Eleven Months

At this time last year I was in the final stretch of my pregnancy.  I had done all of my Christmas shopping early so that I wouldn't have to haul my enormous self around the mall with the crowds.  So, I sat at home relaxing and addressing envelopes for birth announcements that were already designed and just waiting for a birthdate and weight to be complete.  Thinking back on that time, I can hardly believe it has been a whole year since I last relaxed!  (Kidding.  I do my share of nothing -- just not early in the morning.)  2005 has gone faster than I ever thought possible, all thanks to the arrival on January 15th of one Walter Franklin Spickler.  Even when he is lying in his crib hollering because he doesn't want to take a nap (as he is as I write this), he is still the best thing that has ever happened to us.  Okay, enough with the sap -- here's the update.

Mobility:  He's still exploring the wonders of crawling and hasn't even thought about trying to walk yet.  He pulls up to his knees all the time and occasionally up to his feet, but that's about it for now.  But it certainly doesn't stop him from exploring every little nook and cranny of the house (or wherever you put him down).  And for some reason, the most interesting things to crawl toward are the things he's not supposed to touch . . . the DVD player, electrical outlets (still), and the trash (still).  He'll crawl toward them, stop and sit up, look at us and smile and then continue on toward his destination.  It's so hard not to laugh, but we try to remain firm with a very serious "No!" and a redirection of his forward momentum.  And then when we sit back down, the process starts all over.

Communication:  Daddy is getting a very big head with all the "Dada!"s being tossed about all the time.  He's also apparently very fond of his Uncles Stephen and David because his new favorite sound is "Unka!".  But does he ever say "Mama"?  That would be a big, fat no.  He's really testing my patience with that one, but every mother I complain to assures me that once he starts saying it, it's all I'll hear, so I might as well enjoy the silence while I can.  "What's that, sweetheart?  You want "dada" to change your diaper?  Well, sure!"  He also waves bye-bye sporadically.  Although not always when someone's leaving.  Sometimes just when he's sitting there playing.  So, I'm not sure it really counts as communication, but it's cute just the same.

Eating:  Since last month when he had just figured out how to put something in his mouth, we have come a long way, baby!  This kid will eat anything and everything, including (my personal favorite) olives.  I didn't even like olives until about a year ago myself.  However, we're determined to raise a non-picky eater ('cuz mama ain't gonna be no short order cook!), so we're feeding him a little of everything now to get him used to it.  Very soon we're going to take him for his very first Indian meal -- Mommy and Daddy's favorite!  Here's a picture of him eating his lunch of hummus on pita bread today.

Miscellaneous:  Walt loves his books and can sit and just open and close them for minutes (which is long for an 11-month old) at a time.  He's actually not as patient as he used to be about having them read to him, but he loves to look at them on his own.

We have finally moved him to the regular bathtub and I think he may love it even more than he loved baths in the sink with the sprayer.  Bathtime is probably his happiest time of day and it's fun for us too -- who knew how much fun rubber duckies could be?  Evie still trembles everytime we start running the water because she thinks it's for her, but Walt just crawls his little naked self into the bathroom.

Does it get any sweeter than this?