Dear Boy,

Did you know that eleven plus one is twelve? That means in only one month you’ll be a year old. I truly have no idea how this year passed so fast. I remember so clearly bringing you home from the hospital and having you sleep beside me in your little bassinet. It seems like just last week we were able to put you on a blanket and you’d stay there. Time flies when you’re having as much fun as we are!

You are at the most fun stage ever right now. Hanging out with you is such a blast. You laugh all day, tickle and feed me, play with the dogs and are generally a very easy going and happy kid. The only time that’s not true is at night. Your sleeping sucks, dude. As an example, last night you slept from 8 pm - 1 am and then cried for a few hours while I held you. Then you and I slept together while I held you in the lazy-boy until morning. I love holding you, but let’s have it be during the day, alright? Daddy misses me in bed. I would bring you to sleep with us, but you’re a crazy man and would crawl out onto your head.

You’ve also converted to a one-nap-a-day kid. You usually sleep from about noon until 2 or 2:30. You’ve been sleeping through baby group and swimming some days so that part is not good, but I try to get you out to do something every day while working around your changing schedules.

Daddy and I love to watch you entertain yourself. You can play alone easily for half an hour or more. You look over and smile at us and just keep right on playing. Your favourite things right now are your rubber balls, mega blocks (to bang - you don’t put them together yet), walking behind your car and throwing things down the stairs through the banister. If we let you, you’ll toss things down there until there are hardly any toys left upstairs. And we usually do, because you like it so much and because it’s funny. It wasn’t funny when I got a block in the head, but it usually is. You chase your balls around the living room, laughing at them and at yourself. Sometimes you try to chase two at a time, which is pretty cute and really funny. Your nubby Discovery Toys ball that smells like vanilla is super fun - you chase it and then pounce on it so it squeaks and you laugh and laugh.

You walk with your car now, and while holding our hands, but you haven’t taken steps on your own yet. Everyone thought you’d walk early because you’re so incredibly strong, coordinated and mobile, but I think you’ll wait until you’re really ready to run because you’re not a big fan of slow movement. You run in a crawl and run holding on to the couch. In fact, you may never walk. You might just go from crawling to running!

You never take the easy way around anything. Even when there’s a clear path, you always choose to crawl over anything you see. I hope that’s a sign that you’ll be industrious as you grow, but I’m afraid it may also be a stubborn streak inherited from me! One of your favourite things to crawl over is the vacuum - also known as your girlfriend. You love that thing. Speaking of stubborn streaks, you know the word “No” now (to hear it, you don’t say it) and you stop doing whatever it is you’re doing as soon as you hear us say “Boy, no touch please.” And then you smile and do it again. Stinker.

For your upcoming birthday, we already bought you a wagon. You’ll get lots more stuff so we didn’t bother saving it since it’s been wagon weather and I was anxious to get you out in it.
We’re babysitting your friend L while his mom & dad work a few afternoons a month so we’ll be using your wagon and our new double stroller to go to the park and out for walks when he’s here. You love to play with other kids so we’re so excited to have L on a regular basis. That way when you sleep through our scheduled activities you’ll always have someone to play with every week! Mommy also needs to make a little bit of money to help pay for the necessities now that my EI income is no longer. What better way to make money than playing with you and your friend?

You talk non-stop now. Your vocabulary has expanded to include all sorts of sounds and tones. You try to say a few “real words” (copying mommy) like poop (Puup) and puppy (PuPeh), cat (cah-T) and dog (daw-D). Your first successful word was “poop,” which will be a great story to tell your friends when you’re a teenager when you tick us off. You are also signing a few things now, though still not totally consistently, but that’s our fault. You sign “more,” “hello/goodbye” and occasionally you’ll do “ball.” Being more of a doer than an asker, you usually just grab what you want. You have a beautiful little voice. When we went to visit the Leahtard Clan last week, Leah commented that you have a really pleasant un-annoying voice. (You’ll get to know Leah really well and understand that that’s a nice compliment!) I’ve been focusing more on it since she mentioned that and it’s true. (Except when you’re screaming, which is not really all that pleasant.)

One interesting discovery you’ve made in the last few weeks is your gag reflex. It’s really gross. You stick your finger in your throat, gag, and then look at me as if to ask “What was that?” And then you do it again. It drives me a little crazy. So does your other new habit of grinding your teeth. Ew. I really hope you outgrow that one soon.

You have six teeth now - four on top and two on the bottom. You got the first four within 5 days and the next 2 less than 2 weeks later. After that you slept through the night a little, and now we’re back to no sleep again so I assume there are more coming. I guess it was bound to happen. Your teeth are totally cute, but they’re absolute hell coming in.

You have grown a lot this month, but you keep napping through the weigh-in clinic so we won’t know exactly how much until your 12 month checkup. According to our measurements, you’re about 22 lbs around 30 inches tall. You’re tall enough to grab things off the table now, so we have to put things in the middle of it to keep them away from you. You’re also very crafty - you can pull down baby gates and move obstacles to get to what you want (namely, the dog food).

At the beginning of this month we got some great news. Daddy’s term at work was extended so I don’t have to go back to work until September! We (I) had a really hard time with looking for a dayhome for you. I just cried about leaving you and nobody was good enough. Nobody will probably ever be good enough, but we’re on the waiting list for 2 dayhome agencies so hopefully we’ll find you a place that we all love. I refuse to leave you somewhere that you’re not happy and adored so it’s a challenge, to say the least. We really wish your grandmas would move here to babysit you. Remember when you’re older and getting married to live where Mommy & Daddy live so that we can help you with your kids, okay?

I’m sure I’ve missed a lot ~ there’s still so much every day that changes about you. Just know that daddy & I love you with every fiber of our being. We even love the stuff that kind of sucks (like the lack of sleep) because it’s all part of being your parents and we wouldn’t change that for the world.

I love you right up to the moon and back!
Mamamamamaaaaaaa