Eleven Months!

That's right...just one more month before Beau celebrates his FIRST BIRTHDAY!  Oh where has the time gone?! 

It's been particularly busy around the Brian residence with work, birthday parties, and of course, football season.  As a result I have been remiss in my picture taking duties.  (Not to mention that with Beau's new found speed, agility, and trickiness, I need to have one hand available at all times to prevent the next near disaster!)  So, to make up for the lack of photo documentation, I figured I'd give you a little insight on our eleven month old with some of his current likes and dislikes. 

LIKES

*  Sitting on items that he likes.  Yep, Beau crawls up to a favorite item or item of interest and turns, aims his rearend at the item, and sits.  Then he smiles and claps.  Items have included special toys, dad's shoes, Murphy, Murphy's food bowl, Murphy's water bowl, and then more Murphy.  Man, that dog is a good sport!

*  Speaking of clapping, this has become one of Beau's favorite forms of expression.  Give him the toy  he wants, he applauds.  Feed him something particularly tasty, he applauds.  Sing him just the right song for that moment, he applauds.  It's so endearing. 

*  Beau's fine motor skill have really developed over the last several weeks.  And to practice this new dexterity one of his favorite new pasttimes is opening the battery case from our remote controls.  And, if he's really feeling fiesty, he'll remove the batteries too!  So safe, I know. 

*  While we have NO idea what he is saying, Beau is constantly having conversations with us.  Now, I'm not talking about baby babble.  No, this form of communication goes much further.  He will look you in the eyes and say, "Dadada, fiiiiiisssss, ne ne ne, waaaa."  And then look to you for your response.  Mine is usually, "You don't say..."  Because, seriously, what else am I supposed to say to that?

 *  Climbing on top of items and crawling under them.  He has been doing the army crawl under items for a couple months now.  The tighter the fit, the more excited he gets.  He's been climbing for quite some time too.  But now he has learned to push items together to get higher.  For instance, the other day he pushed my laptop case in front of the sofa so that he had a little help climbing onto the cushions.  Oh yes, Beau can now climb on to the sofa with little or no help.  Problem is, he hasn't master getting down.  Huge problem now as he likes to leap headfirst. 

*  Walking behind his dumptruck.  The dumptruck provided endless hours of entertainment when it was used to push buttons and make funny noises.  But, once he discovered that he could stand behind it, push it and walk - well that was really exciting!  His first venture actually took him about 2/3 around the living room.  He squealed with pride and delight the whole way. 

*  Pushing his John Deere tractor around the living room.  Also, he tries to say "vvvrrroooommm" but all he gets out is the "ooooommmmm."  Too cute. 

DISLIKES

*  Diaper changes.  Oh this one is fairly new but it's brutal.  I suppose he hates having his diaper changed because it means a break from his playing ways.  The only time he seems to appreciate a diaper change is usually when it's a particularly dirty one.  Then he has actually been known to smile and laugh at the changer's disgust. 
*  Dinner.  Yep, dinner.  Not breakfast.  Not lunch.  Not snacktime.  Dinner.  Our little guy is a hungry, hungry hippo.  His breakfast has been known to include an entire bowl of cream of wheat AND a whole banana AND an eight ounce bottle.  Lunch has been an entire grilled cheese sandwich AND a whole nectarine AND an eight ounce bottle.  Dinner?  Well I guess by then he is just tired of eating.  Oh well.  If he wasn't such a good eater the rest of the day, I might be worried. 

*  The locks on the cabinet doors.  After months of opening and shutting the doors and, of course, crawling in and out of the cabinets and removing everything within reach, the cabinets have been officially "child proofed" and Beau is none too happy about it.  Of course, this doesn't stop him from reaching his little arm in as far as he can to try to grasp something.  This isn't a problem, until I later open the cabinet and those items which have been precariously teetering on the edge come crashing out.