Ander's ELEVENTH Month??!

RED ALERT!!REDALERT!!REDALERT

This week is June and my baby's birthday is in June. WHAT. What. Wut. Okay, no big deal. It's fine. I'm fine. /sobs

This month we, obviously, had our Cruise. Ander was superb and did just fine at my parent's all week. He was happy to see us when we got back, but not so clingy that he seemed traumatized, nor did he forget us and shun us either. It was the perfect balance. 

And two days later he came down with his first case of anything worse than a maybe-cold. Hand, Food, and Mouth disease. He started out with a fever and wouldn't eat or drink anything, only wanting to be held all day long, and the next day had the "perfect" sores crop up on his poor little hands and mouth. His feet didn't get bad until the worst of it was over. 

Once he started feeling better we took him down to Riverview Park to play in the sunshine and work up a little appetite. 

He always knows where we hide the soda.

Arguably the funnest thing about being a parent

is watching your kid make connections on their own

and try to figure out new things.

Here's Ander trying to put the straw back in the lid,

and please note [not pictured] how angry he was when I tried to help him.

He wanted so badly to play soccer among the group with which

we shared the field. Dear, sweet child. You gon' die. 

His worst sores were on the pads of his fingers and inside his mouth. I cannot say how blessedly necessary and lucky it was that Mark happened to have that week off from work as well. I would have been an entirely different Mom without him there to help me. 

None of it gets Ander down for long, though. He's tough as nails, rambunctious, and fiesty as ever. 

Forehead, meet tile floor. Speedily. Obviously, judging by that smile (gives me life), he didn't really mind the goose-egg all that much. Mommy cried though. 

He's definitely found that baby rhythm phase, he bounces to most forms of music and has a cute head wiggle move that gets us all groovin'. 

His favorite thing is to wake up from naps and yell for me till I come pick him up with a blanket and he nuzzles right into my neck, snuggling on my shoulder for a few extra minutes. I cherish those minutes. 

He currently has his head stuck in the space between our gameboard table and the wall. So there's that.

He loves to stand in the window with an empty can of soda and watch as people and cars go by. 

He signs 'please', and might be signing 'more' but he could also just be clapping. We're not sure yet. He waves 'hi' and 'bye', and let's us know when he's 'all done', whether it's with meals, baths, or just the current situation. 

He blows bubbles in the bath. Or any water really. 

He starts clapping whenever you say, "yaaay!" or "you did it!" or "good job" and it's the cutest. I love that he congratulates himself and grabs onto your hand if you don't do it as well. 

He's obscenely bossy for a not-quite-one-year-old, I think. We end up eating more of his food than he does because he wants to feed it to us. 

He's kind, he's helpful, he's sweet and loving, he's the shiniest soul I know and I can't wait to know him more and more as he continues to grow up. 

I love you, my Bubba-love