Copycat

Mason is in the throes of copycat mode. Today, he was about to eat a shoe (again), so I told him "no" while I shook my head at him. He smiled at me and shook his head, too! It was so cute and hilarious that I had to laugh...so now he shakes his head when we say no :)

Mason likes to try to copy the sounds we make. He can make a clicking sound with his tongue, and he copies certain words (ma, ba, da, bye, yeah).

First Real Word

Mason has been babbling for a few months now. He says "mama" and "dada" all the time, though I don't know if he neccessarily uses the words to call me or Mike. He's also really good at imitating: opening and closing his fist if he sees one of us do it, sticking out his tongue, pointing, and making certain sounds ("ba," "da," "vroom," etc.). I never considered any of those sounds a real word, though. But, tonight Mason and I were looking at a finger puppet book that he loves. The finger puppet is a spider, so I was saying the word "spider" over and over while we were looking at the book. All of a sudden, Mason says, "pie-duh." I saw his lips make the correct movements, but I repeated the word "spider" again, just to be sure. I also had Mike listen, and Mason said it again, "pie-duh." OMG!! My baby said his first real word! :)

Mason is 11 Months Old

Dear Mason,

Today you are 11 months old! You’re growing and learning every day! We recently measured you and found that you are 29.5 inches tall! (I can say tall because now you are really cruising on the furniture).

You’re still smiley and happy as ever, but you are also very dramatic! You like to fling your whole body backwards if you are upset or unhappy, so we have to always be ready to catch you and make sure you don’t hit your head on anything! You are very attached to Mommy at the moment, and will get quite upset when I drop you off at day care or when we leave you with a babysitter. Most of the time, you quickly recover, though.

Right now you are very good at cruising along the furniture, and will even turn around from the coffee table to the couch or chair fairly easily. You can push a walker across the living room, sometimes one-handed! You can climb up shorter pieces of furniture or short steps…which is very scary for Mommy! You crawl very fast, and like to follow your big brother around the house. Usually to get into whatever toys he is playing with!

You like to feed yourself during meals, and can also feed yourself from a container or bowl. You can drink well from a sippy cup and from a regular cup (if I hold the cup).

During playtime, you like to bang two things held in your hands together, you can put objects in containers (or put balls into a hole), you can play peek-a-boo (where you hold a blanket over your face and pull it down, wanting to hear someone say “Peekaboo!” to you), and you can turn the pages of a board book.

You can understand “no”, “come here”, “sit down”, “bottle”, “up?” and “I’m gonna get you!” When I ask you if you want me to pick you up, you raise your arms.

My favorite thing that to encourage you to do is to give me kisses. You will usually give more than one, because I’m so excited and praise you so much when you do it. You open your mouth (like you’re going to eat something) and you plant your mouth somewhere on my face! I usually try to aim you toward my cheek, since your kisses are very wet and numerous, but I’ll take them wherever you want to put them!

For your first Halloween, you were Batman (your brother was Superman). And you two were truly my very own superheroes!

Mason, Mommy and Daddy can’t wait to experience the holidays with you and Tyler! I will love watching you (try to) open presents on your first birthday, and then on Christmas! I’m looking forward to taking you to look at neighborhood Christmas lights, visiting family, and (if we’re lucky) playing in the snow!

Love, always,
Mommy

Mason plays "peek-a-boo"