11 Months

      We are creeping right up on a year and I'm not sure how I feel about it! I think the best solution is just not to think about it. This last month Riggs has become very mobile. He climbs the stairs any chance he gets and LOVES it. The stairs are blocked, but he has sneaked through a few times without us realizing and it gives me quite the scare. Thankfully we haven't had any rolls down the stairs. We used our piano bench and some pillows to make a barricade, but after a while he figured out how to get through. Then we added some packages/boxes to reinforce the piano bench. Well it didn't take him long to figure out that he could either pull the boxes down or climb up and over them! That little stinker! He's by far our most agile baby with those skills. We finally caved and bought a baby gate a few days ago--it's made life much nicer not having to climb over the piano bench piled up with boxes.
    Waving and clapping kind of disappeared last month. Jill Moulton's rule holds true once again! She says that babies learn a new trick or skill and do it for about a week. Then they forget for a few weeks before it comes back to stay! Well, just before Riggs turned 11 months, he brought the waving back and is quite excited about it. He can also "pat" or give "high fives" which really have to be "low fives" for him to perform.
    Church is getting quite difficult. We go at 10:30 which is his nap time. He usually naps until 12:30 or so...which is all of church. Good thing it's the end of the year and we're almost up for a new time. Any time will be better than the one we have. At least it will be until he decides to only take one nap, then it will get tricky again. But he's still manageable at church. We can usually get him to sleep for 15 minutes or so at the end and if not, then he'll only get one nap that day. Either way, he's grumpy on Sundays...ugh.
    Riggs still hates his carseat so traveling more than 20 minutes is gamble. I keep telling myself that it will be better when he can sit in a forward facing seat. Whenever we go somewhere we pack a small duffel bag of toys for him to cycle through, it's exhausting. I also keep blocking out Christmas and any travel we may have to endure.
    Riggs LOVES playing with the kids or watching them play. When he gets on the grumpy side in the evening, we take him upstairs and let him play in the kids room. While I read Harry Potter to Brew and Lola, Riggs just cruises around the room from one toy or bed to another. The slide is his favorite but he hasn't figured out how to do it on his own, only taken a few tumbles or rides with his siblings. If he doesn't have socks on, with his clammy baby feet he can climb up the slide, which is a problem and results in damages and crying if we don't catch him first.
    Eating and sleeping are still going great! Nothing new and nothing to complain about. He's growing on scale and did pretty well getting his flu shot last month. He's spending less time in his jumper, but can really get going when we put him in.
     While Riggs is getting more mobile, he's not terribly destructive yet. He does love pulling stuff down or pulling the plastic dishes out of the cupboard, but he hasn't been very determined to open cupboards yet. I'm dreading that. He has unrolled a few rolls of toilet paper and had a dip or two in the toiled, but us bigger humans are learning to close the toilet lid and leave the toiled paper on the tank. But if I am being really honest, I hate this phase and won't be sad to say farewell once and for all.
   A few weeks after Riggs turned 11 months, Brewer was in his class play as "Perry Pig". He was so so so excited about his play. It was almost all he could talk about and he worked hard at memorizing his parts and delivering them well. We were able to all attend the evening performance and he did a fabulous job. You could tell that he liked the spotlight pretty well. It was a fun night!