Letter to Baby

Baby Yuke (aka Luke),

Well, I suppose this 11 month milestone couldn't come fast enough for you, but I still look at you and wonder how we came so far so fast.  We went from seeing you wrapped up in a NICU bed receiving light therapy for jaundice and monitors all over you to chasing you from room to room.  Phew!  We're exhausted!

Crawling is your main mode of transportation these days.  Last month you were army crawling, this month you've mastered the fine art of crawling on all fours.  And you're fast.  And when you get excited you stick your lips out and breathe in and out of your mouth like you're sucking your drool back in just in time before it falls out of your mouth.  I like to call it your ducky face.  It's PDQ (pretty darn cute).  And you've figured out how to get from point A to point B in the house.  Not just in the room you're in, but in the entire house.  It makes it interesting some mornings when I'm trying to get ready and can't keep up with your wherabouts.

In addition to crawling, you are pulling up on everything that will be still long enough to let you get your feet under you.  Which is my way of saying Baxter stays out of your way :).  You crawl over to the couch head first (because that's when you know you've reached your destination) and once your head bumps the couch, you stand up, and walk over to the side table.  This is where you pulled my (thankfully) cold cup of coffee down and waved my mug around like it was the first place trophy while I was putting your car seat base in my car yesterday morning.  You knew you were in trouble when I walked back in the door from the garage and caught you red handed.  I guess we both learned a valuable lesson from this.

You still say 'mama' and have started saying 'daddy'.  You can wave goodbye and give kisses and nod your head 'yes'.  It's really cute and we have a few videos of this, but it's really our only proof, because at Christmas, you refused to do any tricks for your Grandma and Grandpa.  Stinkapotamous. 

We've tried some new foods, and you like chicken and diced carrots.  You still love sweet potatoes and bananas.  And apparantly, you wouldn't let your Mrs. Kristin eat her banana because you demanded it all.  You're quite the banana bully.

We've had a few more firsts this month.  Your first Christmas.  Your first time saying 'daddy'.  You learned to motorboat.  The first time you shut the door on your finger.  Your first hot dog and black beans and rice.  And the first time to push a walking toy around a room.

Next month, when you're 1, can I still write Letter to Baby, or do I need to change the title to Letter to Mister?  Let me know...

We love you most.
Mom and Dad