11 months

11-month stats
21 pounds
29 inches
7 teeth (4 top, 3 bottom)

Emmett has been so happy [mostly] and fun these last few weeks.  He's playful, loves to laugh, isn't really scared of strangers and certainly has no fear of leaving mom's sight.  Last week I took him to the church with me and during my meeting he crawled out the door and into the hall and all the way to the gym where he found a basketball without being remotely concerned about my whereabouts.

Food
Emmett loves scrambled eggs, pancakes, cheese and bread.  For a while, I was a little stressed out about how I was going to get my now self-feeding baby to eat fruits and veggies.  At first, spinach ravioli was his only source of veggies and he ate it every night for dinner; but we've slowly been branching out, and I think we're making good progress.  Now he eats cheesy broccoli nuggets, roasted sweet potato, roasted carrots, and tuna noodle casserole with peas.  He's also been letting me spoon feed him yogurt, applesauce and fruit purees.  He insists on eating (or at least tasting) anything his parents are eating.   He drinks from his sippy cup at a dramatic 90 degree angle, which usually gets him more water than he's prepared for.  He's a happy boy, especially when he's got a full tummy. 

Sleep
Emmett goes to bed between 7-8 p.m. and wakes up pretty consistently between 6:30-7 a.m.  He's generally been taking great naps lately--one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  He goes down well after a song and a snuggle.  He figured out how to remove the teething guard rails from the crib, so they are currently fastened with cable ties.  My very favorite time with Emmett is his 7 p.m. feeding.  After a full day of play and a tummy of warm milk, this boy smiles, sighs and crawls up to put his head on my shoulder where we rock and snuggle for a few minutes before putting him in his crib.  They are sweet, happy mommy moments.

Play
This boy loves balls.  He's got a dozen of them and spends much of the day throwing them around and chasing after them.  I think it's safe to say that "ball" is Emmett's first word.  It's pronounced more like "ba" but is the first sound that is definitely associated with a specific object.
"Ba" is also his word for "book."  We read lots and lots of books during the course of a day.  Emmett knows the routine of dragging or pushing a book over to mom (or dad) and then climbing up on my lap.
Emmett likes to play with the blocks that cousin Boyd gave him for Christmas.  He knows how to make a tower two or three blocks high.  Other favorite toys include the insert to the angel food cake pan and the salad spinner.
I don't know whether it's just the NC humid heat or if this kid just plays really hard, but he is a sweaty little boy.  The back of his hairline is always damp, particularly after playing a few rounds of chase with mom or dad.

Tricks
Emmett can show you what a fishy does and tell you what a dog says.  He recently discovered peek-a-boo, which is very fun.  He sometimes walks on his knees, and he's started experimenting with taking real steps without the support of the couch or chair.  He doesn't make it more than a few steps, but we're not too far away from a full-fledged walker.  He's got an uncanny ability to roll his tongue--he can seriously roll his tongue as he breathes both in and out.  I tried to do it for a bit today and failed completely.

As you can tell, we sure do love our little Emmett.  We'll wrap up with a little video clip of Emmett acting unusually hyper in the bath tub.  The clip really only captures a portion of the energy he was displaying!  Our favorite part is the face he makes after dipping his face in the water.