Only one more month...

Gotta love those eyes!

Until Hayden is the big ONE! I am in shock that I just typed that. It just doesn't seem possible that he could be 11 months already. Month 10 was a big month for Hayden. He finally started crawling... although it is an army crawl(or as I like to call it "The Worm!!"), he started giving hugs and kisses, AND(drum roll please!) he started to feed himself!!!!! Yeah Hayden! Here are some of his updated likes and dislikes.

What Hayden Likes:
- Giving hugs and kisses - This is the sweetest thing EVER. I will ask him for a hug and he will put his little arms out and give me the sweetest hug ever and lay his head on my shoulder. If I ask for a kiss he will look at me and make the "kiss" sound with his lips. I call it blowing me a kiss although he doesn't actually put his hand up to his mouth. I LOVE it!!
- Toy baskets - He has quite a few of these, and absolutely loves to take all of the toys out and put all of the toys in. It can entertain him for quite a while. Maybe he will be an organizer like his Momma!

Taking out the toys one by one...

Mission accomplished!!

- Feeding himself - I can't believe it! Not only does he do it, he likes doing it. Life is so much easier now! I always thought I would like it when he could feed himself, but never knew exactly how much until now! It is GREAT! He doesn't eat very many finger foods yet, but now that he decided to feed himself I am starting to give him more and more. Easier for Mommy and Daddy!!

- Pounding on our coffee table - He doesn't cruise around the furniture yet, but he sure loves standing at the coffee table and banging our coasters or his hands on it!

These spiderweb coasters were so much fun!

- Pull chains on fans - I can't exactly get him up high enough to pull them, but his Daddy can! He is fascinated with them.
- Giving Sydney treats - I just started letting him give Sydney her treats and he thinks this is the greatest thing ever. Sydney likes it too!! It is so sweet to watch. They are both so gentle with each other. Now I just gotta make sure he doesn't try to feed her his food!!
- Holding onto the stair railing - We will let him stand and hold on to the railing by the stairs, and he absolutely loves it. Of course we are always right next to him just in case, but he thinks he is getting to do something great!

Our little Mummy!

Isn't he just the coolest?!?

- Feeding us - So, not only does he like feeding Sydney and himself, he LOVES to give us food. He gets the biggest kick out of putting something in someone else's mouth. He is usually laughing so hard he can hardly breathe. I'm not sure what is so funny about it, but I can't wait to ask him one day and see if he remembers!
- Pulling his socks off - This is one of his biggest likes right now. He absolutely loves to get a hold of his socks and pull them off. He is doing something great you know! Although it is really cute, it can be quite a task to keep up with him taking them off. We haven't lost any yet, but I know the day is coming. You would think putting shoes on him would keep them on, but oh no... he just takes those off too!

One at a time!

I did it Momma!

He even likes to take them off and put them
through the holes in his block set!!

- Opening and shutting doors - We can stand at a door and he will open and close it until I get tired of holding him up there. It is quite entertaining! I'm starting to train him early on how to be a gentleman!:)
- Playtime - He got a new learning table this past month and he absolutely loves it. He is able to stand and play with it which he really enjoys now that he is standing more. It has a book, a mini computer, a telephone and a piano on it that all do different activities. He really loves taking the phone and throwing it, and opening and closing the book and laptop. One of his other favorite toys right now is his stacking stars. He loves taking them off one by one and trying to figure out how to get them back on again. It makes fun little noises and lights up when he takes them on and off which he loves!

If only we all had this much fun learning!!!

- Crawling - Although it is not the picture perfect crawl, it is Hayden's crawl! Matt and I really didn't think he would ever crawl, but he proved us wrong. He gets everywhere now! He does his own little version of the army crawl and it suits him just fine! He has managed to figure out how to get into Mommy's plant, get out all of Sydney's toys, pull up our rugs, get to the forbidden fireplace, and as you can imagine the list goes on and on and on! So much fun though!:)
- Watching Daddy do push-ups and sit-ups - Matt usually does a few push-ups and sit-ups everyday and Hayden absolutely loves to watch him do this. He smiles and laughs the entire time. I guess working out is funny to him!

What Hayden Dislikes:
- Teething - Although his new teeth haven't made it completely through yet, they have finally broken through the gum. He is now up to 8 teeth! He always has his fingers in his mouth and he is constantly gritting his teeth. Maybe the gritting of the teeth is genetic, because I still do it every time I pick him up... I can't help it! Genetic or not, it is the most awful sound you have ever heard. It is like nails on a chalkboard bad. I feel like his teeth are not going to be there the next time I look in his mouth, but sure enough every time I look they are still there. I swear he is grinding them away, but Matt tells me otherwise. So for now, I guess we'll just keep trying to get him to stop. Hopefully when we have to take him to the dentist he says everything is fine. For now it's teething toys and drool bibs!!

Do you see all that drool?!? Teething, teething, teething!!!

- Being put in his highchair - You would think as much as he loves to eat he would like the highchair, but oh no... not Hayden. He can't stand being put in that gosh awful chair. You would think it was a torture chamber or something. The weird thing is once he is in he is fine and dying to eat, but getting him strapped in and ready to eat is a task!

What Hayden is not sure about:
- Sippy cups - We have been trying for a few weeks now to get him used to his sippy cups and I think it is growing on him. At first he wanted nothing to do with them, but now he seems a little more receptive to the idea. He is good at drinking out of both types(with and without the straw), but still prefers his bottle. Hopefully the more we encourage it, the more he will want to use it.
- Chunks in his pureed food - I am still feeding him mostly pureed foods, but have started trying to mix in some chunky pieces as well and he is just not sure what to do with it. I am sure it is a texture thing, because I am a texture eater, but hopefully like the sippy cup it grows on him. We are starting to give him more and more finger foods, so maybe I'll just do away with the pureed foods all together once I feel like he is getting enough nutrition from the finger foods. I don't think the finger foods are quite as much of a texture shock because he gets to touch them before he puts them in his mouth!
- Changing his diaper - He has never really had a problem with this until recently. He has started rolling over and pitching a fit as soon as we lay him on the changing table to change him. I am thinking he associates it with sleeping and doesn't always want a nap?!? Needless to say, it makes changing time quite a chore. You hear a lot of "no, no" in our house during those times!!!

As always, I have plenty of pictures for you. We took most of them this weekend so they are really recent. I just love taking pictures of him! He is so good in front of the camera!!:)

Posing with the scary spider!

Meal time after church!

So sweet...

So stinkin' cute!

This is the face he makes when he is done with the camera!

Laughing with Daddy!

Storytime!

Look at all those teeth!

Making funny noises with Daddy and Uncle Troy!

Picture perfect!

I can't believe Hayden will be one year old in just one short month. He is growing up so fast. We are loving every minute of it(I swear minutes are shorter now than a few years ago!). We love you Hayden!