11 Months!

We finally got Greyden's 11 month pictures done! And no, we didn't reuse the ones from last time, although that would have been MUCH easier. Nope, we dragged the him outside, slapped a sticker on his gut, and went to town, which I can assure you he loved. Well, maybe loved is a bit strong of a word. It didn't help that the poor kid was (and still is) sick so he wasn't thrilled with being confined to a blanket. (Although he wouldn't dream of stepping off of it. The kid has an inherent fear of grass.) You'll have to excuse the snotty nose and red eyes. The doctor said it's a sinus infection and early bronchitis. Joy.

We even managed to get a couple of tooth pictures. Barely.



If you look really closely (and click on the picture to make it bigger), you can see one of his bottom teeth. He has two and they're right next to each other, so I have no idea where the other one is in this picture and why you can't see it.



Top tooth picture. That's the only one up there as of right now, and so far there is no sign of the right one. I'm sure we'll just continue to teeth for the next 12 months or so until it finally decides to pop though.

Parenting an 11 month old has brought about a whole host of new challenges. For example, diaper changing is now a test of human endurance . I mean, in theory we should have a distinct advantage in both size and speed. In actual practice, it's much like roping a calf. Once you get him on his changing table, you have approximately 2 - 4 seconds before he begins to arch his back and rolls over. Obviously this isn't enough time to even remove the dirty diaper, let alone wipe, add diaper cream, apply the new diaper, and re-pants him, so the second we set him down, we immediately begin waving distractions in front of his face in hopes of keeping him on his back for as long as possible. So far we've had success with  remote controls, cell phones, unopened bottles of medicine, bottles of lotion, the diaper cream tube, a stuffed Easter hamster (don't ask), the box of wipes, a baby toothbrush, a rattle, and a snot sucker bulb. We basically grab whatever is within reach, including his nail clippers as Kevin realized about halfway through one of the diaper changes last week. (And even then the only reason he realized it is because I happened to walk into the room and ask "Nail clippers? Really?") I've even taking to changing him on the floor so that I can throw my leg over him and pin him down. It's like the kid turns into the Incredible Hulk at diaper changing time. I swear they must have the kids lifting weights at daycare or something.

Sometimes, if you're really, really lucky, he'll "discover" his *ahem* man parts and that will hold his attention long enough to get the diaper changed. I say "discover" because he honestly does this multiple times a day and each time it's like Christmas has come again. He is obviously a boy in every sense of the word. Bath times are especially interesting for him, since now that he's discovered it, he checks for it every 15 seconds or so. I won't say he takes after Daddy, but........