McKinstry Moments: The Eleventh Month

There is not much time left for me to claim that I have an infant. In one month's time, Reid will be a one-year-old little boy.

Nonetheless, there's still plenty of time left to grow. In his eleventh month, Reid's knocked out a few additional baby milestones. The first being that two more teeth have popped through (found on Aug. 26th and 27th) opposite the ones he already had on the bottom. It took a lot of rough nights for those bad boys to make their appearance, but finally they're here!

There's the new ones.

I see the bottom ones peeking out too...

Finally! There's a good shot.

Show off those pearly whites!

In some ways a few more chompers have been a good thing, especially since he isn't a baby food type of guy. You can only gum so much steak and potatoes!

On the other hand, I now live in fear...this kid is a biter! When he just had smooth gums to gnaw with, it wasn't such a big deal, but when those first two teeth came in, he had to be scolded quite a few times that biting wasn't allowed, especially when nursing. His feelings would get hurt each time I fussed at him because he didn't quite understand. It was pitiful as he tried to figure out if he should try to get some more milk or not, but with a little reassurance he was okay again.

With this new duo of teeth, he can really get you! Usually it's a nip right on your shoulder or maybe on your finger if you get it too close. Mommy's the one that's still getting the worse end of the deal though. (When do I get to start giving him whole milk?) He's not trying to be mean, just soothing those achy gums, but it's still painful. We'll just have to keep those teethers handy!

Take the shirt seriously!

Caleb and Hadley weren't biters. However, they both used pacifiers which may have given them more of an opportunity to chew. Our pediatrician actually told me to wait to break Caleb's pacifier habit until he finished teething to prevent biting.

Cheerios are one of his favorite foods on which to put those chompers to work. (Someone should have told me years ago to take out some stock in this company....or the generic ones since we usually buy the store brand.)

He's pretty cute chasing those O's around his tray and trying to get them in his mouth. However, we also got a lot of entertainment one night introducing him to corn on the cob. He'd been chewing on everything, so instead of cutting the corn off like Dave normally does, I suggested just handing him the cob. Reid was so proud and completely satisfied.

He's doing really well with a sippy cup on his own now too. We never even tried a bottle with this little one. Reid went straight from nursing to trying out his siblings' cups. He grabbed one of their drinks at a soccer game one day a few months ago and has just kept progressing since then. Dave bought some cups that are a little shorter and not as heavy; they fit perfectly in his short, chubby fingers and are much easier for him to maneuver on his own.

Aside from just cutting a couple teeth, the biggest milestone this month is that Reid has reached WALKER status! Last month he was doing a lot of this:

Holding on to everything

He cruised some but there was no letting go. Then, NaNa got the ball rolling! One day (8/20) at the park, she pulled her hands back and Big Boy stood there, maintaining his balance on those roly poly legs .

Walking didn't just flow out of his new found ability to balance, but he didn't sit around much either. Reid developed the hobby over the past couple months of pushing things around the house (ride-on toys, shopping carts, kitchen chairs). Though he would move about pretty fast as he did this, he always made sure there was something to cling to.

Anyone in need of Reid's moving company?

Caleb and Hadley both walked at ten months old, so I kept waiting for it...and waiting for it...and waiting for it. Reid was more cautious though. He has such good control of himself that he can stand there and lower himself to the floor (maybe from all those crunches he liked to do as a small baby). Rather than taking the risk of falling, he would carefully just sit down and crawl to the next thing. We all knew he could do it if he tried, but we weren't sure when he was going to make up his mind to do so.

You'd think his sister - the little bruiser, who is always climbing on his back - would give him reason enough to get moving...

Or, maybe even that she beats him to get to Daddy's arms in the evenings when Daddy gets home from work (especially when he's been out of town for a week visiting Grandma and Grandpa like he was when this video was taken):

But, he needed a little bit of extra motivation.

When teaching my older two how to walk, I helped them gain their balance by standing them up against the couch and then spacing myself out a few inches with hands outstretched, beckoning them to take those first steps. I planned to employ this same method with Reid but had been putting it off because I wanted Dave to be home and see him take his first steps. However, NaNa jumped the gun one day and started letting him try when I wasn't looking. After that, I went to work. We only made it one or two steps at a time, but it was something.

Every day for the past couple weeks we have worked with Reid to develop this skill. Most the time it was a step or two and then he'd dive. Sometimes he wouldn't step at all and instead would simply dive right for our arms. I had a pep talking with him that we'd work on swimming later on, but now it was time to learn to walk and we kept moving. He got three steps (9/8) a few times, but he was still cautious.

Finally, on Wednesday (9/10), he got it! Five steps right to Mommy's arms. Then, ten!...Wow, next came sixteen!...Go Reid! Go Reid! It's almost your birthday!...(I guess technically he's still on par with the other two, getting it down the day before he turned eleven months.)

I took him to the doctor last week to have his ears checked because I was afraid our little boy may have hand an ear infection based on how poorly he was sleeping at night. Thankfully they said he was just fine, but in the meantime, we got an update on his stats. TWENTY FIVE POUNDS SIXTEEN OUNCES of baby! Shew...is it any wonder I've been anxious for him to start walking so my arms can have a break?

I'm sure being more mobile will have it's challenges too though. For example, I caught him climbing the stairs one day maybe six months ago and now he goes right to the top no problem (with Mommy spotting of course).

Not to mention that he already gets into everything. Caleb gets especially frustrated when, in curiosity, Reid messes up something his big brother has constructed. Big boy toys are just too tempting for little hands...

There are plenty of baby friendly things to check out too - so many toys that Mommy is starting to do some of purging this month. Some of our best play time is when older siblings are asleep and there's no one to compete with or get upset if he bothers their stuff.