11 months...

When in the world did that happen??? 11 months?? That's almost a toddler, not a baby... I can't believe it!

But every month with this little cutie gets even better! He is such a big boy now. He does something to blow us away daily!!

He is *this close* to standing and walking on his own, it's so much fun! He has learned to walk using the walker, but still isn't brave enough to try and stand on his own, although I think he could, his balance is excellent. We will see if it happens before Christmas or not!

We now have tooth #5, and #6 is on it's way! He now has the front two bottom teeth, the front middle two top teeth, and the next one over on the left, the next one over on the right is currently pushing through. He always seems to get teeth in 2's! It will take weeks for the first one to push through, and then the second is there a couple of days later. Like I have said before, he's an awesome teether. He wants to chew more and drools more, but isn't really fussy.

For Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to go and see Jace's mom in North Carolina! They have built a house on top of a mountain there, and it was gorgeous! Jarvis loved getting to see her and Greg, and we enjoyed getting to catch up. Like always, traveling was hard on Jarvis, but everyone mentioned what a good baby he was when we got off the planes, and he has finally recovered and is back to napping and being happy. Traveling with a baby is always a bittersweet thing, we love getting to see family, but it's very hard for us to put Jarvis through all that stress. However, we are very glad we went!

As a teacher who is trained in early childhood development, I spend a lot of time thinking about Jarvis' development. I have been SO excited to see his comprehension begin to kick in more every day. It seems like everyday he understands something more! Here are some of his latest:

• put it in your mouth (food)
• not in your mouth (something that's not a toy) 
• all done?- he'll nod yes and no
• puppy dog, and kitty cat
• throw it for puppy dog (tennis ball- he does throw it and then giggles when puppy chases it)
• no touch (although he'll ignore this one sometimes!)
• where's Jarvis? (he'll hide and the peek-a-boo out)
• Mama and Dada (I realized he knew this one when I made the mistake of hearing a helicopter land and saying, Dada must be landing, he went crawling to the door and was inconsolable looking for Dada- who didn't come home for another hour!)
• vroom, vroom (he'll push his cars and trucks around on the floor when I say this)
• and a whole lot more!!

I had another super proud mama teacher moment last Thursday as well. I am in charge of creative activities for my mother's group that meets twice a month. Once a month we have a steering meeting to plan. A friend usually keeps Jarvis for me, but since she is vacationing it up in CA, I took him to the meeting and put him in the combined daycare with another of our moms. The kids ranged from 9 mo to 9 years, and I can only imagine how hectic it was! Afterwards, the mom watching all them mentioned that Jarvis really liked books and that he was the only kid who played with them. My heart swelled! I think that book knowledge and exposure is the BIGGEST factor in learning to read, which then impacts all learning capabilities. So it makes me happy that book exposure at home is leading Jarvis to choose to play with books. Seriously was one of the most thrilling moments as a parent so far!!

And onto another parenting first.... Jarvis pooped in the bath tub for the first time last night, hahaha!! J was giving him a bath, and I would have loved to have seen his face. I'm honestly surprised he's made it this long without that little incident. Isn't being a parent great??

J has been busy with work, lots of flying, snowblowing, and putting up Christmas lights. We swear that next year we will put them up in early November when it's 30* instead of 10*!! I do have to admit that I am finding the snow even prettier this year. It is affecting me less and less. I actually enjoy shoveling, it's a great work out! I have been very busy with my business orders, making Christmas presents, getting the Christmas cards out, and getting the crafts together for my mom's group. We are keeping very busy up here.

There are some awesome new videos up on youtube and I hope to add pictures later today. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I'll be posting another this much post soon, so check for that!

Love,
J, C, & J