Austin's Eleventh Month

I can't believe this is the last monthly post before my little baby turns 1 year old!!  Austin looks like such a toddler already, it's unbelievable!  He really improved his balance over the past month and now he rarely crawls and is walking very well.  We travelled up to see family in WI this past month and he did great on the airplane.  I was a little nervous with how mobile he is if he'd be able to sit still for the flights (two each way since there are no direct flights) and he was very happy and content in my lap the whole time.  He enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind us and kept standing up to look around.  The teething has been continuing, though no new teeth actually emerged this past month.  Austin's vocabulary is increasing and over the past month has started saying doggy, kitty, and ball.  He has now figured out how to throw a ball and plays with us rolling a ball back and forth.  He is as happy as ever and loves to laugh.  He is such a goofball and acts silly to get us to laugh and cracks himself up in the process!  It's so amazing to see his personality developing and his fascination with learning how everything works.  We've been working with him for a while on setting boundaries and now he is pretty good at listening and backing away when told, though there are times where we need to repeat several times before he listens.  He's also started testing limits with throwing food on the floor while he's eating and watching to see our reaction.  Austin is beginning to follow one-step requests very well, and now helps to clean up his toys.  He also continues to love books and frequently will sit quietly in his room paging through his books, it is so adorable to watch! 

Austin's Tenth Month

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this little boy is growing up!  Austin hit a major milestone this past month... he took his first steps!  He decided to follow in his mommy's footsteps (literally!) and be an early walker!  He has been bound and determined to figure out how to walk since he became mobile and was so proud of himself when he let go and took those steps on his own.  He has also become extremely fast at crawling and has developed a method where he crawls on his hands and knees and then, to go even faster, he will start bear crawling (on his hands and toes) to propel himself forward.  It's pretty funny to watch!   Austin has also taken strides verbally and finally said "mama" this past month!  He's also started saying banana (though it sounds more like "nana") and is working hard at trying to repeat us.  Austin has also started pointing at objects he wants with his index finger and is continuing to use the signs we've taught him to communicate.  Another tooth has emerged this past month on the bottom, bringing the total number of teeth so far to seven!  He still loves to eat and really enjoys feeding himself as much as possible.  One of his favorite foods right now are blueberries, he can't ever seem to get enough of them!