13 Months and Standing!!!

13 months old

Well, my sweet baby (he is really a toddler but I like "baby" better) boy is 13 months old today!  As I type this he is cruising around the living room playing with his toys and jabbering purposefully.  Landen is doing and saying so many things!  His vocabulary now consists of "bye-bye", "mama/dada", "buh-buh" (for brother), "this", and we are working on "dog".  He is now nodding yes (for months he would only shake his head no), giving fives, of course he is still cruising, pat-a-caking, and dancing constantly, he loves to climb steps (that is a constant battle between he and I), and just this week he stood on his own for almost a full minute TWICE!!!  Ethan and I were SO excited.....it brought tears to my eyes.  Landen just stood there and smiled the proudest smile ever!  Daddy hasn't gotten to see him do this yet but we are hoping he will this weekend.  He understands very well what "no" means now and he loves to point that little chubby finger right back at you.  I find it endearing but his daddy.....not so much, LoL.  He is still eating almost anything we put in front of him.  He doesn't like the baby food meats very well (not that I blame him....they smell awful).  But he loves all other baby foods and any table food......veges, fruit (bananas are his favorite), and even junk food (which we try to keep to a minimum).  He is drinking well out of sippy cups with straws now (that is the only kind he will drink out of and it's odd because Ethan couldn't drink out of a straw until he was two).  We have completely done away with formula.  It was quite the transition because at first he threw up whole milk often, but his stomach seems to have accepted it now.  Landen is constantly into EVERYTHING.....he is a little busy body and keeps us on our toes.  Now that we have moved the dog's bowls to where he can't get them, his favorite things to do include pulling every magazine out of the magazine rack or every DVD off the shelves, hiding the remotes, rolling the trash bag roll completely out and the toilet tissue when he can get his hands on it, pulling every sock out of his dad's drawer and throwing them all across the room, turning the water on in the whirlpool tub, dragging out every plastic bowl we own, and anything to annoy his brother.  He is a pistol but we wouldn't trade him for the world! 

Speaking of his brother, he cried this morning when Ethan got out of the truck for school...I mean bawled and screamed at the top of his lungs!  Guess he has gotten used to Ethan staying at home with all of the snow days he's had lately.  Oh, and his latest stunt happened a couple of days ago when I was cooking dinner, he ventured into the bathroom and decided to try to make his way into the bathtub by diving headfirst!  Ethan screamed "Mom!" in that tone that tells me something is very wrong.  So, I threw down the chicken I was washing and made a mad dash in the direction of the scream.  Somehow, just as I reached Landen's feet wiggling in the air (he was stuck at the half way point, he couldn't get in the bathtub or his feet back on the floor)  my feet got tangled in my sweatpants and down I went!  I grabbed Landen and helped him back to safety and then I tried to get up.....that's when I realized I had really hurt my foot.  I haven't gone to the doctor and it seems to be some better but I am limping and my big toe is blue and very swollen.  Anyway, thankfully Landen wasn't hurt and I don't think he will be attempting any more bathtub dives anytime soon....the whole ordeal scared him pretty bad!

My mom actually told me yesterday that I should write a book about the adventures of raising children.  I told her no one would read it because it's the same stuff that every mom lives daily, LoL.   Like yesterday, I put Landen in the bath only to have him decide to do "#2" in the water!  So, I then had to let the water out, remove him and his bath seat, clean the tub, and do the entire bath routine all over again.  A few hours after that disaster, Ethan "spewed" all over the couch, area rug, the entire path from living room to bathroom, and all over himself.  Thankfully, Mom was here for a visit so she helped me bathe Ethan and clean up all of the mess.  I am also thankful that Landen was asleep. Otherwise, I would have had to contain him to keep him out of the mess. 

Anyway, back to our big boy!  He is still wearing 18-24 month clothes, but is slowly growing out of the 18 months and starting to venture into some 2T's.  He loves to help me do laundry and unload the dishwasher.  He is such a joy and his sweet smile and bright eyes light up all of our lives!  Happy 13 month birthday my sweet.......toddler......nah, I think we'll stick with baby for now, maybe even forever :)