Vroom

I've mentioned a time or two that Sal has an affection for all things car related, and has even started making car sounds.

We love it.



(Note: turn the volume up)

It's really neat to watch him develop an imagnation--or at least we would like to think that's what's happening, as he spends up to an hour racing them back and forth, and up and down the sofa.

ELEVEN months

I can not believe that Sal is only a month away from his first birthday. Part of me wants him to stay a baby forever, and the other part of me can't wait to watch him develop into a little man with opinions & likes all his own.

Showing his personality..
Mama, I want to be outside with you!!! Why you lock me in here?

He has started showing little signs of his individuality this past month. He has never been a pacifier kid, or very attached to anything for more than a day or two at a time. However, we are seeing signs of favorite toys--he digs in his toy basket for them and plays with them above and beyond all others.

His favorite toy?

Trucks.

We also think that one of his words might actually be "truck".

Or, it could be "fuuuu--fillintheblank"...



Vroooooom goes the fuhk tuhk.

..we're going with "truck" since he is head-over-heels for anything with four wheels these days. He drives his trucks across the floors, over the coffee table, and our sofa making  little spitting raspberry vroooom noises.  

He has a best big buddy here that he tries his darnedest to keep up with. Both boys share a love of trucks and other four-wheeled-vehicles, and I love watching them interact with one another.

 

Sal has also taken a liking to a particular blanket that his auntie Charlee made for him. It's got minky dots on one side, and plaid on the other ( I take his monthly pictures on it/with it). I started hanging it on the side of his crib when December 1st rolled around because I thought it made his room more Christmasy to have a white cuddly blanket hanging on his crib to go with his red and white sheets. Well, he pulled it down one day during nap, and now it lives IN his crib. He grabs it as soon as we lay him down, and cuddles with it.



"the" blanket.



So darn cute and innocent.

Bedtimes have improved since last month. The 10:00p waking still occurs from time to time, but he seems to put himself back to sleep MOST of the time--It's about time. NZ and I have actually gotten to sleep through the night on a regular basis. I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a good night's sleep.  

Mama, please tell them how much I enjoy smearing myself with eating beans.
 

Our little man still loves goldfish  crackers, apple slices, green beans and meatballs. He prefers to feed himself, so I've been trying to make everything "finger friendly" that I can. He's got great dexterity, and has outsmarted our attempts of placing vegetables under a goldfish in hopes that he will swoop in for a handful. He is able to perform surgery to get his goldfish free.

Our ayi brought us a load of fruit last week, which included some fruits I wouldn't typically buy, and he liked them both. One of them is a dragon fruit, white fleshy inside with little black seeds...he loves them, but I'm gonna have to remember them as a great natural remedy if he ever gets constipated. We'll have to limit the amount of dragon fruit consumption from here on out after a couple near blow-outs.



A & Sal. Notice a trend here?
 Lots of stroller rides together.

The colder weather has limited our outings to Starbucks, indoor malls and friend's homes. We usually walk to the vegetable market once or twice a week, and on a quick errand or two on our own. Sal's great grandma gifted him a "footmuff" for our Quinny stroller, and he LOVES riding all cocooned up in it.



Mama,  I move this chair to your bedroom, okay?

He has thought about taking unassisted steps, but has yet to do so. He's a speed demon around the house pushing furniture to-and-fro, and his furniture pushing has evolved from dining room chairs to our sofa. He does balance checks every now and then--so someday soon, I'll be posting videos of my son walking like he's the only kid ever to walk in history.

Finally sitting still for a picture

Happy ELEVEN months Salvatore!

Technically Speaking

I have to use a disclaimer before I start this blog...before you all start reading and getting all " I thought she wasn't buying anything for the baby until her 30 week mark..cause of her silly little rule" on me, I technically haven't bought anything for the boy, yet.

You see, we have a couple of family members also due in late 2011. I've had the itch to make something baby-ish for the past week or so. But, I kept going back and forth with whether I really wanted to cross into the all consuming and ever so adorable blogs full of baby project temptation. A few nights ago, my curiosity got the best of me. I found myself bookmarking ideas left and right, not to mention I spent an hour or so over on pinterest pinning even more craft-worthy projects.

And I found it. A project. A gift-able project.

All it required was a onesie and a printed image onto my iron-on paper.

I could do this.

Even, better? I could do this without stepping foot in a baby store, thus side-stepping temptation to buy anything for our boy.

I dug into the box of girl clothes I can finally let go of, and I just so happened to have saved a 5 pack of white onesies.

So, I got all creative and went to town printing fun images from the computer ( most royalty free, however, there are two sporting team logos that I recreated myself). I used my silhouette machine to mirror the images so that the writing would read the correct direction once ironed on, cut around each printed image, and within minutes of my time with the iron, I had five completed onesies to gift-away.

Okay, so I made ONE onesie as a gift ( and can't post it till the recipient receives it, because if I posted it, it's a dead giveaway who it was made for, this ruining the surprise!), and might just have made the other FOUR for the boy.

But, technically speaking, I still haven't bought anything, therefore, I have not yet broken my self imposed silly rule. I know that no one care about it except for me, but I am afraid of jinxing our luck with this pregnancy if I get ahead of myself and start buying things.

Sheesh, all that just to show you what I've made...Anyone want to spend a day in my head? It's fun, I tell ya.

Without further adieu, here they are...

[Go Steelers! Got pop's college football number on the sleeve]

[ fit for a son that is the same % Italian as mom & pop]

[ Sharing mom & pop's love affair with the Chevy K5 Blazer]

[ His roots]

So, that's it! It's an easy, easy beginner project for those of you that have showers to attend. A pack of onesies generally costs between $9 and $12. Just be sure to wash them with a dye free detergent before applying images.