scrunchy face

 Oh man, this tiny boy of mine.
He's mischievous, silly, sweet, loud, and 
I seriously cannot get enough of him. 

Why, why can't I freeze time?  

 When I catch him doing something dangerous/odd/silly I say,
"Christiiiaaan!" and he turns to me
 and first one eye squints, then the next, 
then his perfect little nose scrunches up, 
and then he grins. 

I'm in so much trouble with this one, guys.
I'm in for it. He's going to be trouble.
And I just can't believe how lucky I am to have him.

Christian is almost 11 months old, and he really isn't a fan of real food.

He'd much rather be playing, or sticking his foot up on his tray.

He still breastfeeds about 4-5 times a day and 3 or 4 times through the night.

The only food I can be certain he'll always eat is avocados. He devours them. He'll eat an entire avocado in one sitting.

He also loves to drink smoothies from a straw. 

And eat almost anything that was supposed to be mine. But if it was meant for him? He's not interested.

I mentioned this before, but he seriously loves turning on the bathtub in my bathroom. All day long I'll catch him sliding down the hall on his belly as fast as he can, heading for the master bathroom so he can stand next to it and turn the water on, off

on

off 

on off on off

over and over again.

My sister, Sarah, taught him to throw his hands in the air when we say "Hooray!" last week, 

and it's been a week of him sticking his arms up and expecting us to shout.

I was working out a few days ago, doing jumping jacks,

and Christian thought I was trying to get him to sign "hooray," so he joined in,

and then I had to shout "Hooray!" at the top of each jumping jack. 

Between that and his attempts to climb up my legs while I do lunges, he's the best little workout buddy.

He's constantly getting himself stuck under chairs, in the baby gate on the stairs, in boxes, under the table, and in the dishwasher. I have to rescue him several times every hour. He crawls off and a few minutes later I hear him start to shriek, 

"AHHHH!" in his tiny little squeaky voice, 

which means I need to drop what I'm doing (again) and save my little toad.

He's THIS close to walking. Today he let go all on his own and toddled across the room. More than once. 

I told him he couldn't walk until we were in the new house, 

because the condo had all tile and was incredibly not baby-friendly,

but now we're here, 

and he's forcing me to keep my promise.

 Once he learns to stop giving himself applause while he walks, 
he'll be off.  
Clapping and walking is a little tricky, but he just gets so excited, he can't help it!

I predict that by the end of the week he'll be walking.
I knew he'd be an early walker, so it's not really unexpected,
but I'm sure going to miss the way his toes squeak on the laminate floor as he army crawls, or the way sometimes he army crawls with his fists in the air, ala Superman-in-flight, cheering as he glides,
or the way he's been learning to crawl like a normal baby on hands and knees, and the adorable slap slap slap of his hands as he comes to find me. 

Babyhood isn't long enough. 

Today he had his first taste of chocolate.
It went well.
Nicholas and Ellie laughed and laughed as he clambered out of my arms, 
reaching and reaching for the rest of the chocolates. 

Goodness, he's perfection.