13 months

Another month has come and gone, but what a fun month it has been! It has been so neat watching him turn into our little boy; he is definitely not a baby anymore.

We're still not walking just yet, but he sure does love pushing his toys all around our living room. He loves to try and crawl into the tightest spaces, just to see if he can get by. He definitely takes the most unreasonable and potentially dangerous paths to get anywhere.

Yesterday he hit his all time record for standing on his own. I counted 6 seconds before he fell flat on his behind. However, he didn't realize he was standing because he was so pre-occupied with his toy, but hey, I'll count it.

Demonstrating his perfect Yoga pose

Scaling the furniture - he could do this all day long

L.A.Z.Y.

He now has 10 teeth, going on 11 as far as we know. He cut 6 teeth over the course of two weeks (two of them being molars). That was definitely not fun for anyone, but he was a trooper and actually didn't wake up much at night or really complain too much.

He definitely knows "Bye-Bye". Anytime we walk out the door, he says it. He even will take out his pacifier just to make sure he gets his two cents in before we leave the house. This morning when I got him out of his crib and walked into the living room where his bottle is always waiting, he took out his pacifier, looked at it and said " Ba Ba".

Still in Size 4 diapers; 18-24 months clothes. Has a new bed time of about 8pm to 8:15pm (a night owl just like his parents), but sleeps until 7:45 am almost on the dot every morning. He's taking better naps at the moment as well- two almost 1.5 hour naps a day.

Things he loves right now:
*Eating Honey Nut Cheerios in the morning before his breakfast (plain Cheerios just don't cut it). He knows exactly what I am doing once I put him in his high chair and head over to the pantry. He starts making monkey sounds that go "Ew Ew Ah Ah" and gets so excited
*Cuddling. especially when he knows I am about to leave and doesn't want me to hand him over. He does the whole lay his head on my chest and hug my back routine which makes me feel so guilty. But he has to learn because he is still super clingy
*Climbing. In and out of his chair. Up and down off of his toys. On and off of our stair landing. Working on the couch - hasn't mastered it yet though.
*Music. He is really into dancing. More of a sit on his booty and rock back and forth sort of dance. It doesn't matter if it is a commercial, someone just clapping or singing, or an actual song. He jams to it. (This is a little embarrassing to admit and I don't think I ever have, but when I was one bedrest I started watching All My Children again and have continued ever since for the past 15 months. Now I am not sure if this was his first song he became familiar with in utero, but anytime that intro song comes on, no matter what he is doing, he stops dead in his tracks and is completely mesmerized for a solid minute - oops!!)
*Throwing. He loves to pick things up over his head as high as he can reach and then just chunk it clear across the room. Maybe we have a future sports star on our hands.
*Nose-picking. Well more like shoving his finger up his nostril and blowing out of his nose as hard as he can just to hear what sound it makes.
*Tooting sounds. Lately, during his bath, he will take his rubber ducky and hold it up against his tummy, squeeze it really tightly and laugh at the funny sounds it makes. He knows exactly what to do with it once we hand it to him and he gets a kick out of watching us laugh at him do it. This kid is ALL boy!

Things he hates at the moment:
*Broccoli and meats that are not shredded to his liking
*Sippy cups - still working on it, but we aren't getting too far with it at the moment
*He has always done this and I am not sure if it is completely normal, but every morning when he wakes up he moans and groans and makes really high pitched sounds until someone comes and gets him. Now I feel like every mom I have ever talked to says their kids sits in the crib, talks to themselves and plays for up to 30 minutes before getting out. Why doesn't mine do this!?!?
*Getting his diaper changed. As soon as we sit him up to change his clothes, he immediately nose dives for the basket that holds his wipes, lotions, etc. He thinks it is a game to pull everything out of it and then proceed to throw it on the floor
*Sitting backwards in his big boy car seat. I think we may have to turn it around soon; he just gets so cranky because he is bored. He lets out really annoying, high-pitched to where only dogs can hear, kind of screams
*Sitting in his high chair at dinner. For whatever reason, breakfast always goes smoothly, lunch he does pretty well, but something about dinner time just does not mesh well with the high chair. So after many nights of fits, screams, and uncontrollable crying, we have resorted to some new places to eat dinner. They include: in his wagon on our patio, while taking a bath in the kitchen sink (his personal favorite), and sitting on his play mat in the living room. Not sure how we are going to kick this habit since he is not old enough to reason with just yet :(

Cute onesie Aunt Sarah bought him!

