11.

What the?? How'd we get to that number already? Holy smokes, my baby's nearly one. Time flies a whole lot faster with the third child. In some ways its good. In some ways its heartbreaking. Most of life is like that--bittersweet.

He's been improving his army crawl this month. Which unfortunately means he doesn't really stay in one spot anymore and is joining in the mess making. Although, he'll sit in one spot much longer than his brothers ever did. I would still occasionally keep him in the church service when the nursery was crowded up until a month ago. Definitely could not have done that with Wild Thing #1 and Wild Thing #2!! So I'm still so thankful for his super mellow personality. This was just a few days ago...the first time he had even pulled up to his knees!! Seriously...he is laaaaid baaaaack. (Edit: I just went to get him from his crib where he was playing with toys and crying for me to find him standing!! So he went from knees to feet within just a few days. Big boy! It's so cute when they learn something new)

He's also a sensitive little thing. He always has been, literally from the womb. I remember Bennett & Dawson     startling in the womb from a really loud noise once or twice during my pregnancy. Channing startled in the womb constantly! He's still the jumpiest little thing. He also gets pretty nervous around men who don't "baby talk" at him. He'll just stare them down with a serious expression. Our friend made him cry just the other day just by looking at him too close and talking in a serious voice. I told him he had to baby talk and then Channing loosened up a little :) But he'll give a huge grin to any strange lady who smiles his way! I love shopping alone with him. I always get stopped by sweet old ladies who think he's the cutest thing ever. It never gets old. 

He's sporting quite the mullet these days. His hair is growing fast! Bennett's first haircut wasn't until 2 1/2 and Dawson's wasn't until 16 months. I can never believe how much hair Channing has compared to his brothers. They're all so different. 

Dawson seriously needs a haircut too. Its just a pain to get them in for one! 

I had to stand him up at the window for pictures again since that was the only spot he'd hold still. This photo sesh was a quick one. He's sort of in between sizes right now. I dug in the 12-18 month bin and put that shirt on him, which fit perfectly. Those pants are actually 9mos. He's a solid thing, like his brothers, just short limbed. 

We've conquered The Great Nighttime Battle. So that's over and done with. Since I wrote that post, he cried it out for about an hour and a half the following night. Still brutal, just not as hard as the first time. Its been several nights since then and he hasn't woken up! Big relief. His naps are still a bit of a struggle. Some days he does great with two if I wake him from his first one early but other days that backfires and he won't fall asleep for the second and ends up cranky all afternoon/evening. Its hit or miss. It will be kind of nice when he's down to just one. He's just still really tired an hour after he wakes up every morning. 

Like his brothers, he loves the bathtub. I can't resist a good mohawk. The only time I really get to have fun playing with their hair :) 

This video is from a couple weeks ago:

And yesterday we gave him his first pickle hoping to get some funny faces out of him. Instead he wanted to eat the whole thing:

Only one more of these monthly posts. Really hard to believe. But Jon and I remember so well that phase when Bennett was between about 12 and 20 months. It was our absolute favorite. We didn't experience that with Dawson because he spent at least half his days crying during those months and it was a very rough time for us. So we're looking forward to it with Channing, when he'll start saying words and doing funny tricks. I've been practicing the signs for "more" and "all done" for about two months now. He definitely understands them and smiles big and gets excited when I sign "more". He'll let me guide his hands too. He just started giving kisses when I ask although he won't perform for Daddy when I tell him to :) Love this sweet little man.