DJ is somehow 11 months old

I can't believe I am writing DJ's 11 month post. He'll be one before I know what happened, and the next thing you know, he'll be graduated from high school. Sigh!

• DJ didn't grow a ton, and in fact, lost some weight this month, but he made a lot of physical progress this month. He can now pull himself to stand by holding on to just about anything. And then he figured out how to get back down. Then he figured out how to walk holding on to stuff. He has a push toy that he uses to cruise around when holding on to the furniture is just too boring. And one day, he even used a kitchen chair as a pushing walk toy. It's a matter of time before he's waking solo, folks! And the sheer amount of movement makes me less than worried about him losing a few ounces. That kid never holds still, and it's adorable.
• He also figured out how to crawl on his hands and knees rather than doing the army crawl. He's super fast at it and is just all over the place.
• He can climb all the stairs and can do it before you know what's going on. One day, I ran upstairs to get some nail clippers, and when I came around the corner, he was halfway up the stairs! We had to get a new baby gate that is anchored into the wall (he knocked down the removable one on himself more than once). That kid!
• He loves to talk, and babbles using a variety of consonants and vowels. It sounds like baby sentences, and it's so cute! He still likes to go to sleep by saying "auhhhhhh" loudly and many times before he konks out. Plus, he's started to say "es" for yes and "is" for this, so that's super awesome.
• He has two new teeth. That one on the bottom decided to chill for awhile, but his top two teeth have ruptured through. They're just barely through so it's hard to see them, but if he nips you, you can definitely tell they're there.
• Climbing is now a thing. Whether it's out of my arms, across any obstacle on the floor, out of the shopping cart, or out of his high chair, he is up and out! Seriously, I need baby safe duct tape for meal time.
• He's figured out how to get into all of his snack containers and loves the independence of being in charge of that. It's an absolute mess, but it's so fun for him.
• He thinks wrestling with Dad is awesome. He growls, pounces, tackles, and then laughs really hard. So cute.
• He has some serious dance moves. He likes to shake his head really fast, wave his arms, and drop that booty. And it doesn't matter the song - he's done it for everything from a techno jam to the sacrament hymn. At least it entertains everyone around us! Seriously, I'm going to have to film it and post a video. 
• With all the learning and growing, sleep has struggled. He's gotten better the last few days, but it's been rough, especially when the teeth got involved. Woof!
• He thinks that stroller rides after dinner are pretty much the greatest thing ever. And he likes to ride with his feet propped up on the tray in front of him. Seriously, it's gotta be more than a 90 degree angle, but he likes it, so go for it, man!
• He is getting really good at following directions. Ok let me rephrase: when he feels like it, he's good at following directions. He will clap, shake hands, wave (for him, this means pointing), snuggle, give kisses, share his food, crawl over to you, pick something up, kick his feet, hide, hand us things, and occasionally, respond appropriately to the word no (which is a skill I hope he has at 13). It's so fun to be able to interact with him more and more everyday.