Eleven Months (and two days)!

Erik at his first Caucus on 4 March -- Matt and I are very politically involved and Erik was the talk of the night!

Since I'm posting this after midnight on Monday, I suppose I'm now two days late (barely, considering Erik was born at 11:55pm, but we'll not split that hair right now).  This weekend has been a whirlwind, so I'm finally sitting down to write this post.

My sweet baby boy is one month (ONE MONTH) away from being one year old!  That just blows my mind.

Erik has a wide range of distinct sounds he now makes, and a few words at his disposal: "Mama", "Dada", and "tata" (meaning goodbye, we think).  He also loves to say, with vigor, "ka", "ba", "ga", and the "singles" of each of his words ("ma"--which we think means more food, the way he uses it, "da", and "ta").  He combines them in hilarious ways, which reminds me of the language of the Unas, for Stargate fans.  Apparently I need to find Daniel Jackson to help us translate!

Erik gets closer to walking each day.  I'm in no rush, so I'm not encouraging it at this point, but he cruises everywhere and will walk with someone holding his hands now (he wasn't very interested in that before).  He'll push things along and walk behind them as well.

Erik still loves his baths, and especially loves to splash!

Look at those teeth (the fourth one is just poking through)!

Erik now has 4 teeth and loves to try new foods.  He is good at gumming small smushy foods (bananas, mandarin oranges, etc.), loves his yogurt melts and definitely loves food from a jar--especially when he can bite the spoon!  He seems to love everything he tastes.  It's fascinating.  Cheerios are a big hit with this little dude (surprise, surprise!).

Erik spent over a week sick this past month with a nasty cold.  Lots of humidification (that's a word, right? it is after midnight...) and baths helped easy the process, but it's hard to have so little at your disposal to do.  His energy was so low that it was sad to watch--heartbreaking, even.  I did enjoy the extra snuggles and cuddles, though!

Erik has quite the arm and loves to throw everything, from books to balls to toys.

Erik's new trick, moving from his "beauty queen" wave, is to point at everything.  He does "ET Phone Home!" very well now.  In addition to pointing, Erik wags his finger when you say, "No, no, no!"  That was a cute trick caucus night when folks would ask him what we say to taxes.  ;)

I know, it's the same outfit as caucus night, but this is from Erik's 11 month birthday.  It's so cute I had to put him in it again!

Erik has also learned how to click his tongue.  In fact, most of the time I tell him to say "Dada" now, he just clicks his tongue since that's what his dad does.  It's amazingly adorable that he is so smart to associate those two things!

Matt and I spent a weekend in DC this past month, and the day after we got home, Erik crawled up to each of us, laid his poor sick head on our chests, and called us by name ("Mama" and "Dada").  Of all the amazing things I've witnessed since he was born, that was probably the most incredible yet.  Talk about awe.  I am so grateful to have all our family nearby for occasions like this.  It has been such a blessing, and both Matt and I believe it is very important to have grandparents, aunt(ie)s, and uncles involved in the upbringing of children.

As always, keep up with Erik on my Instagram page (linked to the right).  I post videos and pictures regularly.  Next months post will probably induce some tears... at least on my part.

Inquisitive Erik