Look at him Go!

Well, Matthew is walking better and better all the time now. He can get all the way across the apartment without falling or holding onto anything. Not every time he tries, but a few of them :o) He's learning other new things, too, such as pointing to the balloon in "Goodnight Moon" and saying something that sounds like "bwoo," and knocking on the book when we get to the "he can sound like a hand on a door, knock knock!" part of "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" He eats Gerber Graduates for dinner now, but he is still on "baby food" for lunch. Probably after his first birthday we'll move him to purely Graduates and table food. Then onto just table food shortly thereafter. He's also been drinking less and less formula out of his bottles (his choice, surprisingly enough) and more whole milk out of his sippy cup. It's like all of a sudden he's decided that he is a very big boy! Here is what the newsletter says this week. Only one more newsletter to go! I won't know what to do with myself:

Your baby boy, Matthew, is 51 weeks (Approximately 11.9 months) old now.
Matthew is probably becoming increasingly possessive about things that belong to him. Welcome to the "mine" stage! As Matthew becomes more self-aware, proclaiming ownership becomes his way of asserting his identity. To make it easier for Matthew to share his toys when a friend comes to play, help him decide what he wants to share and what needs to be put away. It will be a while before Matthew understands the concept of sharing, but setting boundaries will help him learn that there are things he may choose to share with playmates and other things he may decide to keep all for himself. The items that aren't to be shared should be put away and not brought out until after the playmate has left.Having Matthew's playmates bring some of their own toys to a play date may encourage Matthew to learn to share. Be sure to praise him for allowing another child to play with his toy. And if you do need to break up a fight over a toy, respond calmly, affirm any positive behavior in the situation, and if necessary, put the toy away and distract both of them with another activity. Shaking his head and saying "NO!" constantly is normal for Matthew at this age. But he may just be practicing using the word and asserting his opinion. In fact, even if you ask him "Do you want a cookie?" the answer may be no, even as he reaches to take it. Matthew is learning how to handle more than one thing - or at least trying to. He may be discovering that if he tucks an object under his arm, he still has two hands with which to pick up two more objects. Encourage his reasoning and motor skills by offering him all sorts of tempting items and watch how he figures out how to manage them all!

A quick comment - Matthew does not say "no" yet, nor shake his head. Which is somewhat surprising, being that he hears no and sees shaking heads quite often! But I'm sure it's coming. I don't know yet if hearing "no" will be better than the current ways he has of telling us that he doesn't want/like something! :o)