Happy Thanksgiving! Mitchell is 11 months old today! One more month 'til the big birthday!
He's extremely spoiled with all of the family in town! He'll never learn to walk with everyone carrying him around :) Just kidding!
I hope everyone had fabulous Thanksgivings! We celebrate ours tomorrow....my mouth is already watering!
The books say that the more foods your child tastes in the early eating days, the less picky he'll be later in life....so we try just about everything edible! Jacob's mom once told me that one of his favorite foods at a young age was beets, so we gave them a try. I'm not sure they went over very well for Mitchell, but Tex liked them. I know I should probably discipline him when he does things like this...but it's so hard when he's so stinking cute!!!
Mitchell got his flu shot yesterday. I've been procrastinating because we've been so busy and because I never look forward to him getting shots. Not only did he NOT cry when he got the shot, he didn't even flinch. Tough guy :)
Mitchell is a LEARNING machine lately! He just watches and watches us and tries to mimic everything that we do (good and bad!)
I am really trying to work with him on his sign language. Here is a little video of him saying and signing "cat" (I have taught him the sign using just one hand) Isn't it cute?!?!
There have been a few skeptics saying "why would you teach him to sign? Just teach him to talk!" No fear - we're obviously teaching him to talk too! Here is a site that does a good job of capturing the benefits of teaching hearing babies sign language.
Wait, let me take a closer look.
Hmmm....I'm not so sure about it afterall.
I know I've only been out here for 2 minutes, but I'm done with this cold, white stuff.
Take me inside!
Using Aunt Kelli as a crutch
Mitchell is getting closer and closer to walking on his own, but he's not quite there yet!
I've been trying to teach Mitchell sign language here and there, and he's finally doing some back! His favorite sign is "ball". We usually play with balls and throw them to the dogs, so he seems to be a bit confused and is using the sign for both a ball and a dog! We've got a little work to do!
We celebrated Jacob's 29th birthday today. Yes, he's 2 years younger than I am....and never let's me forget it! His first birthday request was that he wanted to sleep in until 9am. Then we headed to breakfast at First Watch, before church. For the very first time, we decided to give the church nursery a try - see story below. We let him pick out a new Wii game for his present and then had lunch at Winstead's, where Jacob got his free birthday Skyscaper! He played basketball with the guys from work this afternoon and Mitchell and I headed to Shawnee Mission Park to take some pictures before the beautiful leaves are all gone!
Jacob and I have decided that Mitchell is a bit of a BULLY! He pays absolutely no attention to who is playing with what....if he wants it, he takes it! I respond by giving the toy back and apologizing to the parent, meanwhile trying to explain to Mitchell that he needs to share. Jacob responds by watching and chuckling....all of the while, I can see a little gleam of pride in his eyes.
As mentioned above, we decided to give the church nursery a try this morning. We dropped him off with ease and headed into the service. Inside the service, there is a little board where they flash the names of any misbehaving kids, so that parents will know to exit the service and report to the nursery/classroom. I pointed it out to Jacob and we both kept a close eye on it. Sure enough, about 1/2 way through the service "Mitchell Folks" flashed on the board. A few "knowing eyes" turned our way as we quickly exited the service and headed to his nursery room.
Much to our surprise, he was smiling and laughing when he entered. The ladies quickly explained that they were feeding the two young babies in the room their bottles and Mitchell was doing everything he could to get his grubby hands on their bottles! He wasn't being too fussy, but they were worried that he might be hungry especially given the 1 hour time change today. I explained that he had JUST had a big breakfast at First Watch and that he shouldn't be hungry. He's down to 3 bottles/nursing sessions a day now (morning, pre-afternoon nap and night).
They said we could return to the service and they'd call us in again if he continued to fuss for their bottles. We never saw his name again and finished the service in peace. When we picked him up, they said that they hoped we'd bring him again next week. He entertained all of them with his clapping and dancing. They predicted that he will grow up to be a musician of some sort because he liked the music so well. We'll see about that one! I do think we'll give the nursery another shot. It's nice to be able to actually listen to Pastor Adam!
My Dad and Sherri came over to see Mitchell dressed in his monkey gear!
They watched Mitchell while Jacob and I put our costumes on. Yes, that's right. We all dressed up -- although Mitchell's was the cutest! :)
Can you see how short Mitchell's costume is on him? He is getting so tall!
We went over to our neighbors house to do a little trick-or-treating with the other babies. Here they are! From L to R: Isabella a pink poodle, Mitchell the monkey (obviously), Luke the devil, Lily the dalmation and Sophie the Leopard. I hope it's the start to a fun annual tradition!
