11 months, 3 weeks, 6 days

Apologies for this post being late. They will be, for a while, as we pack and our schedules get interrupted.

Griffin keeps trying to eat the cardboard boxes that are piled up everyplace. At least he hasn't tried to climb them yet (and I do say yet).

He is smart and not easily dissuaded. I can't just take something away from him and hide it, because he watches me and goes after it. He also has suddenly shown acute knowledge of which direction an out of sight parent is. This past weekend, Eric let me sleep in (which was very very nice of him!), and after I'd awoken, I was laying in bed contemplating waking up. I heard something that sounded like "mom!" and the baby started banging on our bedroom door, trying to get in. When Eric leaves the room, the baby will notice he's gone, and go in the right direction for him, looking around everyplace. The stubbornness thing is showing up too. Just like his father and his uncle, he will not be discouraged out of doing something once he's set his mind to it! I have had more tantrums from me taking away a pencil he's accidentally gotten ahold of, or stopping him from eating computer wires than anything else, and I have to keep stopping him 5, 6, 9 times before something else distracts him.

Luckily, the word "No" actually works most of the time. I try not to overuse it, because I don't want him to ignore it. Eric and I have both come upon a tone that really seems to convey the fact that we aren't kidding around. Sadly, it makes him cry. At least he isn't eating cardboard boxes, though.

He will sometimes let go of what he's holding onto, and stand for a few seconds. Usually, he's standing on his tip-toes, so he'll fall on his butt quickly. Sometimes, he realizes what he's doing, flails his arms, and falls on his butt. Luckily, that stubborn bit I was talking about earlier makes him get right back up. I saw a lot of that doggedness when he was learning to pull himself up in the first place.

The words he's using have seemed to cement themselves. The "mama" or "Mahm" noises tend to mean me. "Dada" tends to mean Eric, and "bah bah bah" means food. He also still uses "nah nah nah" for no, but now it's accompanied by a vigorous head shaking, too. He also still shakes his head while dancing, but now it's got an added shifting foot to foot element to it if he's standing.

I can't wait till we've moved. I can make his room his own.