Jax is doing all sorts of new things in the last two weeks. I can't keep them all until his eleven month post, because they're piling up on top of each other, discovery upon discovery.
He can crawl backward down stairs. He learned how fun it is to play with mud. He can feed grass to the neighbor's horse. He learned to wave bye-bye and hello. He learned to make kissing sounds by sucking his lips and out. He can put blocks into a single-hole container, and open the door to let the blocks back out at the bottom.
He can sign "all done", and use it in context other than just food, to communicate when he wants something to stop. I haven't personally been teaching him signs, because there are some theories that it can negatively affect a child's speech development. However, my sister Esther, who watches him once a week, has been doing a handful of signs with him (all done, more, water, milk). From just that once-a-week interaction, he's been learning. I am okay with using these few signs, because it's better than having him screech at me when he doesn't like something, or wants something, and I have no clue what he's trying to tell me. Well, usually I can figure it out, but it's amazing how most of the time either "more" or "all done" communicates his need.
He is responding quickly to discipline, and has learned not to bite me (nursing or any other part of my body), not to touch the knobs on the stove, and to hold still while we change his diaper.
He loves to clap his hands when he is happy, (We respond with, "Happy, Happy, Happy!!!") and raise his hands when we say "Praise the Lord." He has even raised his "praise the Lord" hands when he's heard those words in a song, or spoken in a conversation.
That's all I can think of right now, but every week he's learning one or two major new things. It's obvious that we all go from lumpy, crying, pooping infants, to walking, talking, capable adults. But watching that development makes it seem like such a novelty. What delight.
