Eleven Months Old

Dearest Owen,

This has been another busy month for you, sweet baby. I think back to the months that we worked the entire time just on lifting your head and now each day brings new and exciting changes. You respond so quickly to things I teach you and I am in awe of the way your little mind works. I can see the wheels spinning deep beneath your furrowed brow as you study everything, soaking it all in.

This month you started to pull up, ON EVERYTHING. Pulling up is your favorite thing to do. You cruise around the room skipping from your music table, to our furniture, to our hands. Your legs have gotten so strong and even though you've started to crawl a little its only to facilitate your need to stand up.

You say "Mama" to me and "Dada" to your Daddy. You say "Hi" (more like, Ah--aaa) and you quack. You wake up quacking and go to bed quacking. You insist on taking your rubber duck from the bath to your bedroom at night. You love your ducky song and finger puppets. Tonight your Daddy and I decided we might need to have a ducky theme for your first birthday - its almost as if you told us what you wanted. SO.MUCH.QUACKING. You wave the cutest, most uncoordinated wave I've ever seen and when we ask you, "How Big is Owen?" you throw your arms up and tuck them behind your head as we say, "SOOOO BIG!" much to your delight. You learned to stick out your tongue this month and it was out, wagging away, all day every day.

You are easy going and just the sweetest boy on the planet. You have little to no separation anxiety as long as I am close by. Your smile melts the world and we beg for you to flash us those pearly whites. You and I took our first solo road trip this month and again you showed me how flexible you can be. We sing together, we dance together, we play together, we eat together. I still miss you while you are napping and secretly wish you would wake up at 5am and want to join me for snuggles in bed.

The past few days have been rough my boy, you are cutting more teeth and they are reeking havoc on our days. You are so sensitive and teething pain always gets the best of you. You've only nursed three times in the last three days. There has been lots of crying and lots of biting. But we're hanging in there and I pray that this passes soon. Last night you woke up at midnight after your Tylenol wore off, screaming and crying in pain and longing to return to restful sleep. You so badly wanted to nurse to settle down, but the pain was too much. I gave you some Advil and brought you out to the couch with me so your Daddy could rest. You snuggled up under my chin whimpering and fell asleep that way. We laid like that for most of the night and even though I was tired and uncomfortable all I could think about was your little body resting on mine. I was thankful you wanted to sleep there, safe with your Mama. I breathed in your sweet baby smell and I was remind of the days right after you were born when we slept together on the couch, your tiny head tucked under my chin. I marveled at you then, just as I marvel at you now. You've grown so much in the last eleven months, and even though I miss your babyness - I delight in the new joys that each day brings us. You are more a toddler than an infant now, but last night - just like the first night we met - you were my snuggly baby boy. I'd give up a million nights of sleep just to bask in a few hours with you tucked up under my chin. That will never, ever change. There is always a place for you there.

One month from today you will be a year old. The thought takes my breath away as moments from the past year flash through my mind - every single one of them is my favorite moment. You are my favorite moment.

Love,
Mama