One-and-a-Half Years

How could it be that that a year and a half has passed since you were born? Your daddy and I agree that it's hard to remember a time that you weren't a part of our lives. I guess everything pales in comparison to you.



Vibrant is possibly one of the best words to describe you in fact.
Every range of emotion you express with gusto from pride in a new skill learned, excitement and joy to be starting each and every day, anger from not being able to do what you want- you clearly let us (and everyone else around) know how you feel.



You are 33" tall which puts you in the 72nd percentile and weight 24 pounds 10oz, 34%.



At 18 months old, you have lots of interests and activities, here are a few:
Puzzles, trains, cars, trucks ("vrmm vrmm vrmm"), stacking (and knocking down blocks), walking Molly, playing with friends, swimming, and ducks-oh your LOVE of ducks.


You love to eat: Spinach, grapefruit and ice cream are your favorite foods. You are willing to try most things and I am very proud of your palate and fruit and veggie intake. The other night you had a spear of asparagus in each hand alternating bites and smiling in between saying, "mmmmm."



You always give a squeal of delight when we bring you something "yummy, yummy, yummy" to eat, and have even tried sushi.


Adventurous within reason...
You love to climb, on top of any table (which doesn't go too well at the library), up ladders and of course into your parents or grandparents laps. I'm grateful that you are more than willing to hold our hands while going for walks and when we get out of the car. Sometimes you are ready to go go go a little faster than me, I'm sure that will never change. You'll hold on tight in a new situation or when things get a little crazy. There is no doubt you are all boy, but I'm glad sometimes you are a tad cautious. As Grandpa says to you all day long - DANGER, DANGER.



At your 18th month well visit, your doctor commented on how confident you are-which is really neat and probably an inherited trait from your momma and daddy. You're also very vocal-saying more than 30 words and phrases. Momma and duck are the most used and abused words in your vocabulary. I'm typically always by your side, and you like to have as much of my attention as possible, Mom, Momma, Mom Mom Mom - I have to say, it never gets old. It amazes me how you can find a duck in just about any book we read, any room we are in or just about anywhere we go.


Just because I've kept track, here are some of your words: Mom, Momma, Dad, Dadda, Josh, Hi, Hi Josh, Hi__, bye, bye bye, Beau, Ball, Gaga (Grandma's go to name), Quack, Uh Oh, Hello, good bye, good night, Poppa, Goonpa (Grandpa), Nannie, Duck, No, Hat, Hot, Yummy, Bird, Llama, Yes, Blue, Leg, Ohoh Ahah (monkey sound),
You can identify most spots on your body: I love that you lift up your shirt to show us your belly button when we ask where it is and sometimes get ears and eyes confused.



Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is your favorite song. Even if you are busy climbing on a table, rocking in the rocking chair or all the way across the room at storytime, Twinkle Twinkle gets your attention and you get on the floor and do all the sign language with the song.


Reading is back to being one of your favorite things to do (there was a 3 month book throwing phase that was resolved by the old standby "Where is Baby's Pumpkin" we read a lot about trick-or-treating this summer. 'Twas the Night before Kickoff is your favorite book now. We spend a lot of time reading lots of books everyday, and you've begun to occupy yourself by flipping through books on your own (happily spotting ducks amongst the pages).



To this day I get stopped in the store and receive many comments about how happy you are. I'm so glad you are so happy and filled with such joy. A hug from you usually means both you and your little friend end up on the floor. I cherish every moment spent with you. Without a doubt my life has been changed for the better, been given more meaning and blessed beyond measure because you are in it. If this is how good the first year and a half is, I can't wait for the rest, you truly are THE BEST!

Love always,

Your Mommy

12 Months

Well buddy, it looks like we made it through our first year.

You've blessed our lives beyond anything we could have imagined.

You've been our sweet baby boy for 11 months and at about 11 months and 1 day a flip switched and you because a rough and tumble little boy.  You still have your tender moments where you will lay your head on my chest or sit still next to me for 10 seconds, but all 86390 other seconds in the day you GO GO GO!

It seems the very day your first teeth -your top and bottom right- came in, you decided to start to crawl instead of worm across the room.  Up and down the stairs, throwing and chasing balls, opening and closing doors and drawers and the pots and pans, oh you love to clang those pots and pans.  I can hardly keep up with you.

I've learned the hard way to keep all toilet seats down and bathroom doors closed.  I know if I don't hear you pitter-pattering around on the floor you are throwing something into the toilet or trying to figure out how to.  I've rescued many balls from each of our bathrooms.

I sometimes convince you to read books with me, although you REALLY prefer to sit and read to yourself - ha!  You love your Winne the Pooh book, the Hungry Caterpillar, and Oh Dinosaurs!  On days I can get you to sit still we will read at least 20 books.  Always the Going to Bed Book and Llama Llama nighty night before bed.

You are more than happy to show us where your head is, clap your hands, high 5 and laugh and laugh and laugh.  You are very musical, we can thank Miss Maddie your music teacher for that.  I just love it when you join in song with me.  Your favorites include the Hello song from music together, Snuggle Puppy, This Little Light of Mine and You are my Sunshine, which is our naptime and bedtime song.

Speaking of naps you take two a day and sleep through the night *most of the time*  You nurse first thing in the morning, before each of your naps and before bed.  You love to drink water out of your sippy cups and eat eat eat.  I'm very proud of the healthy eating habits we've developed with you.  

