My growing boy

Although work started again for Hubby T on Tuesday, I've had the last two days "off" because Baby D has been home sick (poor guy). The upside is that I've had two awesome days of quality one-on-one time with Baby B! When we were driving home from our holiday trips, Hubby T and I agreed that our little boy seemed to have grown up a little bit more just in the two weeks we were on vacation together. And it's true, this 11 months and 3 weeks old little guy is no longer a little bundle of joy - he's an almost toddler of joy!


(In case you were wondering, he is indeed holding the side of that tambourine from the inside. He gave it two great whacks with his maraca and busted it wide open. Such a strong baby!!)

There have been several instances lately where he seems to be communicating with us in every way except words. Most mornings, for example, I bring Baby B into bed with us to nurse before I get up and going for the day. A few days ago, I had him in bed but didn't feed him right away, just to see what would happen. After a minute or so of fussing at me, he started pulling on the strap of my tank top, as if he was saying, "Come on Mom, we both know what I want so let's get to it!" A couple days later he pulled at my shirt again in a similar situation. At lunch today he kept pointing at my food, so I eventually caved in and gave him a pretzel stick, which he proceeded to happily gum to death for about 10 minutes. (You try eating a pretzel with no teeth and see how long it takes you!) We have been asking him questions and talking to him almost his whole life as if he could actually respond. It's thrilling to me to see these first couple glimpses of him being able to communicate back.



He also took his first step over the holiday break! His Papou did some grandfather-magic and got Baby B to stand up on his own for a few seconds, then he took about one and a half steps and fell into my arms. Amazing! I'm calling it his first step because it technically was a step and I almost cried, I was so proud of him. He hasn't repeated the feat though, so we're still waiting for more development on that front. Maybe his awesome new baby sneakers will help:) His Auntie KP also gave him some green Converse sneakers for Christmas that he should grow into in the next couple months. Too bad he doesn't realize how awesome they are, maybe that would give him motivation to figure this walking thing out!



In the next week or so there will be lots of birthday celebrating going on in our house - the first child/grandchild's birthday is a big deal! But for the other 364 days of the year, I'm so happy that I'm home and around to experience these smaller miracles that happen everyday and show me he is growing. God created a truly awe-inspiring being when he created man, especially (in my oh so biased opinion) my little man.