11 Month Birthday.

Asher celebrated his 11th month birthday last Monday and now we're down to the last stretch of his first year.

It's been almost a year since Asher first saw the world and now, just a few weeks or days ahead, he'll soon be officially a toddler.

And so before I do a little cleanup on my desk and discard the insurance quotes that pile my drawers, let me run through the things that are remarkable about Asher's 11th month: milestones, other "firsts" and other worth noting events on the month of January.

* Learned how to climb and get/slide off the sofa or bed.
* Four teeth with one currently erupting.
* He can now stand with less support. He's now even able to stand on his own holding on to nothing for about five seconds, then either slumps down or extends arms and rushes towards whosoever is near. First time he did this was on January 13.
* Cruises a lot around the house. Super likot.
* Coins the following words to the respective things/persons/actions descriminately:
"Mama" - to Mommy
"Ad-di" - to Daddy
"Baba" - if he wants to get off from being carried
"Dede" - if he wants to nurse
"Yayay" - his nanny
"Mum-mum" - water
"Wa" - Lola
"Bu" - the bee and butterfly magnets on the ref
* Waves his hands (as if waving hello) or wards off things to signify resistance (like if he's done eating)
* He starts associating a certain thing with a particular action, like when he stumbled upon his bib while playing, he munched as if chewing something. He knows that he uses his bib when he's eating.
* To recap, here are the things he can expertly do/recognize when asked:
People: "Where's Lolo, Lola, Mommy, Daddy, Tito, Tita, Yayay, Kylie?"
Pets: "Where's Jumong, Margie?" (my in-laws' dog and cat)
Body parts: "Where's your head?" (Hits head several times), "Where's your tongue?" (opens wide mouth), "Where's your birdie?" (Touches his little thing down there).
Toys: "Where's Nemo?" and "Where's Barney?"
Self: "Where's Asher?" (Looks up at the hanging calendar that has his picture)
Jesus: "Where's Papa Jesus?" (Looks up at the framed Sacred Heart of Jesus pic in our bedroom at Frisco)
Others: Moon, Light
* Close-open
* Waves hello and bye-bye
* Can kiss cheeks of Mommy, Daddy, Lolo and Lola
* Puts hands on the ear as if he's talking over the phone when he hears the word "Hello Lolo" or when he sees someone using the phone or when the phone rings and no one's answering.
* Seemingly count fingers when he hears "Count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5"...then claps afterwards.
* Marvels and looks outside the window when he hears the Cornetto's Jingle from the roving ice cream cart.
* Eats almost everything that we eat during meal times especially home cooked soup dishes: nilaga, sinigang, malunggay, tinola, fried fish, lugaw, etc (only I grind them a bit using the blender making it lumpier and easier for him to chew and swallow).
* First time to meet ever Lolo Raffy (my dad) who's on vacation break from Saudi work
* Attended Tita Lei's wedding