11 Months

Oh wow. I have been missing for so long from here that I don't even know where to begin again. The exams for this semester are finally over, with my last Consumer Behaviour paper completed yesterday evening. I can now breathe a sigh of relief and embark on things I've wanted to do the last 4 months but never got a chance to because of my studies. That includes a whole bunch of blog posts that I've been meticulously writing in my head, which I now need to type out for realz yo.

Let's just start with the most important on the list - Xander's 11 months post.

This 11th month of Xander's life have been an incredible rollercoaster, with lots of highs and lows, and amazing developmental and physical milestones being met. He went from barely being able to stand independently, to being able to take 1 or 2 steps at a time, to finally being able to take upwards of 10-15 steps. Really small and wobbly steps, but we are so crazy proud of our little man! Here's the proof:



We haven't been measuring or weighing him regularly, but it's safe to say that he has GROWN. Oh boy has he grown. He can now climb shelves and reach items that were previously safely out of his reach on table and counter tops. He's got this crazy long arm span which allows him to reach stuff we thought he couldn't reach, especially when he goes on tippy toes and stretches real hard to get to whatever he's trying to reach. Super cute, but super dangerous. I've already had to rescue him from reaching for a kitchen knife that was left at the edge of the kitchen counter by his unknowing papa.

He is working on popping his 2 top front teeth right now, and has been for the past 2 weeks. This kid's a slow teether and it makes him miserable. Poor sod. It's not as bad as I've seen other babies teething, so I can't imagine what it'll be like for him if we didn't leave his amber necklace on his 24/7.

Developmentally, he's made some amazing leaps this past month, most noticeably his ability to follow simple instructions. About 2 weeks ago, I was hanging out the laundry to dry and as usual he was sitting at my feet playing with the basket of clothes pegs. I usually try and involve him in our everyday practical life activities a la Montessori, by for example, asking him to pass me clothes pegs. He has never been able to do so in response to my requests until then. Usually he would just stuff the clothes peg into his mouth and stare at me like I've grown a second head when I say, "Xander, pass mommy a clothes peg please?". So imagine my surprise when on that day, I did the same thing and he picked one up and placed it in my hand. He looked so incredibly pleased with himself, sporting his trademark grin :) I thought it was a fluke, so I kept trying, and he just kept playing along with it! It was like a game to him. And it made it so much easier for me to not have to bend down to pick up clothes pegs off the floor to hang the clothes out :) With that came an explosion of similar comprehension - he could hand me things that I ask him to. I could point to something on the floor a few feet away and ask him to pass it to me and he would go pick it up. I could hold out the basket and ask him to place the clothes pegs in there and he would happily oblige. It is so much fun watching him gain such comprehension :)

He's also started to lift and replace lids. Like the plastic lid of his sippy bottle, or the lid on his shape sorter toy box. Lifting it and trying to cover it back repeatedly. Admittedly, he hasn't quite gotten the hang of doing it right yet, but it won't be long before he gets there :)

In the past month, he has also displayed more frustration at not being able to get what he wants. If we place something he wants out of his reach on a table top, he would first try his very very best to reach it. Then he would beg and whine and plead for us to pick him up so that he can reach it. If all else fails, he would sit there and flap him arms in frustration. Sigh. I know it is a developmental stage and his cognitive ability just cannot comprehend that instant gratification is not a given, but it still is quite frustrating. We need to work with him on that and perhaps improve our living environment to minimise his frustrations everyday too.

In other news, he claps.





He shakes his head.



He has replaced at least 3 nursing sessions each day with solid meals without any prompting from me.



He is still NOT sleeping through the night.

He sleeps better when one of us is sleeping next to him in his room.

He is warming up to GymbaROO classes and is happy to explore the equipment now.

He loves giving us sloppy kisses.

He kisses the iPad screen when FaceTime-ing with his ah ma.

He kisses the bunnies in his Goodnight Thumper storybook.

He buries his face in our chest whenever someone he doesn't know says hi to him when we're out, with a shy grin on his face.

He flips the pages of his storybooks and of my books.

He loves watching the seagulls and ducks swimming on the lake whenever to go downstairs for a walk.

He hears the footsteps up the stairwell and the jingling of the keys every evening at 5pm and squeals in delight because he knows that papa is home!

Some other videos:







This past month was hard. Hard because he didn't sleep well, so I didn't sleep well. We were figuring out a new norm in our daily lives with his increased solid food intake. All that while struggling with major assignments and exams and the rigours of daily life. More on this to come in subsequent posts, but I just wanted to make sure my memory of this 11 month included the hard bits. It just makes the good parts seem that much better and remind me that it's all worth it at the end of the day.

My baby boy is now a toddler boy and it's time to plan his 1st birthday. It won't be the same without our nearest and dearest family and friends, but it is a worthy celebration nonetheless. After all, it has been the most precious, toughest, challenging and exhilarating year of our lives.

I love watching this little boy grow everyday and each challenge only serves to remind me of the important role we play in his life as parents, helping him negotiate and navigate his way around this alien and complex world he lives in.

Some of my favorite photos of him this month:

11 months rocked our socks. Bring on the last month of his first year of life!