Thirteen Months

When I posted the twelve month post, Ryan said something about not having to do the monthly posts anymore. He was wrong that I would stop there. But I have no idea how long it will go on. For now, he's still growing and changing and learning so much each month that I feel I need to document it. It's just as much for my own records as it is for sharing with loved ones. I'll continue to do them as long as I feel it's worth it, I suppose. Funny thing - my friend, Becky, does monthly posts for her little guy, Colin, who is just about a month older than Aiden. Shortly after Ryan and I talked about this, she posted a similar statement about doing Colin's monthly posts. Great minds and all, right? ;)

So....here goes Aiden's thirteen months post (almost a week late - seems to be the trend, so why change that, right?)

Favorite Things:

• His little farmer guy. Someone gave Aiden a megabloks tractor that has a little farmer to go with it. He LOVES that thing. He'll walk around with it, "talking" to it. The funniest part is how he talks to it. He does this "sssshhhhsshhhssssshh" sound that sounds kind of like he's whispering (and almost kind of spitting b/c you can hear where saliva is on his tongue while he makes the noise). It's really hard to explain. He has never made this noise before and only does it when he has this little farmer toy! (Actually, recently he had one of Camden's lego people and was doing the same noise, so...I guess it's his noise for talking with those types of toys. Very cute and humorous!)

Aiden with his little farmer toy

• Bunny. The attachment to Bunny only grows. Now, when he wakes up from a nap and I pick him up, he turns to indicate he wants Bunny... Where before he would want him and then put him back, he now wants to take him with us. He will carry him all over the place. Anytime we leave to go out, I am sure to bring Bunny along. Some people might not like a child getting so attached to a lovey like this, but it's actually a great thing! Very healthy for kids, so we are encouraging it. (And hoping to maybe find a second one to have in case we need to wash this one or it gets lost...)

Aiden loving on Bunny

• Signing. He knows he can tell us what he wants and doesn't want. It's a great thing!
• The refrigerator or pantry door opening. He can be on the other side of the house, and if you open either of those, he is there in an instant! And he gets himself right in there so you can't shut the door...while he attempts to get the small bottles and jars out of the fridge door or anything he can reach from the pantry.
• Trying to stand as much as possible when in the bath tub. Dropping toys over the side of the tub.
• Toilet paper. If you visit our house, you might discover an empty roll of toilet paper on the holder - and the actual roll of tp behind the seat. This is because Aiden will unroll it if given the chance...and then tear the paper into the tiniest pieces possible. So we leave the empty one on the roll and the one we're using out of reach. That way if he gets the roll off the holder, he's just as happy to play with it, sans mess.
• Nursing. When he is teething, he wants that pretty much around the clock!
• His red wagon.
• Balls.
• Music. He is constantly signing to have music! He'll go stand by the tv set (because we use the dvd player to play the cds) and sign for it and just wait for me to put the music in, grinning the whole time.
• Camden's room, and specifically, Camden's legos. If you set him down in his own room, he toddles as quickly as he can right into big brother's room, heading straight to the legos on the shelf. He's actually really gentle with them and just likes to pick up the little lego people.
• Undoing the velcro tabs on his gdiapers.
  
• Putting on (and taking off, and putting on, and taking off...) his hats.
• Laughing at himself or at nothing - completely out of the blue! He'll just laugh to hear himself sometimes, I think. And they're big, belly laughs, too. He'll make the funniest face when doing them.
• The dishwasher. This ranks right up there with the open refrigerator. He goes right for the utensils in the basket - and puts them on the floor one by one. His way of helping, I suppose.

Least Favorite Things:

• Finger prick to check for iron. They call this a finger "prick," but it's so much more than that.. They squeeze the crap out of their fingers to get the blood out. Meanwhile, the baby is fighting to get that finger back and is screaming at the top of his lungs. Not fun.
• Eggs. Now that we know that's what caused the allergic reaction. (Surprise, surprise. Really - it was.)
• Rice milk. We were told to wait on cow's milk b/c of the egg allergy, and rice milk was suggested instead. (Soy is another big allergen, so we're not going that route.) A couple times he's drank it ok, but usually he turns his nose up at it. Good thing I'm still nursing.
• Mommy leaving the room, even for just a second. Not always a big fan.
• Molars. Those suckers are MEAN. Just mean. When Aiden teethes with these molars, he gets no sleep and has diaper rashes. It seems to come in spurts. A couple weeks ago we had a rough week, and then this week, it all came up again. Luckily, we only had one really rough night with no sleep, but the rash lasted a few days. He never gets rashes, but these things cause a bad one, for some reason. We had to go from our cloth inserts in the gdiapers to using the flushable inserts so we could use the good ointment to clear him up. Poor thing. :( Good news is that one molar came through on the day he turned 13 months. It's all the way through now, and one other molar has barely broken through. Things have been much better the last few days because of that! (But we still have the top two to go.....)
• Having something forced from his tight little grip. This kid is strong!
• Soap bubbles. I'm not sure why they suddenly bother him, but they do. He sits in the front of the tub when I shower, and when the bubbles from my soap run down to where he is, he tries to push them off and looks at them with disgust. Then he does the same thing when he is being washed. I try to act excited and show him he can play with them. He just wants them OFF. He does seem to be getting better about them but still isn't crazy about it.

I just think this picture is funny.
He was standing up, stiff as he could be,
leaning back against the chair.
Just looked funny.
I don't think he was really in the mood for pictures...

New developments this month:

• Walking!!! He started walking almost right after his birthday. He's almost running now! Crazy how quickly they master a skill. He didn't actually WANT to walk when he did. He had the ability, but just wasn't interested. We knew he would be motivated to come after his sunscreen bottle, though. He loves any kind of lotion/shampoo/soap bottle, and this is his favorite. So, he managed those steps to get the bottle, protesting all the way. After a couple times, he realized he could move just fine on his own. And he hasn't stopped since.

See him going after that small orange bottle?
THAT was his motivation for walking!

• Kicking off his pants. When I'm undressing him or taking his pants off for a diaper change, I'll pull the pants down off his waist, hold him up, and say "kick, kick, kick" - and he kicks until his pants fall all the way off. He thinks it's so funny and is quite proud of his accomplishment.
• Signing!! Man, babies are incredibly smart. He already knows so many more signs. He received Baby Signing Time videos/cds for his birthday. They arrived on Thursday, and by Sunday (when he turned 13 months old), he had already learned a handful of new signs! (And we had only watched a few times. But the songs are incredibly addictive, so Mommy sings them all the time...)

My cutie pie