Eleven Months

At eleven months our boy is changing every day it seems. 

In the past two weeks he's gone up a diaper size, grown out of nearly all his 3-6 month pants (he has short little legs!), and out of all his 9 month sleepers. Pants that were cuffed a week ago aren't anymore and he likes to prove that he can reach things on shelves that I thought were in the "safe zone." 
He claps occasionally (though he hates the sound of people clapping so he's not prone to imitate it) and he's started signing primarily "all done" (which is applied for everything from done with a meal to being bored with an activity) and "milk" though I'm working on new ones to help him communicate. I really never "got" the whole babies and sign language thing; but now as a mommy I'm amazed at how desperately he clearly wants to communicate and how fast he learns and applies things. He clearly says Mama now which of course I love even if he's also recently learned to 'scream' and as often as he says it sweetly he's screaming it in frustration when I just need to make dinner and can't pick him up.
He isn't walking but could if he wanted. I've caught him standing unassisted multiple times and he cruises around flat footed etc. I know my world will change all over again once he takes his first steps so I'm not in a rush but really can't wait to see it. His latest mobility advancement is mastering going down the step between our dining room and living room. He loves to dance and does the silliest little belly pop sometimes when he's dancing or being silly.
He has two foods he won't eat: kiwi and scrambled eggs made by Mama. He used to eat kiwi and eats plenty of similarly textured foods but lately is not at all interested in it and will tell me "all done" when I put it on his plate. The scrambled eggs thing makes me laugh most of the time. He'll eat eggs from Dada and had no problem eating Kelley's when we visited the Murphs in Charlotte. But mine he throws on the ground most of the time. He will eat them in something like fried rice but on a plate...he is not interested. I like my eggs; I've never had any complaints from anyone else but Behr apparently doesn't appreciate them the same way.
The cutest thing he does these days might be shaking his head. We think he picked it up because when Aunt Jess feeds him she says "mmm!!" and shakes her head but he applies it far beyond that. He certainly knows that it means no. ;-) He used to also nod he his yes but he's a little less into saying "yes" than saying no. If it's not shaking his head than it's attempting to tickle people. His favorite person to tickle is the person who tickles him most: Dada. In the mornings when Dre is home after I get him out of bed he'll crawl into our room and pull up on Dre's side of the bed and extend his little arm with his fingers twitching going "tick-a-tick-a" and man. It just melts me to see how much he loves his dada and how much his dada delights in him.

Behr's pretty fascinated with the daily cups of coffee Mama and Dada drink. But he knows they are not for him as demonstrated in this video. The other day at Trader Joe's I offered him an empty little sample sized coffee cup after getting myself a full cup and he kept shaking his head no at me. He makes the every day funner than I could have ever imagined.

So yeah. We're pretty into this kid. He's a ton of fun; he loves his little life and the people in it and we are so amazed to watch the world through his eyes and be his parents. And somehow, though I really don't know how, he's going to be an entire year old in just four short weeks. It really does go too fast but we're soaking up the moments and the already fleeting snuggles.