30 Day Countdown!

Yep, my baby Jax is 11 months old! Can you believe it? Seems like last week we were bringing him home for the first time and here we are almost a year later. It is crazy how fast time flies with a baby. Watching all of the milestones pass and seeing your little baby turn into a little boy. I can't believe that in a short 30 days we will celebrate his 1st birthday. It really just blows my mind. It seems he has hit a learning curve right now as every day he is changing and accomplishing more new things. It amazes me how rapidly the human brain grows and acquires new information at this point. It is like he is downloading everything he encounters and is processing it right back out at the world. He is signing to us often now as well as trying many words verbally. He can sign "milk", "all done", and "eat". He is attempting many words and sounds...too many to list. He is still crawling at lightning pace and cruises the furniture like he has done it for years. He is still not walking yet but does attempt to stand/balance for increasingly more extended periods of time. I swear he has grown about 2-3 inches and 3-5 pounds in the last month or so and his appetite has grown to match that increased growth. I am thinking it is time to move Jaxon to bigger people food soon. He eats a lot of what we eat off of our plates but still does a lot of purees which I think he has outgrown. I think it is time for me to start researching toddler diets since he can chew food very well and seems ready. He is also attempting to self feed using silverware but isn't very good at it at this point. I still do most of the feeding when a utensil is required but try to give him chances here and there to try it for himself.

Today I signed him up for daycare for the Fall when I return to work. He will be going 3 days a week to a Kindercare around the corner. I think I will have a harder time than him with this change. Jaxon has been taken care of by family since the day he was born. It seems strange to me that he will now be in the hands of strangers for his daytime care. I worry, as I am sure most mommies do, about putting him in daycare. Will they take good care of him? Will they understand his needs and wants? Will they care for him and show him a loving touch? It is so hard for me to even think about. I did my research and visited several places before I decided. I was looking for a safe, secure, and clean environment where his cognitive and social development would be nurtured with a caring approach. I think I found a good place but it still isn't me or our family. I just hope he adjusts well. I know we have some things to work towards to get him ready for the youngest toddler room. If he were going now he would be in the infant room but once they hit 12 months and are walking they are moved up to the 12-18 months room. I assume that he will be in this room at 13 months and he has a few things to learn by then. He needs to be able to sit at a table and eat big kid food, he needs to be able to sleep on a cot at nap time, and he needs to be able to drink from a sippy cup (no bottles). He can do some of this some of the time but not on a consistent basis yet. I am most worried about the napping on a cot as he is in a crib now and I think it will be a big adjustment for him. Also he is on a 2 nap a day schedule, which is very needed, and they will have him on a 1 nap a day in the afternoon schedule. Maybe he will be so tired by nap time that he won't try to crawl off of his cot at naptime, which is my biggest concern about him going into that room. I know that everything will be fine and he will adjust (and so will I) once we get used to the routine. I am just happy I found a place that makes me feel a little bit ok with this new change. :)

Ok...now for some 11 month photos courtesy of Grandma Shirley: