Baby Boy turns one!

Well, it happened over a month ago, but now is as good as any to write about it! Baby Boy is officially a big boy! He turned one, and before I forget all the things he's doing at one, I'm going to write it down. Where do I start? He is developing more and more personality every single day. Every moment of every day! Daddy and I are convinced he is losing those precious chubby cheeks a little more every day, and we are starting to see the maturity in his face as he turns into a little toddler! I guess he's not a toddler quite yet...not technically. I think they say toddlers these days are babies that can walk. He is SO close! He just started standing up on his own, and sometimes he'll just stand there, looking around like, "where do I want to go?" just teasing us because it looks like his next move is a step! Daddy and sit about three feet apart and encourage Baby Boy to walk between us, and he'll take one or two steps and then fall down onto his butt. Every day, I practice walking backwards in front of him while he clasps his tiny hands around my index fingers. I slowly pry his hands off my fingers and let go, and he just thinks it's so funny! He knows that when I loosen my fingers, I'm wanting him to take some steps, and he just starts laughing as he takes giant steps toward my legs before falling to the ground laughing. One of these days, I know he'll just surprise us and start walking!

Gosh, there is so much to write...he is doing so many things. On a negative note, he has been introduced to "timeout" almost every single day! He gets very worked up sometimes and strikes his little hand at my face and slaps me! I yell, "no hitting," and if he hits again, he gets plopped into his room with the door shut, and oh man, it's the end of the world. Sometimes his cry lasts a good ten seconds before the inhale, and after about a minute or two, I go in to find him sitting there, red-faced with crocodile tears pouring down his face. It's heartbreaking, but he needs to learn, "no hitting." Now, if he starts to hit me, I'll say his name in a loud voice, and he'll just look at me, soften his face and touch my cheeks gently. It's SO cute! And if he hits again, he goes right back into his room. It's our very first attempt at discpline, and so far, we are being very consistent, as hard as it is! It breaks our hearts to hear him cry like that, but how else is he going to learn? The next challenge will be keeping him in his room. He is a very tall boy, and he can reach the door handle. So, as we stand in the hall, waiting for the minute to pass, the door handle jiggles back and forth. He hasn't quite figured out how to turn it, but he's so smart, so I'm sure it won't be long!

Let's see...what else...he says "mamama" and "dadada" all the time, and "baba" for bottle. Sometimes he'll say, "mama, baba"...what a smart little guy! I think it's pretty early for him to be putting two words together like that! He has a bathtub book that I read to him every night. There are pictures of monkeys on one page and elephants on another. Every night, I say, "where's the monkey?" And believe it or not, he flips through the pages until he finds the monkey. He's so smart! :)

One of Baby Boy's favorite pasttimes is pushing anything he can get his hands on around the house. He has a train that is a walker, and he pushes that everywhere! He is getting so quick at it that he's almost running. He just started, in the past two weeks or so, to be able to maneuver it wherever he wants it to go. He can go down the hall, stop abruptly and turn the train around and head the other way. He also pushes around his dump truck and makes frequent stops to pick up rolls of toilet paper or Daddy's sandals (which are, of course, lying around, haha!).

Baby Boy loves, loves, loves our dog Cooper. They have become such good little buddies. Cooper would never bite Baby Boy, but sometimes he growls to show who's the boss! They love to play with stuffed animals...one end of the animal in Baby Boy's hands, the other end in Cooper's mouth. They play tug of war until Cooper wins, and Baby Boy just cracks up. Sometimes Cooper will growl and then act like he's going to nip Baby Boy's hand before licking it, which makes Baby Boy laugh even harder.

Daddy and I just adore Baby Boy. We love to just sit and watch him eat or pick something and try to figure out what it is. Baby Boy is SO contemplative. He picks everything up and really studies it. He is a real thinker and analyzer. For instance, Daddy and I took him to a splash pad today and while the other kids are running around, Baby Boy finds a little crack in the ground near one of the water sprouts and sticks his finger in it, trying to figure it out. He must have sat there for five minutes. So cute! Well, while I'd love to write more, it's 10:30 pm and time for Mommy to go to bed! Will write more soon :) I just can't get enough of my little guy and I love to write about everything he does!