Blake at 11 months (and a couple days)

So this blog post is just me catching up on posting a bunch of pics and documenting some updates on where our boy is at 11 month.

Mom Mom and Blake hanging out in the grass...

Blake isn't sure what he thinks of grass. He usually just pulls it out in handfuls.

And he is finally pulling himself up in his crib. I have some great video to post but I've run into some technical difficulties at the moment.

And there is no real good explanation for this, except we had a box and the baby fit in it. He loved being pulled around in the box, and just sitting in the box for that matter.

And for his latest trick, he loves playing with the water as we fill the bathtub. Since he is so much fun we typically just leave the water running, and he just splashes splashes splashes. I love when he splashes so much and his eyes are all filled with water, but the baby doesn't blink so they just stay filled with water. I didn't quite capture that, but I got some cute moments.

I also wanted to document a few other other tricks the baby has been doing recently:

1. When you ask him "How big is Blake" he raises his hands and we promptly say "SOO big." It looks more like a hold up, he seems so serious, but it is a very cute hold-up!
2. He is starting to understand the baby sign language we are teaching him. He can't seem to get "more" (it looks too much like clapping, I think), but he can do "all done." He flaps his hands on both sides and says something that sounds more like "ah duh" which I think is close enough to "all done." And he isn't shy about telling us he is "ah duh" when we try to feed him something he doesn't prefer.
3. He is a little dancing fiend. As soon as we turn on the radio, he wraps his legs around whomever is holding him and starts to bounce up and down to "dance." He loves it. If music is on and he is on the floor he will do a little wiggle (kinda like the worm without getting any air) and sometimes claps or slaps his hands on the floor to the music.
4. He is a little terror in his walker! He races around the house, picking up his feet on the long stretches for optimal speed, and sometimes he closes his eyes as he glides, with arms wide open, until he crashes into whatever wall or piece of furniture bring his cruise to an end.
5. We hear "uh oh" all the time. It is so cute that we almost forget that we have to pick up whatever he has dropped (over and over and over).
6. He says Dada all the time, too. He definitely knows that Dada is "dada" but sometimes he calls other things "dada" as well. We aren't too picky.
7. He waves "bye bye." Unfortunately he usually only does so after someone is out the door. And for whatever reason he says "dada" every time he waves, probably because Dada is the person he waves to most often.
8. If we ask him where our nose is, he promptly points to it. I was surprised the other day when I was showing him a picture of an ear in a book and he grabbed my ear! He also knows toes and belly.
9. He loves bellies! Particularly after a meal while he is still sitting in his booster seat and I stand up to take off his bib he will pull up my shirt and giggle and often plant a wet zerbert kiss on my belly. Sweet - and a little strange - but we still love it!
10. He says a lot of other words, but not on demand. His other words so far have included (in rough chronological order): Dada, ball, uh oh (I think that counts as a word), baby, car ("cuh"), dog ("gaw" - that might be a stretch, but I really think he was trying to say dog, and he points to the dogs when he says it), duck...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Everything else is "gook" and he really likes to make gutteral throat noises.

We are continuing to try to train him when he goes after "no touches" with a little flick. He usually responds when we say no, but unfortunately we have to say no to the same things, day after day. He reaches for it, and then turns to me anticipating that I will say "no" and then backs away. Perhaps I should switch him when he reaches for it in the first place, but generally I don't. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. He has been mostly responsive when we say "no" when he is whining, too. I feel for him, that sometimes whining is the only way he has to communicate that he wants to be picked up, or he is hungry, so we are working hard to try to get him to says (or sign) "up" and "bah bah."

And lastly, his 4th tooth just poked through, so now he has his two bottom teeth and two side top teeth.

Sorry for the very long post...it has been too long!