Mark is 11 months old

Mark turned 11 months on the 16th of October. He is now crawling up on his knees, but if he wants to get somewhere fast he will do his army crawl. Mark is now pulling himself up on everything even the wall. At 10 months old he had no desire to even try to pull himself up on things. I was getting concerned, so I bought him a sit-to-stand-walker to help him to walk and I was hoping that it would help him to try to stand too. Mark has to have something that intrigues him otherwise he won’t try and he will cry if I try to help him. He loves this toy walker because it has so many things to play with and music to listen to. Then a week later he pulled himself up on the toy walker while I was watching him. Then a couple days later he pulled himself up in his crib (I got it on video). Now he is pulling himself up on everything with no fear. Mark was the same way with rolling over. He was 6 months old and had rolled over maybe a couple times but then wouldn't do it anymore. He hated to be on his tummy, he would just cry and cry. I started tummy time early with him and at 6 months he still hated tummy time.  So I went online to find some answers and there was someone that said that her son was the same way so she bought this surfboard tummy mat and within weeks he was rolling over.  So I bought this mat to see if it would help Mark. He loved it because he wasn't flat on his stomach and it had toys and fish to play with. After 2 weeks (7 months old) he was rolling over everywhere. It took him longer to get him to crawl on his knees because there wasn't a toy or something to intrigue Mark to learn how to crawl. I would work so much with him and he would just cry. He hated to be up on his knees, but now at 11 months he is crawling. Mark is such a fighter. He fights me with everything. He has to want to do something or he won’t.  He fights me when I put him in his high chair, car seat, shopping cart and stroller. He fights me when I change his diaper and his clothes. He is so strong willed. Mark needs something that grabs his attention or he will fight and he can fight. So I give him a toy or something that he can play with and then he will work with me (but it has to be something that he hasn't studied in a while or at all). I know that these strong willed spirits can do so much good in life if you can just get them on the right path. Mark is a smart boy; you just have to find what works for him. He keeps me searching and thinking to figure out how I can help him to learn and grow. I just love this little boy; he keeps me learning new things.

 Mark's favorite toy is his cowboy rubber ducky bath toy. He takes it with him as he army crawls around the house.

This surfboard mat that came with toys helped Mark to learn to roll over and to enjoy being on his tummy.

This walker helped him to start pulling himself up on things and hopefully it will help him to start walking.

This walker has music so Mark will stop walking and dance to the music while holding on. It is so cute!

      

 He is pulling himself up on everything

Mark's top 3 teeth are coming in at the same time.

 He likes to read his books.

 My friend whose husband use to be in Bret's class has a girl a month an half older than Mark. They live close to us on base. Bret was working & Mark loves to get out so I went with her to annual church carnival fundraiser. The money goes to help a orphanage. It was fun and Mark loved it. 

 They had free hot air balloon rides, but we got in line to late and they stopped when it got dark. They don't go very high. I think that Mark would of liked it.