Nicholas at 13 months

***Notice the battle wounds on his face. Three-fourths of the scratches on his nose were caused by Nicholas scratching himself. The rest of his scratches are due to some falls. It is all part of the process of learning how to walk.

Weight: 26.4 lbs when he is fully clothed

Height: 30 inches

Tooth Count: 6 (two top and four on the bottom)

Favorite Foods: GRAPES and Milk

Other Foods He Likes: Cottage Cheese, Hot Dogs, Yogurt, Oatmeal

Foods He Hates: Vegetables (He will eat about three green beans. Sometime when I hide them in a soup, he will eat a few vegetables.)

Funny Eating Quirks:

• When he eats a new food, he has a very similar reaction whether he hates it or loves it. First, he will plop the strange looking piece of food into his mouth. (He is usually willing to try any new food.) Then, he gives a look like that was the most disgusting thing he ever ate. He wrinkles his little nose and pulls the new food item out of his mouth and takes a real long look at it. If he liked the food, he will put it back into his mouth. If he didn't like the food, he throws it on the floor. (We are working on making him put it back on his tray, but he is convinced that throwing something on the floor makes it a lot less likely that Mom will try to make him eat it again.) Thanks to this system, Mom has a lot harder time trying to get him to eat foods he has already tried and decided he doesn't like because he is really good at recognizing them at first glance.
• It is immensely easier to get him to eat a certain food if he has one of his hands immersed in it while your are trying to shovel it into his mouth. He also seems to have a more hearty appetite for something if you let him hold the lid of the jar you are feeding him out of. He likes to hold the whole jar, but Mom won't let him. We have an argument most mornings about who should hold the oatmeal cup. (I usually win.)
• He is working on feeding himself with a spoon. He has the general idea, but most of the food falls off of the spoon before it makes it to his mouth. He also likes to shake his spoon.
• He likes it when I hide a bit of food in each of my hands. He then picks a hand and is surprised by what is in there. It is funny when he finds something he doesn't like. He will then pick the other hand to see if there is anything better in there. If there isn't something better in the other hand, he then pushes my hand towards my mouth so I will eat it. I let him feed me the food he doesn't like because I figure that at least shows him that I think that the food tastes good. Plus no food goes to waste when I eat his cast offs.
• He will take snacks from other people, but when he is really hungry he only wants Mom to feed him. I know that when he won't go to Papa and he won't let me put him down, then he is hungry.

Sleeping:

• He goes to bed around seven and wakes up around seven. He takes one or two naps. The day goes a lot better when he takes two naps. The first one he takes about ten in the morning and it lasts about 1 1/2 hours. His afternoon nap is anywhere between 1 and 3, and only last about a half an hour. He is still really easy to get to sleep.

Moving:

• He is getting more stable at walking. He had his first bad spill at Six Flags on the 6th. He started running down a little concrete ramp and fell on his face. His nose bled a little bit and he bit his lip. Poor little guy.
• He has mastered turning when he walks, so he doesn't just go in a straight line.
• He doesn't hold his hands above his head anymore when he walks. He still holds them up a little lower than shoulder height.
• He still won't stand up with out using something.
• He only does a typical crawl now, so no more army man.

Favorite Activities:

• He loves playing in our bed. He loves be thrown down on the pillows or be flipped around and tickled. He also loves doing this on the couch.
• Unloading drawers.
• He loves bath time. He likes splashing and dropping things over the side of the tub. When all the water drains out, he likes to try and avoid Mom so he doesn't have to get out of the tub. He thinks it is so funny, so I play along.
• He loves visiting the dogs and cats in the neighborhood. I'm grateful for neighbors who have pets so we don't have to. He loves watching the squirrels in our backyard that come for our acorns. He also loves it when Mom pretends to be a dog.
• Walks outside and trips to the park.
• When we go shopping, the only way to keep him happy is to have him stand in the shopping cart. He loves it! He is actually really good at holding on and hasn't ever had a tumble. He also hasn't wanted to climb out of the cart yet. He loves riding in the basket also because then he has access to all the fun things Mom puts in the cart. He loves to keep me on my toes and drop items over the side. When he gets sick of that, I make him push the cart around the store. We go pretty slow, but he loves this. It is super cute, because he laughs the whole time. This only works for about five minutes until he decides he wants to go "shopping" and then I have to put him back in the cart or carry him.
• He is FINALLY starting to like books. Before, he would just grab the book from my hands chew on it and throw it on the ground. Now, he will look at a few pictures before he sticks it in his mouth and throws it on the ground. Yeah for progress.
• He LOVES looking at himself in the mirror. He also loves looking at pictures of himself. (Maybe all our compliments have gone to his head.)

Pet Peeves:

• He absolutely HATES having his diaper changed. It isn't bad if I can find an interesting item for him to hold while I change his diaper; however, I'm running out of new things to have him hold. Another problem is that this item he is examining while he is getting his diaper changed has to be really light, because as soon as I'm not looking he will drop it on my foot. I have two bruises on my foot from when he dropped a big belt buckle and an air freshener.
• He hates getting dressed. He really just hates anything that gets in the way of his investigating the world. I have become really good at getting him dressed while he is playing. I have not found a good way of getting socks and shoes on without him noticing, so we do battle when it comes to footwear. The worst time is at night when he is cranky and I'm trying to get him into two sleepers, so he is nice and toasty now that it is cold.
• Mom and Papa being out of his sight. We left him with a babysitter and he cried the WHOLE time. They said Nicholas seemed to have a three foot rule, he wouldn't let the babysitter get closer than three feet or further than three feet away from him. He is getting better at going to other people, but he wants Mom and Papa nearby. It is mostly my fault that he isn't good with babysitters. We have only left him about 10 times during his life and most of those he was asleep for and were under three hours.

Words: He talks up a storm, but the only word he consistently says is, "Yeah." He hasn't picked up any signs, but that is our goal for next month. He is getting really good at following commands. He recognizes the following phrases:

• "Go find Papa."
• "Get your puppy."
• "NO, NO."
• "Up."
• "All done."
• "Pick a hand."

Nicholas is SUPER BUSY and really clingy!!!! I was getting a little frustrated until I changed my perspective. Now, I don't plan on getting anything done while Nicholas is awake except for caring for Nicholas. During his first nap, I run around getting everything cleaned up and I cook dinner. During his second nap, I usually have to clean up all the messes he has made during the day. After he goes to sleep, I clean up dinner and do the rest of my chores. I usually get a few things done while he is up. For example, he likes it when I vacuum and he usually doesn't mind if I exercise as long as I don't mind if he climbs all over me while I'm doing push ups. Nicholas has a way of knowing if playing with him is not my top priority, and when he senses this he becomes super needy and it takes 5X longer to get anything done. So, I'm just working on enjoying him. He really is so CUTE, so HAPPY, and so FUN. I'm never going to have the opportunity again of just having one child to care for, so I've decided to just enjoy it as much as possible.

The End of the Okra

Well, the okra has reached its end, and the only thing as impressive as its 11' height is its complete lack of complimentary root structure. No wonder I had to support it after a rainstorm during the summer.