Dear Owen: 11 months

Dear Oboe,

You little stinker!  You steal my writing time by calling for me before I'm ready to go to bed so I'll have to make this short and sweet...

You are a joy.  So snuggly that I still don't mind you in our bed one bit.

We call you 'baby monster' and 'baby menace' because that's just what you are.  You love making a dash for the bathroom when you find the door open; you go for everything you're not supposed to have when you see it within reach; you follow Bobby around trying to steal all his toys.  You climb up the two stairs going up from our kitchen, and you can climb onto Bobby's bed; you love to get up there and get his blankie and suckie, but you don't really care for your own.  You can climb onto the couch when Bob takes a cushion off, which he likes to do; tonight you were over to the couch, up, and darting across for a glass of water on the end table you'd had your eye on -- within seconds of Bob pulling the cushion down.  Baby monster.

As much as you sometimes irritate him, Bobby loves you more than anything.  He tells me how cute you are, he tackles you with hugs, he brings you toys, he runs to you for comfort when he's mad at me or dad.  And you love him like crazy right back.  You grab his hair and pat his head and chase and copy him.  I have a feeling you two are about to become quite a dangerous duo.

You love to bounce in your 'johnny jump up' -- more often you run in circles like a madman.  It makes you really happy.  And it makes us really happy because it's hilarious.

You push the tricycle and scoot n zoom all over the house, on foot or on knee.

You love to take off as soon as I take off your diaper.

You're really funny with toys, particularly trucks and motorcycles and guys.  You seem to already know how to pretend with them.  Phones you put to your ear and repeat "dada!" like you've been talking on a cell all your life.  You've got quite a cute little baby babble going these days.

You poor thing -- you fight sleep so hard in the morning that you often fall asleep in your high chair at lunch.  Once I left you watching tv with bob while I sent a couple of emails and when I came back ten minutes later you were asleep on the floor.

You like to get all kinds of sounds going around here at once.  The other day you turned on the Christmas house music, then went into the playroom and turned on the keyboard and started up the demo, came back to the woofer guitar and started strumming away.  Sorry, bud.  Mama can't handle that.  I turned them all off.

I love you all times of day but one of my favorites is the morning.  You make the every best alarm clock because you are so darn happy when you wake up.  You just sit up next to me and grin.  You flap your arms and bounce your bum on the bed and pant like an excited little puppy.  Then when you really want me to wake up you pat my face and kiss my face and yell.  On weekdays dad's already off at work, but on weekends he too gets the royal awakening.  We love it.

There's so much more to say because you're becoming more YOU every day.

But for tonight, goodnight, my sweet little eleven month old.  You have made this year very, very special for all of us.

xoxo,

your mom.