11 Months

This month started out with a little bit of tuff love from mommy.  I realized/decided that Rex was old enough now to be sleeping through the night, all night without getting up to nurse.   He started a midnight nursing a couple of months ago when he had a cold and I let him do it to comfort him and get him back to sleep.  Then it just became a bad habit and I let it keep going to get him through the move.  But now we are settled and he is used to the new place, healthy and not teething so I decided this is it!  After some good coaching from Aunt Annie I was ready to enforce the new night time routine.  So when Rex got up at 12:30am I went in and held him just briefly enough to tell him, I loved him and that it was time for sleeping.  I laid him back down left the room, did not look back and went to lay in bed and listen to him cry....and he did...but not for all that long or all that hard.  He got up one more time that night and this time it didn't take him quite as long to go back to sleep maybe 5 minutes.  We repeated the same process twice the next night but the 2nd night he went back to sleep very quickly.  Then on night 3 it happened, he slept all night!  He has been sleeping all night for the whole month now! (there have been a few times we have had to go in and remind him its time for sleeping and he always goes right back to sleep)  It was hard the first night to leave him in there crying but I knew he was ok and I was helping to teach him a life skill of putting himself back to sleep, I think he was ready to make the change he just needed a little push from me in the right direction.  I'm always amazed at how the littlest things can make me so proud of him.

NEWS FLASH!  Rex took his first steps this month!  Grandpa Rex thought he would do it at 9 months, I though he would do it at 10 months, but Rex knew all along it would be 11 months.  He started cruising around the house on a walker earlier this month so we knew it would only be a matter of time.  On 4/22 Will had come home for lunch and Rex and I were playing in the kitchen keeping him company (we had already eaten).  Rex was standing by the patio door and enjoying letting go of the glass and standing all on his own.  I was standing just a few feet away and all of a sudden he took 2 steps and walked over to me.  As he was mid step I tried to get Wills attention to look without distracting Rex too much.  He kinda missed it.  But then just a minute later I backed up and he took 2 more steps  into my arms.  I have been trying to set up places and ways he might take his first steps for days so it was fun that I wasn't even thinking about it when he did it.

 Pictures from the month:

Rexie's first trip to the St. Louis Zoo

Mommy and Rex in the Penguin house

Monkeys!

Elephants

Playing with Rex is getting more fun all the time.  He has a constant babble going all day long that is fun to listen to and interact with.  He loves to take things out of the bottom drawer in the kitchen and his toy box, to climb the stairs, and we are starting to enjoy some really nice walks and runs outside now that is has finally decided to quit snowing (we love our jogging stroller).  This month Rex has started signing to us.  He signs "all done" which is waving his hands out to his side, "more" which is pointer finger to his palm, and "itsy bitsy spider"  this is his two pointer fingers together. He really really like the itsy bitsy spider rhyme and so he made up the spider motion to sign to ask for us to sing it over and over and over....but its so cute seeing him sign for it I don't mind.  He also likes to help say OUT and wave his arms at the "wash the spider out" part. He also says "Hi" when he sees us and "No" he mostly saves this for when he is in his high chair and we are trying to feed him but he uses it conversationally also and one more..."Oooww" as in Ouch.

Family Trip to Cahokia Mounds State Park

 Playing in the grass....finally