He has 6 teeth now and they sure make for cute smiles. He still does his "squinty face" that just cracks Gary and I up - but I haven't been able to catch it on camera. He is pretty silly. I think he likes to make people laugh, just like Evan does.
Here are a few more pictures from the past month