My baby doesn't bite me

He gnaws. He clamps his go-go-gadget chompers on to my milk giving flesh, and he gnaws. He's got such a stong suction latch and such gigantic front teeth ... Ouch. Like I said, he doesn't bite on purpose. He just gets so into the goods that it really starts to pinch. As he's only a few weeks away from one year, I think I'm ready to start weaning. He drinks like a pro from a staw so I don't expect it will be very hard to get him onto cow's milk. I do need to get more creative and find some finger foods that he enjoys. He doesn't much like to be spoon-fed. Oh goody, he's discovering his independance!

Did you know that the King of Independance himself lives in our house. Max. Sheesh. When I'm not exceedingly frustrated, he really cracks me up. He wants to do things himself so much that he'll go and 're-do' something. Example: If I'm holding his hand, encouraging him down the hallway to go to bed, he'll suddenly decide he wants to do it alllll by himself. He'll let go of my hand and then go back to the start of the hallway to do it again. "No Mommy, me do it!" If I close a door and he wanted to do it, he'll open the door and then close it again. It's also becoming increasingly clear that we need to start figuring out how to teach him not to interrupt when we're on the phone or talking to someone in person. The whining. Oh, the whining if he doesn't get something he wants, wants, wants! We're not at the "why" stage yet, but "What's that, Mommy?" is repeated a hundred times a day. I constantly need to remind myself that all his question pestering asking is a GOOD thing. We certainly don't want to discourage his questions but he's so demanding for an answer. Even when we answer his question, sometimes he's still not satisfied. The worst is when we're driving and he spots something that I don't, and then freaks out when I can't tell him what it was. It's kind of frustsrating because so often he knows what something is but still asks anyways. We're trying to teach him to think for himself a little more. Oh, and think for himself - he does! He's becoming quite an opportunist when I'm occupied with Marty or in the shower. He comes to close the door and then expresses his independance as he has free reign of the house! He usually goes for the coffee maker or the tin foil and plastic wrap boxes. The forbidden! Another new thing he says that is usually pretty cute is "Hear me?"

I love my boys. Here's a little cuteness to show you why it's all worth it ...

His Padraigs are still quite big but he didn't seem to mind.
Just having a little snooze.
Whenever Paul's using a noisy tool, Max runs to the kitchen to get his protective earwear.
Marty's feverish days. Both these times he slept at least 2 hours snuggled up with me.
As soon as I brought the Ergo up around his back, he snuggled in to go to sleep.