11 Months Old!

Dear Cohen,
Hey big boy! Today you turned 11 months old! You are now a mover and a shaker! No more "Cohen Shuffle," you crawl on all fours now! We had to do some major baby proofing and gate you in where it is safe! You are getting around a lot quicker and are getting better at entertaining yourself and exploring. (Yeah!) It is so fun seeing you maneuver your little body from room to room. You think the baby gates are toys just for you and you pull yourself up to stand and hang on them and you have even stuck your little toes in the holes and tried to climb it! You have gotten your entire body off the ground a couple times. You have been really busy exploring and having fun! You and your daddy have been building forts, laughing and playing together all month long! You have finally decided that dad is just as good as mom and love when daddy comes home from work and is here to play with us! You give him big hugs a lot and slobbery open mouthed kisses, which he just loves! The doggy door offers plenty of amusement, but even better are the dog food and water bowls! You get pretty upset when I grab you just before you put a huge handful of food in your mouth. You have dumped over the water bowls soaking you and the entire kitchen floor a couple times. When you get a cold wet rush like that you scream for help. I am teaching you to stay away from them now that you are understanding the word NO a little better and you hesitate before going over. Most of the time we just have the kitchen gated off so the temptation isn't there!You can now walk all the way across the front room while pushing your walking toy all on your own! Good job!
You love visiting your cousins Mia, Zoe and Kya who live down the street! They keep you very entertained and you love watching all three of them bounce from room to room. You decided you are too busy to take two naps anymore and now take one 2-3 hour nap, if I am lucky. You go to bed between 7 and 8 pm and don't wake up at night anymore which is wonderful, but you wake up between 5:45 and 6 am EVERY SINGLE MORNING! I have tried putting you to bed later to see if you would wake up later, but I still hear the same "Da, da, da..." noises from your room promptly when the birds rise and just before the sun! You soon demand breakfast or I would leave you in there to play. Oh well, we are making improvements in the sleeping area. Soon we will be throwing a huge kink in our routine by weaning you from nursing... that will shake things up a bit I am sure!
Your Great-Grandma Tibbetts came up for a weekend to play with us! We had so much fun shopping and spending time with her and she just loved all the personality you shared with her! Grandpa Green also came from California to help your daddy with a couple things and you loved playing with him! You thought he was great fun! We went swimming for the first time and you didn't really know what to think of it. There were other kids splashing and you thought that was quite rude! We only stayed in the pool for about ten minutes. We will try swimming again soon and see if we have a better reaction!
You figured out how to spit food out that you don't want, so it is all down hill from here now! The food you do like you make the "Mmmm!" sound while you eat. I think it is so cute! You want to help feed yourself and you love finger foods. You also like to hold your own spoon and you love when we have a "sword fight" with the silverware! Your Grandmommy said she thinks you should eat more mashed food and I told her you like to be able to do it yourself. This seemed to bother her and when I got to the bottom of it, I realized it's because she doesn't want you to grow up so fast! So slow down for your Grandmommy's sake!When you hear music you move your little body to the beat and bob your head. I love to watch you when you get excited! You squeal with joy when we get down on our hands and knees and chase you!
This has been such a great month! We have so much fun watching you each and everyday. You are a joy to be around and your laughter brings us so much happiness! It just keeps getting better!
Love, Mama