Eleven Months Old

I can NOT believe that in less than one month Ethan will be a whole year old! WOW! It seems SOOO long ago that we were getting up every couple of hours at night to feed this fragile, delicate newborn. It seems so long ago that all he could do was sleep, eat, and fill his diaper. Now he's like a real person with a personality!
Here are the things I want to remember about Ethan's eleventh month:

• The biggest thing that I've noticed the past month is what a THINKER and OBSERVER Ethan is. He has such a calm personality and prefers to just watch what is going on and take it all in. We were at Sam's yesterday for about an hour and he didn't make a single sound the entire time - he sat in the cart and just looked around at everything. I've also noticed when I read to him lately, I can watch his eyes scan the whole page, trying to take in every little thing in the picture. (of course, none of this applies to the hour that we try to keep him quiet during church - complete opposite!)
• He is more into reading now than ever. He'll sit and listen to me read 10-15 books at a time! It's funny though...he also has preferences. He has his certain 'favorite' books. If I pick up a book that is not on his 'favorite' list, he'll crawl down out of my lap, pilfer through the other books, and look at them quitely while I finish reading that one. When I pick up one of his 'favorites,' he'll start listening again.
• He has preferences when it comes to food, too. The boy LOVES lima beans, peas, and pancakes. We bought a bag of peas/carrots combo from the freezer section - when I give him this, he eats ALL the peas first, then eats the carrots. Cracks me up every time. He still loves to feed himself.
• He all of a sudden loves the car. He is so quiet in the back - sometimes we forget he's back there! He just sits and looks out the window.
• He loves the big bathtub. We finally got rid of the little blue tub and actually let him sit in the tub. He loves playing with all his new toys he got for Christmas. He's even started blowing bubbles in the water (completely unprompted!)
• He loves to flirt (but only with certain people). He was giving Rachel and Curt some serious smiles and giggles this morning at church. But if anyone he doesn't know very well comes up to talk to him, he just stares at them. It's actually really funny. It's not like he has stranger anxiety, because he doesn't turn away and start crying. He looks right in their face and just STARES.
• He's just as fun as ever! We love wrestling with him, playing with his toys with him, reading, singing, playing catch, building blocks, tickling him, and laughing together.
• Basic stuff: two teeth, no new words, cruising, standing, crawling everywhere, not walking yet, sleeping through the night still (except when sick!), drinking from a cup, 21 pounds

Sorry, no pictures. I've noticed with him being sick the last week, I've hardly taken any pictures. I'll need to take a bunch in the next week to make up for it. :)