Steele Samuel - 11 Months Old

 Clothes - Wearing everything from 12-24 months!  Mostly 18 month stuff...  

Eating like a pig!  Loves almond butter zucchini muffins, bananas, ground meat, snap peas, and carrots! 

Does the "all done" sign very aggressively!

Still does his wrinkled up nose smile/smirk thing often.   

Naps great, 10ish and 2-3ish...

Climbs SO much!  I seriously think I might just find him up on the kitchen counter or on the dining room table someday!  I don't know how he does it but when he sets his mind to it, he is GOING to do it!!

He got up on this table by himself.  I was watching him the whole time ready to catch him if needed but I honestly didn't think he could do it.  We have now laid all the patio chairs over so that he does not have the chance to climb them anymore.  He can also climb onto the boys little table and chairs.  Like to "baby proof" our house would basically mean "get rid of all furniture!" haha So we're just watching him closely and praying safety over him.  I'm both strangely proud and frustrated all at the same time.  Gunnar looked over at me the other day after we watched him climb up onto something and said "He gets this from YOU, you know!!"

Reaches out his hand like this all the time.  It's like he's trying to tell you something, you just don't know what... 

 

Says "night night," "uh oh," "mama," and we're pretty sure he is saying "daddy," and "all done" too. 

 

Steele loves Monte and I think Monte can still get the biggest laugh out of him!  Kit has started playing with him a little more but mostly just gets frustrated with him getting into his stuff.   

Sometimes it is hard to tell if he is laughing or crying unless you're looking at him.  

Loves being tickled.

 

Generally needs a good, brief, thumb sucking snuggle at least twice a day. 

Loves baths!

Gets very enthusiastic about things!  He just has big feelings about life all around!

Bear crawls when he's outside on a rough surface.  (We call this picture our "redneck baby")

Leaps hard!

 

8 teeth, four on top, four on bottom

 

Ann sent me this picture of Gunnar and Sid and we all agree that we totally see Steele in Gunnar's smile here.  Everyone says that he looks like me, which I agree with, but I totally see Steele in Gunnar in this picture. 

Wears his food every meal.  Good thing it's summer time and he basically just only wears a diaper these days. 

 

 Is walking 65% of the time.  He always walks first, but if he falls then he just crawls instead of getting up to walk again. 

Loves Kit's bed and always acts like he conquered the world when he climbs onto it.  Getting to play in the boy's room is a rare treat, so when he gets to play in there PLUS get onto Kit's bed he is a happy boy!

Discovered that the trash can opens and that he can reach it.   So far thankfully, he lost interest quickly.  He might have pulled it over on himself once...

Loves the garden and playing outside!

Loves water and "swimming" but does NOT like any form of restriction!  Does not want to be in a floatie, or life jacket, or anything.  If you're holding him, or let him stand on a step he's happy as can be. 

Steele Samuel - 10 Months Old

Mr Steele Samuel is 10 months old!  That's two months away from a year...... how did that even happen?!  It seems like he is learning or discovering something new every day! 

- First Fourth of July!

- Fourth of July cousin pictures!  These two might as well just get used to having their picture taken together! 

Mama/Aunt Kelli is just toooo funny!

Sara caught this awesome facial expression when we put the ear muffs on....he was not sure how he felt about preparing for fireworks! "WHAT are you doing to me, Mom?!"

- Loves water of any kind!  Baths, water hoses, creeks, pools, a cup one of us left down somewhere accidentally...

- Holds his own water bottle, bottle, or sippy cup. 

- Can hear the dish washer opening across the room and bee lines for it!  Makes cleaning the kitchen kinda a challenge sometimes! 

- Got dressed up for a wedding

"Oh hey, she's my size! I want to grab her!"

- I looked over the other morning and realized that suddenly I just had three boys sitting there eating applesauce together. 

- Has started chewing on his crib.  This is the face he made when I told him "no" the other day.  Such big feelings! 

- Has hit a whole new level of play recently.  He just plays and explores on his own a lot lately.  Examines toys, seems to really study and play with toys and items.