For breakfast you typically have half a whole wheat mini bagel and a banana or blueberry waffle.  Lunch hummus, pastas, beans rice, curries-you love Indian food, veggies, yogurt and apple sauce - not all of this at once.  I try to make dinners that you can enjoy with us.  You gobble up broccoli, green beans, peppers, raviolis and love to feed yourself with a fork.  Cheese and mum mums are just about your favorite thing ever.  I can't let you see cheese or you will going on an eating strike and won't touch anything but your organic colby jack!  While you will demolish just about any vegetable you prefer fruits in puree form, and other than bananas, will just spit about every fruit out of your mouth.  I also have a very strong suspicious that you are allergic to strawberries.  Which resulted in your bum, back and legs being covered in it's first and very ferocious diaper rash that has lasted most of the month.

We go in the indoor baby gym just about every afternoon because neither one of us likes to be at home from 4-5pm.  You're taking Music and Movement Class, Swim Lessons and go to Mother Goose Rhyme time at the library.

Your partners in crime include Jack, Lincoln, Avery, Ellie and Sophia.  We won't tell Sophia's daddy you put your arm around her at her brothers birthday...

We had a few firsts this month, first snow flakes falling on your head, first times crawling up and down the stairs, lots of new foods (mac and cheese - yeah).

This month we also took you to buy your first pair of tennis shoes.  Of course your feet were too large for the pre-walkers, so we left stride right with size 4.5 wide stage 2 sneakers.

It was however your third haircut!

You're weighing in at 22 pounds 2 ounces - 65th percentile,  are 31 and a quarter inches tall 90th percentile. 
You wear 12 month clothing and size four diapers. Growing, growing, growing...

You love balloons and Elmo, so I couldn't help but get you a birthday balloon at the store!

It amazes me how that little ball of a baby we carried home from the hospital has developed into a fun loving, always moving, laughing and singing lightning bolt.  Your smile is contagious and you love to be around people.  I'm so very glad you are mine to love and hold, help grow, have fun with, sing songs to, tickle and laugh with.  We love our little coo, and are excited to see what the next year will bring!

7 Months

We spent the majority of your 6th month in Florida and you loved every second of it. We had so much fun meeting all your friends at lots of playdates. And your grandparents and great grandmother were just over the moon to spend time with you.

It made me feel even luckier to get to spend all my days with you.

Everyday I am astonished at how fast you are growing. It blows my mind seeing you develop and learn how to do new things everyday!

At 7 months you are 29.5 inches tall which puts you in the 98th percentile for height and weigh in at 19.5 pounds 66th percentile for weight. You wear a size three diaper and 6-9 month clothing.
We had you on the go while we were in Florida. You took your naps in the car, your pack n play and slept in a few beds with us. Guess where the only place you want to sleep now is? Right between mommy and daddy! While we didn't bring our video monitor, we went to get a radio monitor our second night there. Even with your white noise machine, we quickly learned you needed to be far away from noise and light to sleep though the night.

I think all the changes of scenery upset your routine a little bit and you have started to cry for comfort during the night instead of soothing yourself back to sleep. We haven't made it through a night yet that you haven't beckoned us to your crib in the wee hours for a little back rub and pacifier replacement. We also think you sometimes get startled because you've gone from a side sleeper to a tummy sleeper.

When you wake up you must think, hey, how did I get here, someone help roll me over! Your daddy and I are happy to ablidge, and hope you feel more comfortable and safe now that you are back in your own crib.

You are becoming more and more aware - aware of sounds that go on outside your room, and want to be part of the action - aware of molly, aware of the ceiling fan. The world around you is soo interesting, much more interesting than nursing! I try to make sure we have a dark and calm place, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (like anytime we stopped along the road). You still enjoy your bottle before bed and nursing 4-5 times a day.


In addition to nursing we give you a sippy cup of water at meal times (and on the beach). You think it's ok, but much prefer to drink out of a real cup (with our help of course). We added a few new foods into the rotation. In addition to rice and oatmeal cereals, pears, avocados, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples and carrots. You've had peaches, nectarines, apricots, prunes, mango, peas, yellow squash, Cheerios and lots of puffs. You love banana and sweet potato puffs. While you chow down on the green (spinach, kale, etc) puffs they tend to come right back up, so we will hold off a little longer on those. Butternut squash is still your favorite, followed by sweet potatoes.

I still sing apples and bananas to you while we eat. We talk about the different foods you like, too. We had been using your bumbo seat with a tray as your high chair, which you were outgrowing quickly. You have a high chair now and LOVE IT!

Molly is still your partner in crime, but you are not her's. She likes to stick close to us, but the second you reach out to touch her-she gets up and walks away. I'm sure she will keep warming up the more food you drop for her.


I thought you were a great sitter before, but you can sit even better now. You are still scooting, standing and holding onto things. You still stay pretty close to where I set you down, and I don't mind that one bit! You love being held and cuddling, which I love, too. Seeing all the "big boys" in Florida, I know those days are limited.


You talk and screech more and more each day. The highlight of this month (other than seeing you loved on by your greatgrand and grandparents) has definitely been the addition of mamamama and dadadada to your vocabulary.


Nesting cups, rolling balls, Sophie and your exerciser top your list of favorite toys. I guess we missed the boat on getting you acclimated to another pacifier, so the infant wubba nubs are going to be in it for the long haul.


You LOVE us to read to you. This month you learned to turn the pages in your board books. Favorites still include Snuggle Puppy, Llama Llama Wakey Wake, Barnyard Dance and Go Dog Go!

No teeth yet for you - I am not looking forward to the days leading up to that because I can't imagine you drooling much more!

You love love love to swim!

Gotta get your hands on your bugs and bees mobile!

Firsts this months included:

Swimming in the ocean


First trip to Florida

First Gator Game

Second Gator Game
First Road Trip with Molly

First time sitting in a high hair at a restaurant

Starting music class


Going to day care at the gym

Our love for you grows each day. I'm so glad to be your mommy and help you to learn, grow, laugh and play.

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