13 Months

Dylan shared his 13 month birthday with my birthday! It was a very enjoyable birthday. I got to spend the day with 7 of my nieces and nephews, and then met the rest of my family at Stir Crazy for dinner. I got a fancy new camera lens and can't wait to use it! What a special day!! AND in the morning Dave gave me my gift which was an amazing treat for that following Saturday. It started with a massage, manicure, and pedicure from my father-in-law, followed by Dave's gift of a relaxing afternoon in Lincolnshire, dinner at Wildfire, and to the theater to see Legally Blonde. What a day! Thank you to my mom for watching Dylan and even keeping him overnight!

So much to say about Dylan this month!! About 3 weeks after his first birthday, he decided he wanted to be a full time walker. One day he was walking about three feet before falling, and the next he was walking across the room! He balance isn't the greatest, but isn't terrible either. He can stop, turn around and continue the other direction without falling, occasionally. AND I've even seen him get up in the middle of the room a couple of times!!

He is also LOVING the nice weather and wants to be outside all the time. I don't understand how a one year old knows he wants to play outside! So we have definitely been outside enjoying this weather, playing with car that he got from his Grandpa Thommes, just walking around looking at everything, and a few trips to the park as well.

Also this month...

• Dylan is off the soy formula and back on regular and has started drinking more milk. We are getting rid of the afternoon bottle first and it seems to be going fine. Next will be the morning bottle and then the night bottle last.
• He is definitely eating so much better now that he got rid of that bug! He will eat pancakes, peanut butter and jelly, green beans, carrots, eggs, lean pockets, mac & cheese, peaches, pretzels, strawberries, grapes and will often try our food that we are eating, but most often doesn't want it if we put it on his plate. HOWEVER, the thing about him is that he changes every day. One day he'll eat an entire PB&J, and the next he won't touch it. Its a work in progress, but at least he is trying more stuff.
• Continues to talk more and more. I think he tries to say a lot of works, but a lot of them sound the exact same. Some newer words: daddy, doggy (LOVES dogs these days), duck, hi, more ("mo mo mo"), that, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. He tries to repeat a lot of words, but doesn't have a lot of the sounds down yet.
• He smiles and says hi to people when we're out and loves waving to cars from our balcony.
• Such a whiner! He'll just about growl at your if you take something he wants, bring him inside from playing, and just take him away from something he wants to do. I think that he knows what he wants a lot more now, so thinks he should aways get it. And he sure has a temper! If he wants you to pick him up and you walk away, he'll put his head on the ground and cry. Grocery shopping has been pretty bad too since I think he wants to eat everything I put in the cart. But at least occasionally he'll stop screaming at me and wave hi to the person next to me. Ugh!
• I'd say he's pretty shy, but we'll work on that a lot this summer I hope. He wants to be with me most of the time and I think gets overwhelmed when there are a lot of kids around or something...I don't see how this is possible when he is with 7 kids just about all week.
• He is a pretty good climber, which I have forgotten to mention in the past. He climbs up on just about anything that is the right height and rarely falls. He has fallen way more with his learning to walk than he has with the climbing. He still has been doing great on the stairs, but I'd say I'm even a little more nervous now because he's getting more confident so will play a little more or try to bring something up with him.
• Biter! I feel like this has been coming for a while, but it has happened to me twice and it hurts! I'm glad it was me and not the kids. It was actually when he was playing with me, so at least it wasn't because he was mad?
• Dylan is wearing 18 months clothes, but could still fit in 12 months; size 4 diapers; size 5 wide shoes...BIG CHUBBY FEET! Does not like to wear hats, but I really want to get him being ok with it this summer....because I bought a really cute hat :)
• Two naps a day, but definitely spread out more; 1-1 1/2 hours each lately. Sleeps from 7:30-8 to between 6:30-7:30. I knew that 8:00-8:30 wake up every morning was too good to stay true!
• Lately Dylan gets to spend Mondays with just me; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday with my wonderful sisters that take such good care of him when I'm working, and Thursdays with me and the 7 cousins. Some Saturdays he gets to spend with Dave if I work. It seems to be going pretty well these days, but we'll see how working 3-4 days a week continues to work during the summer and as my belly gets bigger :)
• Books! It was my promise for Lent to commit to a good bedtime routine for Dylan. We start with pjs, brushing teeth, and then a few books. He will usually sit on our lap and listen to 3-4 books before getting too bored with us. He is more interested, pointing at things and naming a few things as well...dog, duck....that's probably it.
• I'm sure there are so many wonderful things I forgot to mention, but that's it for now!

Even though Dylan is in more of a whiny, demanding stage, he still gives us so many smiles and laughs everyday that I can't hold it against him. I figure that I'm paying for a more demanding kid now because of how good he was when he was a little baby. He's our little buddy and we wouldn't trade him for the word. He is such a joy and I can't wait for all the fun stuff we are going to do this summer! Anyone want to join us? Or have any ideas for us??

IN ADDITION: It appears that I have not really mentioned about the new little Thommes that will be appearing at the end of August. While it is different with the second child, Dave and I are very excited and it is becoming more real and closer as my belly gets bigger! I feel like the last couple weeks, it has started to stick out without any hopes of me sucking it back in. I can't believe in just a couple weeks I'll be halfway! It is definitely going by a little faster this time. It still scares me a little that we'll have two babies (as it feels) in the house, but I also can't wait to meet my baby!! August 28th after a big hot summer, here we come!! :)