11 months

Yesterday Marshall turned 11 months old. I keep telling him to stop getting older, but clearly he isn't listening.

This is such a fun stage. The biggest changes in the past month are his communication abilities. He definitely has preferences and opinions and makes sure we know what they are. He is saying "mama" and "dada" and "hi" and "gooo" (short for "good" when he eats something he likes), and sometimes "light" and "bite" (although it sounds like "lye" and "bye"). He definitely understands a lot of what we say and knows what fan, car, bye bye, cat, doggies, grandma + grampa, take a drink, on and off (for the lights), sit down, come here and a few other things all mean. He loves showing off and will wave when we say "hi" or "say bye-bye," give us kisses when we ask, clap when we say "yeay!" or when he does something he's proud of.

His newest trick is putting his hands up in the air when we say "how big?"

Then we say "soooooo big!" And he thinks its hilarious.


And yes, it is as adorable as it looks in the pictures.

Current obsessions include but are not limited to: pictures and videos of babies (especially himself); electronics like our phones or remotes (cannot be tricked by a toy version!); pointing to and reaching for anything of interest and asking us "dat?" (meaning 'hey guys, what is that thing?'); opening and closing doors, cabinets and drawers; pulling things out of drawers, laundry baskets or bins; placing toys on top of other toys; kissing the baby in the mirror, mommy and daddy, or his stuffed animals (he is one kissy little kid!); chugging water out of our cups; riding on daddy's shoulders; and playing 'chase.' He'll crawl up to us, then make a creepy fake laughing sound while crawling away and looking over his shoulder. Then we say 'I'm gonna get you!' and pretend tickle the air, and he totally loses his mind and squeals as he crawls away in a panic. Soooo cute. Sometimes he'll turn around and chase us back, except when he catches us he bites which isn't quite as cute.

He is really into books now:

His favorites are 2 books from Aunt Kanda and Uncle Mark that have pictures of babies in them. He will sit in his chair and flip through all of the pages while babbling under his breath:

then every now and then he'll burst out laughing. He is so concentrated, its adorable to watch:
This month he has really stepped up his eating game as well. He will pick the foods he likes off of his tray, then throw what he doesn't like onto the floor. He favorites are spicy things like chana masala, curried vegetables, anything sauteed in garlic, and last night he loved the heck out of some bbq'd mahi mahi. Let me say, I am sooo glad we decided to let him self feed instead of doing baby food purees. It has made meal times so convenient. We just give him his own portion of whatever we're eating and he "talks" and eats while we talk and eat our own meals. He loves picking up the food and taking bites, then picking out something else and trying it.

Lately I've been giving him a spoon of coconut oil to suck on with meals because its an easy way to give him a healthy fat and he loves holding the spoon.


He is so close to walking. He can stand without holding onto anything, but as soon as he notices that he's doing it, he'll sit down. He can walk around holding to us with just one hand. I'm actually looking forward to him starting to walk because hopefully it will slow him down a little. This kid is a FAST crawler!

He loves the dogs. If they're in the house he will chase them all around, and as soon as we go in the backyard he speeds towards their side yard and "calls" them by grunting and yelling:


I think they can understand him because they always come running:


Bailey is convinced he is able to play fetch with her and always brings him a ball or frisbee.

She'll hold it right up to the fence and wait for him to grab it. Then she gets all excited only to be let down when he decides to chew on it himself (I gave up on that battle a long time ago) or just shake it and throw it down. She forgives him though.


Right now Marshall is obsessed with "helping" me vacuum. I have a canister vac and he'll hold on to it and walk around behind me then crawl up to the power head and beat on it. Its actually nice because if he's bored its an easy way to get the house clean AND keep him entertained. The only thing better than the vacuum, is the lawn mower:


He loves to watch Jerad mow and claps and cheers him on the whole time:

So far, this kid isn't scared of anything.

He still loves wheels and balls, and LOVES sitting on Jerad's little tractor that is just his size:


He gets super focused and steers, pulls the levers, bounces in the seat, and beats on the wheel.

When he gets a little older he's gonna love driving it!

I can't believe our little man is almost a year old. Time has flown by so fast. I'm trying to cherish every moment, but also can't wait to see what the next month brings!