11 MONTH UPDATE!!

I can't believe it was your 11 month month-day yesterday! Only one more month until you are a year old, I cannot even start to think about that yet. So instead, I'll focus on all the changes you've made this past month, and there have been loads.
This month you've continued to make strides in your physical development. You are crawling like grease lightning. No longer my little army crawler, you're fully up and on hands and knees and out the door before I can say "donde te vas?". You continue to motor around the floor picking up every speck of dust, but now at a faster pace. Ana has taken to calling you a little vaccum. This month you also started to pull up on everything that is in your path. Luckily there isn't too much in our place that could topple over and crush your little noggin, but I'm sure you'll find something to give me a heart attack. Speaking of, you've discovered stairs and the awesome power of climbing them! Since we live in (basically) three rooms with no stairs anywhere in sight, it didn't really occur to me that figuring out how to crawl up and down the stairs would be a problem until, oh, puberty. But you found some at abuela's house and this past weekend at grandma and farfar's and you were oh so proud to show me that you could crawl up them yourself, on your first try! Never mind the wincing lady behind you spotting your every bobble, sucking in breath at every little jiggle backwards, a few more grey hairs can't hurt her at this point.
With all this new found movement, you've started to work off a little of your buddha belly. You still have a pretty healthy belly flap, but your arms and legs are starting to look really long, and I think it's because some of the chub is disappearing. This terrifies me to no end! I don't want to loose the chub! Not yet!! When you are asleep especially, and you are stretched out to your lankiest, I can see glimmers of the little boy you'll be before I can blink. It takes a lot of will power not to snatch you up that second and cuddle you and roll back and forth while saying my baby chiquitito!! (a game you love as much as me pretending to bite your toes while you nurse- you know I'm not one to disturb someone's meal, but you're little smirk makes it worth the interuption in feeding every single time)
You continue to talk on and on in your incredible little voice, if only we could understand you, you definitely have something to say. You're favorite new "word" is diggem, like the spokes frog for honey smacks. You'll say diggem or liggem or bliggem and I'll say it, and you'll laugh and say it again over and over 400 times if I'd keep it up. You're most vocal time of day is in the morning and you can talk to yourself while you look through all your books for really long streches of time. Those books are still your number one sure fire way to stop you mid-fuss. All I have to say is "vamos a leer un libro (shall we read a book)?" and you stop what you're doing, plop down and wait expectantly for me to start reading you a story. It works just about every time, only when the freak out is too full blown, does a book not calm you down. I must say, I love it.
It was alleged that this month heard you utter your first "real" word- ota. I am still suspicious of this milestone, since you've stopped saying ota when looking at or playing with a ball. You do however know the sign for ball and have used that several times recently, so you definitely know what a pelota is, even if you can't say it. Grandma heard you say lion while pointing at a picture of one in your book, and Ana is convinced that everything you say is your word for something, I guess she's probably right to some extent. You have said "mama" in a very believable way as your father sweeps you away to go to sleep, we've both heard it with our own ears. We aren't sure if it's a clever ploy to torture me, or just the easiest thing to yell with a bicep in your mouth while being rocked to sleep. You haven't ever looked at me and said it, so I'm going with choice b. for now.
But while your "real" words are still ambiguous, your sign language continues to grow. If I were a little more diligent with it, you'd probably know lots more, but I think the signs you have are fun and useful and good enough for now. Your fascination with cars and trucks has now expanded to include airplanes. Whenever we are at the park and a plane goes by, you look up in the sky and point. I often times don't see or hear the plane until much later, but you are signing and smiling once I figure it out and say "avion". That's really the best part of the whole signing thing. I love the look of satisfaction and joy on your face when you see something, tell me about it, and know, really know, that I understand what you are telling me. It's just amazing.
You are still the sweetest, most cheerful and good natured baby around. This past weekend (before the night of the sausage) our friends were all remarking again on what a happy and mild mannered baby you are. I tried to set them straight, but they wouldn't hear a word of my complaints! I have to say I even have to periodically remind myself what it was like those first few months and that you were a real fuss budget until about three or four months when you turned a corner and became the little buddist that you are, because otherwise I'd say "why not have another, or two, or heck why not a half dozen?" Don't worry, that's not going to happen any time soon and if it does happen some day, you'll still be the principe de la casa. Love mama.