It has been so fun to watch your relationship with Yeti change over time. At first you pretty much ignored each other. She was curious about you and would give you a lick or two when we let her. Then came the stage where you found her wildly amusing whenever she was in your line of sight. Soon you were able to crawl after her and then crawl all over her. She often would let out a deep sigh as to say, “I can’t believe I put up with this.” Then came the phase where you were learning to walk and she would blow by you and knock you over or whap you with her tail. Despite this, you still remained friends. She always wants to sleep next to your crib. You look out the window side by side, and you often bend down to give her a kiss or a pat on the head. If she is curled up on the floor, you will back up and sit down in the crook between her paws and use her as a backrest. It is so fun to see how excited you are to great her each morning.
This year we got to introduce you to the holiday centered around friends, family and food. Needless to say, you thought that was pretty great. We started the day with a quick Turkey Trot downtown with your friends Nicholas and Sydney. At dinner we filled your tray with all sorts of new foods, and you ate every one. You also got to see both sets of your grandparents at once, and uncle Joey was more than happy to play peek-a-boo with you.
You have discovered a new favorite game, Peek-A-Boo. While you have always liked when people played it with you, you now like crouching behind whatever you can find in order to pop up and giggle uncontrollably.
We’re catching up on all of the recent things that you’ve been doing. We’re a bit behind on the blog. Mostly, we’re a bit behind because we already have a hard time keeping up with you!
One new toy that you love is the laundry basket. It’s clear to us that whoever told us not to worry about buying special toys was right, you’re much more interested in playing with the things that you see us using around the house.
You are pushing all sorts of things around as you stand and walk behind them. You aren’t quite taking steps all by yourself, but you’re really close!
We’ve noticed that you have an interesting habit of arranging things, specifically, you are very concerned with the placement of your cup on your high chair:
You will often make sure that it is turned just right before going back to eating your food. If I move it around, you will make sure to put it right back.
We’ll see if this follows through when it comes to putting your toys away and keeping your room clean!
Much to your Mom’s disappointment, you have stopped saying “Ma Ma Ma” and now you are constantly calling out, “Da Da Da!”
You saw me raking leaves in the yard, and I guess you were trying to get my attention!
It’s fun to hear you babbling all of the time, we keep wondering what your next words are going to be! (And don’t worry, Mom knows that you still love her. Any time you are upset, or want to be picked up or hugged, you go for her first!)
It’s been a long time since we’ve written about you here on the blog. A couple months in fact! Mom has been keeping a list on her computer about things that we need to write about, and yet every day and night seems to go by without getting a moment to add these things to your journal. We’re going to start in on a few of them tonight.
But first, (and I don’t have a picture or a movie of you doing this,) my favorite new thing that you do is put your head on my shoulder and snuggle. Mostly when you are getting tired, I’ll softly whisper “shhhhhhh” in your ear and run my hand across your head. You’ll turn your head to the side a bit and lay it down on my shoulder and squeeze me in tiny little hug.
Unfortunately, usually you then realize that I’m trying to get you to sleep and start crying, but some of the time you just lay there on my shoulder, resting. It’s a wonderfully peaceful feeling, and whatever kind of busy or stressful day I’ve had, I completely forget about it and give you a little hug back.
While you have had your share of runny noses over the past few months, we have luckily been spared any major illness until now. You woke up with a slight temperature of 99F. I thought is was just teething since you started getting some swelling of your gums. When Theresa called from your daycare at noon to report you had a fever of 103F, my heart sank. You had lost that little spark in your eyes and it was so hard to see you feeling so crummy. Your fever kept going up to 104F for 2 days. We knew you really didn’t feel well because you only picked at your food! We were especially worried given the H1N1 influenza scare this year. You stopped taking medicine because it made you sick, and because you were so miserable- Dad went to 4 different drug stores at 4 am to look for some Tylenol suppositories. By the time he got back, your fever miraculously broke. In another day you started to bounce back to your usual happy self. Let’s hope we can all ward off illness for awhile!
We are a bit behind on your blog, but that is only because it has been a very busy month! It seems that everyday you are adding new skills to your repertoire and your sunny personality. You continue to make us laugh every day and we usually spend a good part of our day making each other laugh. It also helps that you are so ticklish . . . a great way to get a hearty giggle out of you.
You are also now waving and clapping with wild abandon. You even combine the two when you are especially excited. (In this case it was dad’s pancakes getting the praise).
We also discovered you could walk pushing your little cart. When you started we put 10lbs of weights in it to slow it down, but now you are cruising all around the house or down the sidewalk as fast as your little legs can carry you. The only problem is you haven’t quite figured out how to navigate road blocks.
While you are not walking on your own quite yet, you are able to ascend the stairs at breakneck speed. Now if only we could get you to remember to come down them feet first.
You continue to be an excellent eater and have learned that you have a loyal mealtime companion in Yeti. In order to reward her loyalty you sometimes decide to share with her.
As always you have added new sounds and phrases to your vocab – including “Eddy” for Yeti, and an occasional “Uh-Oh” as well as “Hey Doe” which we decided is the Swedish good-bye, Hej Då. My absolute favorite sound that you make besides that wonderful laugh, because it is uniquely your is your whisper talking. It is like you have a whole bunch of secrets to share . . . I just wish I understood them.
In just a few short weeks you will be 1 year old and I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone.
by
mom
by
dad
