51 weeks old

He has a lot to say! He doesn't have words but his grunts and coos are super expressive.  I almost always know what he wants.  He's so easy to read.

He points and grunts at stuff he wants--food, a toy, something dangerous, his mommy...

He likes to yell when he's happy.  He and his sister have happy yelling matches.  It's how they best relate to each other.

He always makes a beeline for her room when she leaves it opened.

He has more free reign than she did at his age because I'm more relaxed and he's more apt to listen than she was.

He may have said "nana" for banana the other day.  Well, he definitely said it but I'm not sure it was on purpose. He's also started to eat peas whole--they stay whole even through his digestive system, but it's a start and it's nice being able to give him some veggies for finger food.  I haven't discovered anything else we have readily available (veggies or fruits, I mean--well, other than peas and bananas) that he can eat by himself. 

He likes to bang his head on the wall.  It's sort of a cause and effect discovery thing.

He gave some little boys--his sister's best friend and brother--hugs.  I'm not even sure he gave me a hug.  He had been around girls all day.  Girls who like to pick him up and hug him and drag him places.  I'm wondering if he recognized the boys as people who wouldn't do that to him or if he was just happy to see some more males.

Changing him is like wrestling an alligator--it's been so for months.  His favorite thing is to roll over onto his belly and then stand up and bang at the window screaming and yelling happily. 

 One day at dinner he was over tired but I hadn't eaten yet so I brought out this gorilla and it helped him survive the rest of the dinner hour before being nursed to sleep.

 Here he is happily exploring his sister's room again!

 This isn't the worst of it, it looks almost like normal nursing, but it reminds me what an active little nurser he is.

 He loves to stand at the window because he loves to go outside!

 The range of emotions within a couple minutes when he's overtired.

 Playing with his sister.  He wasn't sure how he felt about this. 

 A chocolate chip cookie! He loved it! It was my whole-food adaptation so it was whole-wheat, coconut oil, and a real sweetener--maple syrup or honey, I don't remember.

 Comparison of Bunny and Bear--though Bunny was only 9 months in her photo, and he is 11 months.

 Enjoying drinking water through a straw.  Sometimes he just chews, but he's been remembering that he can suck.

 A fun morning at dunkin donuts.  He stuffed an entire munchkin in his mouth and I had to fish it out, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself!

 "Reading" a book.  This is as close to reading as he'll get because when I try to read to him, he won't sit still and gets so angry that he can't eat the book!

 He half-figured out how to take his shirt off by himself. 

 He loves the sand but I have to watch him because he'll eat it. One of the days this week, he ate sand, chalk, and dirt within five minutes. 

 He also loves the swing.  A lot.  And he prefers to surf on it this way, rather than the belly-flopping he used to do on it.

 Meeting one of his sister's old friends.  He just wanted Mommy.  It had been a super long day!