Daniel at 11 Months

Daniel is into EVERYTHING these days. I can't turn my back for a second. We try to be good about keeping things closed and locked, but he waits until that ONE time it gets left open, then pounces like his life depends on it! He gets into cabinets and empties out the contents, he get into the toilet and fishes around in the water with his hands (ew!) and he especially loves the pantry. Usually he just gets into the sprinkle containers and shakes them around and throws them to the floor. The other day however, he made a much, much worse mess. About a year ago we had gone to a fish restaurant and had brought back some packets of tartar sauce. They were unfortunately stored within his grasp and he found them. He was in there being way too quiet (always a bad sign), when Michael discovered him. He was covered, head to toe, in tartar sauce. It was all over his clothes and he had even generously styled his hair with it. It was all over the walls and the floor as well. Not being much of a fish eater, I hadn't really dealt with tartar sauce before, but it turns out that its really greasy. So it was not an easy task to clean this greasy paste off of everything. The part that really baffled Michael and I, was that these packets were not that easy to open. You have to pry a paper and foil cover thats been glued to a little tub. And it requires some amount of finger strength and dexterity. I'm not sure how he managed to open those tubs, but he did, and got every one at that! Stinker! 

Daniel has had a mental leap recently and it has allowed him to understand us and communicate with us more fully. He can understand the following words: 'up' (he will hold his hands out to be lifted up), 'take a bite' (he opens his mouth), 'no' (he understands this word but doesn't always stop what he is doing. Especially if what he is doing is super fun), 'walk' (he will take a step). He can understand basic directions too (he stops when I tell him 'no' and lifts his arms when I ask him if he wants to come 'up' and I can direct him to crawl to different places or people). A favorite game is 'peekaboo' and he loves when I put a shirt or a blanket over his head, and then I ask him 'where Daniel is'. He pulls the item off his head rapidly and giggles. He constantly shakes his head 'no'. He doesn't understand that it means 'no', I just think he likes seeing the world go back and forth. He also plays a little game with me where I say, 'no no no no no!' and shake my head back and forth (and he copies), and then I say, 'yes yes yes yes yes!' and nod my head (and he copies). He just thinks that is the funniest thing!


Daniel's physical abilities have developed more lately as well. He can now crawl, stand, walk assisted, climb, dance, and clap (he plays the clap game with the kids where they clap and then he claps and everyone laughs. Kids play such simple games!)

He has been sick quite a bit in the last few months with a few viruses and ear infections. Its been rather brutal. This kid get sick more often than any of us. I swear he averages at least two illness per month most months! Ugh! Anyway, all of these recent illnesses have disrupted his normal appetite. He is a pretty good little eater usually. He definitely has food preferences and is not always the most adventurous eater, but what he lacks in variety, he usually makes up for in volume. He loves yogurt, chicken (grilled and nuggets), peas, mango, mandarin orange, grapes, apple (and apple sauce), eggs, hot dogs, pasta, rice, slow cooked beef and broccoli. Breakfast most days is an applesauce pouch and a nursing session. Lunch is usually meat (most often chicken or hot dog), fruit (usually mango or orange) and veggies (usually peas). Dinner is usually whatever we are having, modified to make it easier for him to eat.

Now that his viruses have cleared up and he is eating again, he has FINALLY started sleeping through the night now, or if he does get up, its only once. Oh my GOD has this been a long time coming! Daniel has been BY FAR the worst sleeper of the 3. I spent most of this past year walking around like a zombie, after having not slept most of the night. It is not an exaggeration when I say that he often would get up every hour, or every other hour, every night for the past 11 months. It. Was. Awful! So it feels pretty great to be getting a bit more sleep these days. I can accomplish so much when I don't feel like tired death warmed over!

All these illnesses and also constant teeth coming in (he has 8 now - all front ones incisors) has meant a rough couple of months recently. Not only was he not sleeping at night, but during the day he has been an absolute  nightmare. He won't let me out of his sight for even a moment and cries constantly unless hes being held, and often then as well. He loses his mind if I leave the room and he can't see me. He's even been getting low grade fevers off an on from teething too (Will never had those but Nora did). The clingines and crankiness is tough to deal with as its impossible to always hold him. Its so draining and emotionally exhausting. Especially when I am already SO sleep deprived. It feels like he is taking every last drop of energy I have, and then I have nothing else left over for anyone. It has been so hard. Compounding that, I had a series of breastfeeding problems this month, ones that I had never had before. First I got a milk bleb (it sounds so innocuous, but its actually and INCREDIBLY painful blister on your nipple), and that caused a couple of clogged ducts (also very painful). The clogged ducts cleared up after about 3 days but the bleb took nearly a month to heal. Gosh it was torture! I'm so glad thats healed up at least. Between that and getting a bit more sleep in the past few days, I feel like a new woman!


This was a pretty hard month, coming off several more hard months before it. I feel terrible to say thing, but I am not really enjoying having a baby at the moment. Every day I look forward to him getting bigger, easier and more independent. I can't WAIT for him to walk or be able to put himself to sleep or feed himself or any of the things the other kids can do. I just am ready to be done with the hardships of the baby phase already! He sure is lucky he is cute!