Name that book

The other day Miles was poking my belly button so I recited a line about belly buttons from the Sandra Boynton book, From Horns to Toes. He looked up, crawled to the bookshelf, and pulled out the book. I was excited, but thought it might be a coincidence because it was sitting on top of the others. So called Jason in, and we proceeded to recite the first couple of lines from about 7 books in a row. As Miles pulled out each one correctly, we gave him big cheers and kisses. After the first two, he seemed to realize it was a game, but ever the cool cat, once he found the book he'd just hand it over to us like it was no big deal.

I think this may be a sign that Miles is inheriting Jason's penchant for memorization. When he was a kid he and his youngest brother could recite dialogue from entire movie scenes. We have one example on video - it's the scene from Jungle Fever when Samuel Jackson is trying to get Wesley Snipes to give him some money for drugs... "I'll do it, I'll do it, you know I'll do it." The video (recently transferred to DVD for posterity) was replayed at a family gathering this summer and later that afternoon I heard Jason's 8-year-old niece walking into the house saying, "I'll do it, I'll do it, you know I'll do it."

Baby steps

On Friday, Miles took two steps on his own. Since then we've practiced several times -- Miles starting out from the ottoman and walking to the couch to retrieve a toy. I'm not sure that he's aware yet that he's walking. He seems to judge the distance, weigh the value of the toy that is put out as a lure, and decide whether he'd rather drop to the ground and crawl to it, or not bother at all and head in the other direction around the ottoman to the ipod computer speakers on the end table. When he decides to walk, he goes two steps and then falls forward and catches himself on the couch, landing with his hands and open mouth on top of the toy, giving it a good slobbery kiss.

I thought perhaps the ottoman was too close; if it were just a bit further, he'd have to take three steps. So we inched it away from the couch, and tried again. Now instead of taking two steps and falling on the couch, he lunges as though he's putting the ball over the goal line.

Another change this week -- we're going off formula, 3 weeks short of 12 months which is the recommended age to switch to whole cow's milk. No real reason to speed this up except that we were running low on the can of powdered formula (I prefer Horizon's organic version - the least metallic-smelling and tasting one that I tried, and surprisingly not any more expensive than non-organic brands) and so we thought we'd give milk a try before buying another can. Since you're also supposed to wean babies off bottles about now, we tried giving it to him in a sippy cup, which he didn't like enough to drink more than an ounce or two. After that we poured the rest into a bottle, but he still pushed it away. I was ready to give up on it but today his nanny said he drank two large bottles for her. She warmed up the milk first, which is I guess the key. When I confessed that we hadn't heated up the milk she kind of looked at me like what did you expect?

Swim class with dad

Miles has been to two swimming lessons now, and seems to really like it. We're signed up for an evening class, and Jason and I take turns swimming with Miles. This week was Jason's first time, and I, being more experienced by one lesson, went along to help and to provide pointers from the bench.

This time all of the parents in the water were men; it may be that for most of them, it's their only chance to do a mommy-and-me style activity. I think guys are either more reserved about striking up a conversation with another parent, perhaps because they have less practice, or they're just less interested in babies other than their own. Not much socializing going on in the water. Of course, in the swimming pool you have to pay complete attention to making sure your baby doesn't drown, so there is less opportunity than on a playground for small talk. Nevertheless, as the men followed the instructor's lead in singing songs that would end in some variation of "and we all go SPLASH!" there was definitely a competitive edge to throwing the babies in the air, Jason included.

11-month Milestones

We've been jotting these down each month in various places, most recently and consistently in a day planner for the 2004-2005 academic year. I had to write last month's list in the back on a notes page. I am collecting these with the idea that I will transfer them in much nicer handwriting than my own (by borrowing someone for a few hours?) into Miles' baby book which I haven't yet started. He turned 11 months on Wednesday, so before we forget what he was able to do when, here's the list:

• Has 8 teeth, possibly a few new ones coming in since he drools non-stop
• Weighs 25 pounds
• Naps twice per day. Very cranky when he misses one.
• As of Labor Day, likes it when you hold his hands and help him walk.
• Loves swimming. Went to first swimming lesson and didn't like getting dunked but liked everything else.
• Can stand by himself well, walks along holding onto the wall.
• Enjoys playing piano.
• Starting to feed himself with a spoon
• Words: bye-bye, mama, dada/gaga, baba (baby), ba (ball or banana)
• Sounds (some of these are questionable): cow, elephant, cat, ambulance, train
• Favorite books: Opposites, But not the Hippopotamus, Hop on Pop
• Good at mimicry
• Still likes to play piano several times a day
• Can climb into and out of little tikes car