Wes and I have had a fun, but busy month as well. He has been spending a lot of his free time on the bathroom remodel.(still not finished, but starting to make some good progress). We got some last minute tickets to the Final Four games, which was pretty fun and probably the most packed event I have ever been to in my life as far as crowds go in tight spaces.

 We were sitting on the side of the sports anchors. It was pretty neat getting to see them close-up!

We went to Brenham a few weeks ago for a wedding of a good friend of his. Took a trip out to the outlet malls with Ryan one weekend and he was such a trooper, a born shopper just like his mama.

I'll leave you with his 13 month chair pics. It's getting really difficult for him to sit still longer than .5 seconds!

AHHH no more pics!

Happy Easter!!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with lots of family time and celebrations. Wes had a 4 day weekend (2 of those days were dedicated to the never-ending bathroom remodel, but it was very productive for him). My mom and I took Ryan on Friday to see the Easter bunny at the mall. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, we finally make it to the front, placed Ryan on his lap and the whole ordeal was over in less than a minute. He did surprisingly well. I think he didn't get too good of a look at his face, so it wasn't too scary for him. He actually didn't want to leave when it was over because he became so obsessed with the furry hands. We never got a real smile, but considering how fast they rush you in and out of there, at least it wasn't a frown!

The whole thing is a scam if you ask me, but they didn't ask me, so now we have pictures for anyone who wants one since of course you just can't buy 1 or 2! Sorry for the poor quality, but I took a picture of the picture!

Saturday we headed over to my parents for lunch complete with yummy food, Ryan's first Easter basket for the weekend, and an Easter Egg Hunt.

 

 This was the best pic we could get.

Ryan and Wes playing some washers.

Sunday morning we all got up early, gave Ryan his Easter basket that the Easter Bunny left for him, and headed to church (I wish we had a family pic of us before church, but we didn't have anyone to take it!)

The bunny was good to Ryan and left him a blow-up pool, a monkey puppet, and some new feeding items!

Happy boy

After church, we went to Sugarland to have Easter lunch with Wes' family and celebrate his grandmother's 80th birthday. Ryan received his 3rd and final Easter basket, enjoyed exploring around, and most importantly, chowing down on A LOT of cake!

For a boy who didn't seem too interested in his birthday cake, he was LOVING all of  the sugar yesterday.

After a long weekend, we headed home to which we thought would be a nice long nap for Ryan, but I think he was too wired from all of the cake! He was crawling all around, playing with every single toy he had. I would put something up and he would be right behind me taking it back out turning our house into a disaster zone.

Sleepyhead

So, last Friday morning Ryan was playing on his mat in our living room and I noticed he was beginning to look a little tired. He always starts rubbing his eyes or laying his head down on his pillow pet, so I usually have a pretty good idea when it's nap time. I said, "Ryan, are you ready to go night night" and proceeded to pick up his pacifier and his puppy. He immediately, perked up, crawled right over all his toys on his mat and took off toward the hallway.

I sat back for a second, wondering where it was that he was going. He usually crawls up and down the hallway, stopping to play with each door along the way. I let him go so that I would not distract him, all the while he is laughing and cracking himself up. Once I figured out where he went, he was sitting right next to his crib! He has NEVER done anything like that before. I picked him up, put him in the crib and before I sat down and looked at the monitor, he was out like a light!

I tried this with him again, both Saturday and Sunday and it was no coincidence. Both times, he crawled right to his room (now he didn't stop at the crib this time). I think he may think it is some sort of a game now, because he laughs the whole way there! What a smart lil cookie :) Now if he can always be this excited about nap time, life would be gooood!