11 Months!

If you have ever been to my house, you know that decorating is a slow, slow process for me. I seem to have commitment issues with pounding nails into walls and hanging pictures. Well, just this past week, I overcame this obstacle and hung some pictures in the hallway that has been bare for 4 years. My favorite frame contains pictures from when Owen was just 6 days old. He was sooo tiny! I can't believe that soon he will be walking, climbing, running. . . Is it true that my baby is really just one month away from his first birthday! Well, I won't spend more time dwelling on the fact that my sweet little guy is getting older. Instead, I will focus on the fun milestones he reached last month.

Owen weighed in at 19lbs 14.5 oz this month. His weight gain has dramatically slowed ever since he became mobile. I guess this is normal since our little guy rarely stops moving when he is awake, and at times he roams around the crib during naps as well.

Our most favorite milestone to date is that Owen has spoken his first words. So far he has said bye-bye, daddy, tickle-tickle, and mama (if you count him saying it when he is sad). I just love it when he speaks! As I mentioned in my last post, Owen started waving bye-bye at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house. It was a few weeks after that we heard him squeak out a bye-bye for the first time. Since then, he has continued to say it while waving, but he is pretty picky about when he wants to do so. Although bye-bye was pretty cute and fun to hear for the first time, the best moment of all was when he said daddy for the first time and reached for Luke. We both melted, and I have to admit that I was just a tad bit jealous :). Tickle-tickle is his latest word. The other day we were reading a book together and one of the pictures was of a baby laughing. Owen took his fingers, touched the baby's picture, and said tickle-tickle like he was actually tickling the baby. It was pretty adorable. Since then, he has tried to tickle both Luke and I a couple times and said tickle-tickle while doing so. I guess we must tickle Owen quite a bit.

Owen has really developed a love for reading. I am so proud! He loves to grab his board books and sit on my lap while I read him the story and tell him about the pictures. He is great about turning the pages and really likes to read the entire book through once and then flip to random pages and point at things on the page. We often find him playing with his books on the floor as well. Maybe he will be an English teacher someday!

Owen has taken a couple steps on his own, kind of. When Luke and I were upstairs a couple weeks ago, we were helping Owen walk between us. I thought Luke was ready for him, but he wasn't as close as I thought, and I let Owen go a little early. Instead of just plopping to the floor like usual, he took a couple steps and then grabbed onto Luke's hands. Since then, he has repeated the performance a couple times for us, and even once for Grandma and Grandpa Walker. He doesn't seem to be in too much of a rush to walk, but I guess he could take that leap at any time. I am not really ready for him to walk either. I know that once he starts walking he will no longer feel like my little baby boy but rather a waddling toddler. Part of me wants to keep him small forever.

Our boy is starting to climb. A few weeks ago while Luke was sitting on the floor, Owen climbed on him, then up on the ottoman, and finally transferred himself over to the couch, all in an attempt to reach the blinds. Then, the other day I found him standing on a step stool that had been left in his room after I was done hanging pictures. He had managed to get on it while I went to double check that I had closed the gate behind us upstairs. I think I was out of the room for a total of 20 seconds. If there is anything on the ground that offers him a little leverage, than he has no trouble at all reaching the objects of his curiosity. I am sure it won't be long before he is climbing up without any leverage.