Home from Ohio...almost 49 weeks old!

We are back home from a great trip to Ohio. We were gone about a week and a half. Will did great traveling. He would take a nap, then wake up and play a little while we were driving. He also did really well sleeping in his pack and play in the hotel and at Gammy and Papa's house. He warmed right up to everyone and seemed to enjoy playing with all of the family. Will really liked watching and playing with Gammy and Papa's cats! I will do a separate vacation post with pictures soon.
William will turn 49 weeks old tomorrow. He turned 11 months old last Monday (May 19) while we were in Ohio. I really can't believe that my baby is almost a year old. It doesn't seem possible!
While we were in Ohio Will really took off with walking. He rarely crawls now. If he falls down, he will stand back up and take off walking again. He is learning that he can walk almost as fast as he can crawl!
Will is doing really well with eating "real" food. He is starting to not want baby food as much and is starting to taste anything that is put on his tray. He doesn't like everything, but at least he tries it. His favorite food is still cheese. He loves string cheese (torn into little pieces). He also got animal crackers for the first time on Saturday (May 24). I had taken him to Kroger to pick up a couple of things and got him one of the little boxes of animal crackers. He held it all through the store and was so excited by it. As soon as we got home, we had snack time and he tried the crackers. He really seemed to like them. He also has learned to drink from a juice box. We had bought little juice boxes to take with us to Ohio and had been pouring them in his cup. Thursday (May 22), on the way home, I decided to let him try to drink from the straw. At first, I was squeezing the straw and letting the juice just go into his mouth. It only took him a few minutes to figure out what to do and now he can drink from the straw. It is so cute to watch him drink from the little box. One of us has to hold it for him, of course!
Will has also started "singing" a lot. He will sometimes lay in his crib and sing in the morning. He also sings occasionally when he is being rocked to sleep. When my parents were visiting, he sang in church while my mom was holding him. It is so sweet to listen to him. You can't pick out any words, but you can tell that he isn't talking, he is singing.
Will still is trying very hard to talk. He still loves to walk around saying "da-da-da." He has now started to do the same thing with "momma." Yay! He also likes to say "cool." We aren't sure where he picked that one up, but he actually uses it correctly. It is very funny when he points to something and says "cool."
Here are a few recent pictures. The first picture is Will and me with my Mother's Day flower that they gave out at church.

Will playing with his stacking rings. They were an early birthday present from Great Aunt Sonnie and Great Uncle Bill.

Enjoying animal crackers for the first time! Yummy...