11 months

Dear Neil,

You are 11 months old now. I refuse to believe you are almost a year old. It is just not possible. I have to speak with whoever is in charge of the calendar. There must be some mistake.

What are you up to now?

1. Well, for starters, everything. You are into absolutely everything. You want to pull this, push that, jump off, crawl away. There is just no stopping you. I put you down, and next thing I see is a flash of leg and you are off. You put absolutely everything into your mouth and you pick up the tiniest particles on the ground. One day, we had to retrieve paper, and another day some leaves from your mouth and you were hopping mad about that.

2. You had two ear infections this month, one single and another double. It upsets me that you get sick so often but unfortunately you seem to follow the same pattern as your mommy.

3. You visited Washington DC and NY this month and it was fun to take you there. You are a good traveler and we hope you continue to be one.

4. You have 6 teeth now and you eat mildly spicy Indian food, stuff I make and it makes me so glad that you are a good eater. You chew well too and you are having all kinds of fun stuff now.

5. You hold your own bottle and drink and that is helpful as I can give you the bottle to drink in the morning as I prepare your breakfast.

6. You cruise around a lot and one day you stood with no support for about 10 seconds before falling flat on your bottom. Cruising is with one hand in style, it is just hilarious to see.

7. You are 22 lbs now and close to 50th percentile for weight. You have lost some weight due to all the crawling and cruising. You were quite chubby for a while there, but you were never meant to be plump, you come from lean parents.

8. Swimming is not going swimmingly well. You are still quite upset when the instructor takes you. You only come with me and I don't know swimming myself, so it is not working very well. After meeting a lot of people in India, I am hoping that your stranger anxiety might reduce a little bit and things will improve.

8. Daddy has a game he plays with you and I am not sure who enjoys it more, you or Daddy.You laugh loudly , shriek, jump on the bed and just get hyper. You are so fun now we could play with you all day long. You are happiest when we both play with you and give you attention.

9. You give hugs now and that is just about the best part of my day.

Daddy and I love you a lot. Some days are rough when you get a little cranky and won't nap and then get crankier. Even with that, I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

Love,
Mama