eleven months.

so pratt is one month away from turning a whole number. instead of just months.

i mean, i know that after that, he'll be back to 13 months...or whatever...but it's just hard to believe that he's about to be 1. one. a whole number. i say it every month...i know you're sick of hearing about it.

let's see...

he inspects anything and everything given to him. he has a little cell phone that cookie bought him. and when you open it, the picture on the screen changes according to who is calling. like sometimes the blue cat is calling. other times, it's the white dog. anyway, he totally gets it. he will sit and open that thing and just stare at the picture. and then close it, really fast. then open it, and stare. and giggle. like he totally gets it.

yesterday i was laying on the floor of his room while he turned the pages in his board books. he squints his little eyes and furrows his brow, and ever so carefully, with his thumb and finger, will grab one page, and turn it. then immediately begin work to get the next page turned. it's useless trying to read him a book. you don't have time to get the first word out.

randomly, throughout the day, ace and yoda will chase each other. i'm assuming because he is about their size, they're his friends. and so, well...if they're chasing each other, he wants in on it. yoda will take off, ace running after her. then there is pratt...crawling as fast as he can, giggling the entire way there. trying to catch up with them. this is probably my favorite thing right now. it reminds me of why i deal with pet hair.

pratt has a little clear ball that came with one of his many toys. it will pop in and out of the toy, and he loves to roll it. or attempt to roll it. it's more of kind of a toss...and then it hits the ground and rolls. he LOVES this. and could do it for...10 minutes. which is an eternity for him.

i illegally turned his carseat around already. i know i'm a month away...but poppy left his car here and they had a big kid carseat in their car. i figured he would LOVE to face forward, and he does. i'm sure that this isn't okay. i know, i know. and i swore that i would leave him back-facing as long as possible...but it's just sooo much better this way. the kid can look out the window. and smile at me in the rearview mirror. which by the way, completely confuses him. he sees me, and then i'm in the mirror. what?!

as soon as he sees us eating, he crawls as fast as he can over to us to get a bite. he will eat anything. oh, something i discovered yesterday. kroger has a bunch of specials right now. i was on the veggie aisle...and started checking out the beans for pratt. he loves them. but i'm constantly buying dried beans to soak and cook for him because of the high salt content. i decided to do a little comparison.

the organic brand of kroger beans has 1/4 of the salt content that the regular beans have! per serving, the regular beans have like 20% of the daily value of sodium for an average bear. not even a kiddo. anyway, just a thought. the organic beans weren't all that much more. maybe 30 cents. maybe not that much. but for that much of a difference, does it really matter?!

pratt loves to crawl up to the back of our couch and stand up. he will rub his hands down the couch, (it feels like a bathrobe), and then fall to the ground. once on the ground, he raises up on his knees, with his arms up really high and then just slams his hands to the ground. it looks like it really hurts, but he just laughs out loud. he is such a boy.

he is eating pretty much everything. but prefers to feed himself. he LOVES pineapple. he's pretty much done with blueberries and blackberries. oh well. oh, and watermelon. he loves that too these days.

he's still a pointer. and makes a "d" sound for pretty much everything he sees. he will sit near ace and talk to him. he raises and lowers his little voice like he's having a conversation with him. and then he will look at ace, and touch his nose or his feet. ace just deals with it because he is the best dog ever.

i bought organic whole milk in an attempt to get him to try to drink it and enjoy it...so we could start weaning him from his bottles. but in the last two days, i've decided i'm not ready. i know that sounds like i'm one of those crazies...but i'm just not. i still really, really, really enjoy him laying on me for that early morning bottle. and pretty much all the rest of them. because he's so big now. and he won't let me hold him for any other reason really. unless he's hungry or tired. and he's doing that thing where he straightens out. when you pick him up and he wants down...he gets straight. with his arms up and legs down and tries to slide out of my grasp. and well, i just can't get rid of the bottles just yet. we may wait until right at 18 months. who cares. i'm with bethany in that they are only small for so long. and it's not "long". it's short. and i'm crying just thinking about it. and he's already dropped one of his bottle feedings, so he really only takes 3 now instead of 4. ahhhh!!!! he's getting so big and grown up....

okay. on to something else before i have a breakdown...

at night after dinner and a bath, he will play in his basket on the living room floor near his daddy. every once in a while, he will look up at clint and say, "hi dada." clear as day. and clint always hears him. and will say, "hi pratt."

and then i cry. and want to have a million more little babies.

and then i snap back to reality.

it's been the best 11 months of my life. there is nothing greater than seeing him grow. watching him change every single day. loving him as much as we do.

life is good. oh, so good.