- I have a similar picture of all three of my boys.  The all loved to climb into the push toy and play! ( just ignore all the stuff I have ready to get to goodwill back there)

- Has officially made the switch.  Nursing is now supplemental nutrition instead of real food being supplemental.  He's still nursing quite a bit but I would say is usually somewhere around 60/40 probably... some days probably more like 50/50 and some days 80/20.  With all my kids my goal has been to nurse until they are 1 year and then just follow the child's needs after that.  Monte basically weaned himself by 15 months, Kit would probably still be nursing if I had let him, and we'll see what Steele does, with as much as he likes food and as well as he's eating I'm thinking he's going to be more similar to Monte and will just gradually wean himself as he eats more and more. 

- He LOVES this chair!!  He started climbing into it so I tipped it over so that he couldn't tip it over and crash onto the tile and was planning on moving it upstairs to the carpet but then he discovered it like this and sits in it so often!  He also stands in it and lays his head over the top.

- Went swimming in the tank at Grandad's for the first time!  He LOVED splashing! 

- Did the "all done" sign for the first time the other day.  Still not using it consistently. 

- Words we think he is saying but aren't 100% sure.... "night night" "all done" "uhoh" and "Daddy"

- Loves chewing on raw zucchini or squash.  I often put him in his stroller when I'm picking the garden and let him have one to chew on. 

- Loves pinning down the cats.  They whine but I mean they are way faster than he is, if they don't want him to get them they are totally free to run away!

- This is his most recent trick... It wouldn't surprise me if he just tipped himself over into a roll one day!  I think he knows that we think it's funny so he does it now to show off! 

- We let him crawl around the backseat the other day out on the ranch while we were waiting for someone and you could tell he thought he was cheating the system!  "oh wait, I can move around, shouldn't I be buckled?  Do they know?  Have they seen me yet?"  haha It was just the best adventure ever....right there sitting in the truck. 

- Officially took his first steps.  The most he's taken is 6 I think but he is no where close to walking fully yet.  Wouldn't surprise me if he's walking by his 11 month post or not for another couple months.  This is his best attempt I've gotten on video. 

Steele Samuel - 9 Months Old

Steele is a big 9 months old!  On the 1st, I didn't even realize that he was nine months old until about midnight. 

Got to swim in the Frio for the first time and he immediately took to it! 

Is still eating well.  We're taking it slow in adding in new foods.  I apparently overdid it a little bit and his tummy did not like it.  We've back off a little and he is doing so well!  Eating and nursing like a pig! 

He often holds items above his head like this while either seeming to examine it or while seeming super proud of himself! 

Went on his first full scale Frio float!  He slept through most of it!  Which was really precious.  We had a wet towel fully covering him so he stayed cool, comfy, and in no danger of sunburn!  He woke up right at the end of the float and seemed so shocked and surprised about where he was! Then...

He got SOOOO excited about the water!!  He LOVED it!! He kept bouncing and grinning and trying to splash and grab the water! 

Got to swing for the first time and he was a fan.  It almost seemed to mesmerize him into a trance! 

Loves being out on the porch but also loves reaching through the rails and having to be moved back over and over and over and over again.

Had one tooth in his eight month post.   Now has 6...we think...possibly 7 or 8. He does NOT like letting you look inside his mouth.  It has been a rather fussy month to say the least, although really for all the teeth he's gotten at the same time he's been a pretty "easy" teether.  He got three in like 4 days!  He got one front tooth at first and it looks so big right now!

Is just so destructive so quickly!! And is usually so proud of himself!  (Don't worry, I don't keep anything dangerous in those cabinets or drawers)

Discovered the stairs!  He loves to climb them when he gets the chance!  With supervision of course, although if he could figure out how to sneak through the gate or barricade he would!  

Loves getting to go check cows!

Loves Monte!  Monte can still get him to laugh more than anyone else!  Monte's booster seat is next to Steele in the truck and he often talks to him or gets him giggling so hard in the car seat!

Sleeping ok although I think teething ushered in some bad habits that we are now having to break.... so fun. 

Tucker and Steele were such big "helpers" when we helped Aunt Penny and Uncle Nichols move! 

Nothing beats an enclosed trailer as the best "baby cage"!  He was supervising Daddy and Uncle Wyatt fixing the trailer lights. 

He treated this finger puppet as a "pacifier" of sorts for like a full week. 

Wrinkles his nose is the most hilarious little grin all the time!  He often smiles crooked.  I think it's because he only had one top tooth for a while, although now the other one is coming in.  This is the best picture I have of him doing it so far as he flashes them so quickly!