Uh-Oh!

We were in Maryland over the weekend, hanging out with some family. 
Baby boy Henry (happy 11 months!!!) is in stair and explore mode.  Fortunately they have some great stairs for baby stair lovers.  He was able to practice over and over and over again!  Made him happy; made me nervous.  But like the others he's a stubborn one and as such he wouldn't stop- win for Henry.  Makes sense- it goes along with his whole issue of not playing with real toys so I shouldn't really be surprised.  Of course, there are exceptions like trains (he says, "chchchchch"), riding toys that he can push, cars (he says, "ffffffffff" while he drives those), blocks and dolls/stuffed animals.  And he loves to read books (that's my boy!!) But his other passions include the dog bowls (especially when filled with water), REAL remotes, REAL cameras, REAL phones (he knows the difference and God forbid we try to give him a toy), pots, pans and mommy's laptop.  
Anyway, on our last day I was buzzing around packing while Henry did some exploring.  He usually has to be closely watched while he explores, especially in antique-filled houses, but he was playing with the trash can in a safe room so I left.  A moment later he comes out to me and holds his hands up (kind of like I-don't-know-what-to-do style) and says "UH!".  That means "Uh-Oh" in Henry-speak.  So I scooped him up and asked what he did.  We went back to the bedroom where I found a tipped-over chair.  I just love talking about this, thinking about it because the thought processes of little babies totally blows me away.  How cool that he knew that something was wrong and could let me know!

On that note, he did something else that humored me and made me realize how much he's growing and learning.  On Friday while we were getting ready to leave Henry was really insisting on trying to go down the stairs.  In our house it's a big no-no because it's about 13 steps and no one was available to hold his hand.  He was persistent though and I had to keep distracting him as we packed.  Finally, he decided that it would work better for him if we were all out of the way (I can only assume what was going on in that brain of his).  he started pushing everyone who was in the hallway into bedrooms.  At first I didn't know what he was trying to do until he pushed me back into my room, pushed Jonas (the other hallway dweller) into a bedroom then took off running for for the stairs.  He looked at me as he neared the stairs and realized he was busted.  Then moved faster.  There's a reason I call him my sneaky sneaky boy!

Some other new milestones: more understanding of "drink" but can't really say it yet.  I'm teaching him a little sign language to help.  He still loves waving and says "bah" (bye) sometimes when he waves.  He throws kisses to his Japanese Grandma (she taught him so it's their special thing!), he's getting better at throwing and trying to catch, his 8th (and now 9th) tooth is still working it's way out but it's not here yet.  When we say, "yay" or tell him he's doing a good job (or similar) he claps.      

Happy 11 months Henry!  I can't believe you're almost ONE!!!  March 30th is coming fast!