11 months old!

Jonas is 11 months old today. I can't believe he'll be a year old in only one month. We brought him home when he was over 7 months old, but he seemed like such a little baby then. He couldn't roll over, bear weight on his legs, or sit unsupported. He hadn't really started solid foods yet. He's come a long way since then, and he's growing up too quickly! He hasn't started crawling yet but he's working on it. When he's on his stomach he will push against our hands and move across the floor like an inch worm. Here's a little video we took of our inch worm after dinner one night.


Even though he isn't crawling, he manages to get where he wants to by scooting around on his bottom. Yesterday I put him on the floor while I was making our bed, and he opened our closet door, pulled some of my shoes down, and scooted himself inside the closet. Ignore the mess inside the closet in these pictures!


He learned how to pick up food with his thumb and forefinger about a month ago, and since then he hasn't wanted to eat much food off a spoon. He still lets me feed him yogurt, cereal, and some pureed fruits off a spoon. Sometimes he'll grab the spoon and guide it into his mouth. Other than that it's all finger foods now. His favorites are little spears of cooked broccoli, pinto beans, peas, banana, cheerios, freeze-dried yogurt bites, and little pieces of salmon, chicken, or tuna. Here are some pictures of the first time I let him feed himself his lunch all by himself. I stripped him down to his diaper because I expected a big mess. I was a little disappointed that he kept himself pretty clean.


He says Dada, Hi, and Gitty (for kitty). He does not say Mama, as much as I try to teach him. Anytime we ask him to say Mama, he says Dada. :)

Our first couple of months at home, Jonas was usually a little overwhelmed by all the people at church. He'd smile at people sometimes but wouldn't let anyone hold him. Around the first of the year he started getting more and more comfortable with other people. He now lets people hold him and even lets us out of his sight sometimes. I haven't left him in the nursery yet though. I think he'd be fine, but I'm not ready for that yet! :) We've been blessed to have our friend Sarah babysit Jonas on Monday and Thursday mornings when we're both working. Sarah is great with him, and he gets excited when he sees her. Last weekend our friends Dawn and Cory babysat while Ray and I had our first date since becoming parents. Jonas had so much fun with them that he barely noticed when we came home! Sarah, Dawn, and Cory all grew up in our youth ministry, and we trust them with Jonas completely! It's great to have good babysitters. :)

Jonas is still sleeping well! He's down to waking up only once or twice in his crib before Ray and I go to bed, and then once in the middle of the night. It's such a drastic improvement over waking almost hourly for so long. He is also napping much better. He can make it through both his morning and afternoon naps without waking up to be rocked back to sleep in the middle of it. And, most amazing of all, he has started to sometimes fall asleep in his crib without us in the room and WITHOUT CRYING! Letting him sleep in our bed when he wants to seems to have helped him to feel secure enough to sleep longer in his crib. I wish we would have tried co-sleeping sooner! It was really hard to be extremely sleep deprived for 3 months. Right before we tried co-sleeping we had reached a breaking point and were seriously considering letting him cry until he fell asleep. Looking back, I'm really glad we never did that!

Every day I thank God for choosing Ray and I to be Jonas' parents. People have told us that Jonas is lucky to have us, but we're the ones that are truly blessed!