Ash - 13 mos

Another month has flown by and now I am 13 months old.  Momma weighed me at night after dinner and I weighed a whopping 18.2 lbs, which puts me back on the charts at 1%.  Haha.  I've grown about another quarter of an inch, but she wasn't very precise in her measurements with that.  I'm definitely a busy little boy, though, as you can see from the pictures of me NOT sitting still for pictures with Superbear :)

On my birthday I was sick and actually went to the doctor to see if I had an ear infection.  I didn't, thankfully; I just like to play with my ears when I'm tired or not feeling well.  But you can see from this picture of me trying my first cupcake that I was miserable that day.  We ended up postponing my party till about a week and a half after my actual birthday so that I could be healthy and enjoy it all.

 

It was a great party with almost all my friends in attendance, lots of new books and toys, and yummy snacks and cake.  We had carrot cake for my birthday and I enjoyed it, but nothing can top berries - my favorite!

I've been trying lots of new things this month.  I've been learning how to eat with my own fork and spoon.  I'm a long way from a pro, but it's fun to try and I do actually get most of the food to my mouth eventually.  Of course, I still help out with my fingers some too.  I also have started getting bigger pieces of food, and even a whole pear once.  After I ate it all, including the core, momma stopped letting me have them whole.  My digestive system has also developed to handle more acidic foods, so I've gotten to have "oranges" (cuties) and strawberries and even some tomato sauce on my noodles.  I still can't handle dairy quite yet, but I LOVED yogurt and can't wait to go back to eating it again when I can digest it well.

I've been a busy little boy, crawling all over everything and up & down the stairs.  I've been practicing walking with my walker or holding onto momma's hands.  We walk to get the mail some days, which is a big walk for me.  Down the steep driveway, up the hill to the box, and then back down the hill and up the driveway back home.  I still can't walk independently and don't do very well with only one hand to hold, but I'm practicing every day so pretty soon you won't even remember me before I could walk.

Osh Kosh B'Gosh is hilarious!

I had my first snow experience this month.  Momma bundled me up in a jacket AND a snow suit to go out in the cold.  It took longer to get dressed and ready than the amount of time we spent out in the snow.  It was so cold it hurt my hands, and I started to cry to go back in and get warm.  But that white stuff sure is fascinating if only it wasn't so cold to hold.

And I went to the dentist for the first time, too.  There's a blurry picture of me playing on the ball-chairs in the waiting room.  I LOVE balls and have never had a chair my size to sit in, so it was a blast.  I did a good job sitting still for the dentist too, and showed him my teeth.  I have 7 in now, with #8 pushing right at the surface.  I've also got some molars pushing against the gums, but nowhere near breaking through yet.  I enjoy our daily routine of brushing teeth and hope to continue having easy checkups for years to come.

I mentioned I haven't started walking yet, but that's because I am SO busy learning words.  My doctor was so impressed with my verbal skills @ my 12 mo appt, she told momma to make a list of all the words I had just to see how many and have record of what they are.  Momma spent a day jotting down all the words she could think of that I say and passed 100 words in no time.  At 12 mos I was supposed to have at least THREE.  Three words!?  I have more words than that in the first 5 minutes I'm awake!  My favorite thing to do is still reading books, and usually entertain myself while momma's cooking breakfast by reading library books on my own.  We read books at every nap and bedtime, plus most afternoons/evenings too, and we go to the library every week.  I even started going to toddler story time (I'm too old for baby story time even though I'm not walking yet).  Momma's also teaching me signs for a lot of words and I love learning those too.  Here's a picture of me talking about the flash on momma's new camera : "light" with the sign to go with it.

Momma was playing with her new camera and the settings on it, so the color is a little off in these pictures, but she thought you might enjoy them anyway.  This is a picture of me getting to eat some chocolate graham crackers - my first chocolate experience.

Books with daddy before bedtime

Well, that's about it.  I'd better let you go b/c I've got things to explore and books to read.  I'll check back in next month! :)