What’s new now…

He took 3 steps on Sunday and 1 step yesterday! A first for him. He does great standing on his own so I think he is pretty close to going all the way.

Monkey see, monkey do…this goes for speaking too. He has become a little copycat and will mimic sounds and tries with some words. First word was ‘ball’ but he also tries to say ‘hello’. Mama and Dada are in there too but I don’t think he associates those words with us quite yet. I think he says ‘more’ and ‘bah’ means a lot of things but especially ‘up’. He will also say ‘bye’ when daddy leaves in the morning or if I tell him we are going bye-bye. And as of Sunday, daddy taught him hi-yah, hand chopping motion included. What’s really funny is he ‘chops’ himself. Oh and I can’t forget the barking…woof woof is universal for dogs, birds, cars and any other sound he hears outside.

He is still our snuggle boy and loves to hug on anything soft like a stuffed animal. His stuffed puppies and monkeys are current favorites. He has also hugged his milk cup so I guess it’s not all squishy things. Hugging is accompanied by a ‘mmmming’ sound that melts my heart.

Wrestling with daddy before and after dinner is a new thing. He has to get on the couch and do tumbles and anything crazy daddy will do. I try to vacate the area. He still doesn’t understand edges and that he can fall off so there is no fear with him.

We are down to one nursing at night (yay!) and he eats 3 good size meals a day and as many snacks as I will let him have. Mum mums and puffs are still high on his list but I usually save those for car and grocery store trips. He switched from goats milk to cow milk with no problem and barely used a sippy cup. We pretty much went right to straws back in December. He is also pretty good with a fork and we try to practice a lot.

We have outside play time almost everyday. He loves it and will try to escape whenever we open the back door. He gets pretty upset if his attempt fails. When we are outside he usually works on relocating the dirt from my gardens, eating dirt, exploring what he can and pulling leaves off plants before I can stop him. Every trip outside usually requires a mini bath in the sink.

We’ve also made teeth brushing a part of his bedtime routine and he loves it. He starts laughing at himself and I am not sure why. It just cracks me up.

Making dinner has become difficult because he wants to see what I am doing. Sometimes I let him stand next to me on a chair and watch which usually means grab whatever I see. I can’t do that all the time though because he doesn’t understand knives yet. Oh and another word he knows…hot. He puts his hand out towards the stove and says ‘hot’, especially when he sees steam. He also does this towards the vacuum. I’ve let him play at the kitchen sink with water and random kitchen stuff. He loves that and gets quite upset when that game is over. I may have to transition that game to the back porch with a bucket or something. He has also become James’ coffee apprentice in the mornings. James will hold him while he grinds coffee and makes it in the Chemex. If William hears the grinder from his crib in the morning, he is instantly ready to get up and hurry downstairs. Now I just need William to get better at it so he can take over when James is out of town. Need my coffee!

Have I forgotten anything? He seems to be doing something new all the time and changing. You can almost watch his brain learn something new. Speaking of learning, Baby Einstein videos are a huge hit with him. There is a 30 minute one that he pretty much watches start to finish. I will hear him trying to repeat the numbers or call the apples ball. It’s so cute…he will hang onto the credenza and stare at the tv for most of it, usually with a bit of dancing too. I try to limit these to once or twice a week and only when I am really desperate to get dinner made.

I could go on and on, especially about the silly faces he makes or the way he crawls in slow motion sometimes or tries to blow ceiling fans and any plants or flowers he sees…he is too much. Even on the rough days I still want to wake him up and hug him. I look at photos and videos of him instead. What an amazing and special little boy we have!

All photos were taken a few days after his 1st birthday.