11 months!

The ONLY picture we got where he was more or less sitting by the bear.


Average picture.

I know he'll be a year old in a couple days (cue hyperventilation and gnashing of teeth), but I really ought to post his 11 month update just for posterity. There were lots of little changes, of course, but ultimately he had two major breakthroughs in his eleventh month. First up, walking!
 
By the bear? Really? For serious?


But this is WAY cuter than sitting by bear, yes?

So, walking. The boy walks. Well, somewhat. Around 10.5 months he started taking steps, just 2-3 at a time, and that's what he stuck with for the next month. His thought process was almost visible. Stand up --> take a couple steps --> fall down --> "Screw this, I'll just crawl to the $#&% kitty." Very logical if you're a fast crawler, no? He is walking full-time now (rather drunkenly with much staggering, but walking nonetheless), but as of 11 months, he was in the 2-3 step bracket.

 
Break for play-time.

Other major development? Communication! Jim had (and has - no real change in this yet) 1.5 words and one sign. His main word is 'da-da,' and it is terribly versatile. It mostly means daddy, but it's also a general term of approval. He says it when he sees the kitty ("DADA!" = "Hurrah, I see a wondrous beast!"), or when you correctly guess what he wants ("Dada." = "Hell yes I want milk."), or when Noah isn't paying attention to him ("Da-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" = "HEY LOOK AT ME I'M COOL") or when he's concentrating really hard ("dada dada dada dada" = "Ommmmmm. Ommmmm. Ommmmm."). He's working on 'ma-ma' but he doesn't quite have it down yet. Sometimes it comes out ba-ba and sometimes wa-wa and it frustrates him when he can't say it correctly. When he does say it, though, it's terribly plaintive and indicates general distress and wanting his mama. We've been working on sign language a bit with him (mostly 'milk' and 'all done' and 'kitty-cat'), and he has one sign. It involves flapping his right hand at the wrist (I'll post a video sometime), and it means everything. Whenever he's feeling communicative, he'll stagger up to whoever is around and do his sign and you have to guess what he means. I'm pretty sure it usually means "Hey, I'm a people! Behold, here is my word! Are you not impressed?"

 
Resume photo attempts.

Of course there are many other smaller things and games that Jim likes to play. Hiding under the covers when I'm making the bed is funny. Me joining him under the covers is HILARIOUS. Hide-and-seek is pretty good, but he's pretty bad at it. Babies don't really pay attention to where you hide - they just look in the last place they found you. This means that even if Jim WATCHES me hide under the blanket, he will still look under the bed first. It's so freaking cute. His favorite game is putting things into other things (EVERYTHING goes into my rain boots - I've stepped on apple cores and pens many many times), and he's figured out how to play with the cats by tossing string at them. His mullet is getting a little out of hand, but I still won't let Noah shave his head. He's a BABY, dammit, and he's not getting a buzz cut for a good long time yet.

 
Final escape!