Thirteen (and a half) Months

It's Fourth of July weekend and Leo is 13.5 months old.  Leo has discovered the joy of popsicles.  jb juiced some mangoes and carrots and we dug out the popsicle tray and Leo was immediately in love.  Of course he needs a complete hose down and outfit change after, but it's worth it - besides it keeps him in one place for about 15 mins which is priceless these days.   

Today we went to the Chinatown block party and tomorrow we'll head to a block party nearby to celebrate the first birthday of one of Leo's friends.  Then Monday we are hoping to catch the parade and maybe some fireworks.  It's a tall order, and we'll see how the reality of it goes, but hopefully we can take advantage of living in the cradle of liberty.

Some things I want to remember about this age:


- How strange it feels to see your baby walk away from you.  Yesterday we went to the playground and after a few minutes he just toddled away from me to chase after some bigger kids and didn't look back.  Nuts.

- His words.  I doubt anyone beside me and jb can understand them, but I love love love hearing him talk.  My favorites include elephant (sounds more like "elf"), home, and I love you (which goes something like "ulve").  

- He still loves dancing and will begin bouncing and shaking to anything with a beat - whether it's a jackhammer, grating carrots or footsteps coming down the hall.  He's even started singing - which just makes me melt.  jb imitates his music table by singing "Badababibopdiddlyadabibobbow" and Leo will respond with a high pitched "babiba".

-  He is peeing in the potty about three times a day - usually after waking up.  He's pooped in the potty a handful of times, but that is only when I catch him.  He will sign potty to let me know he has to pee maybe 10% of the time.  I have no delusions of being out of diapers in the near future, but it's nice to have a foundation for when he is ready. 


Some things that are new and challenging:

- He has started to exercise his tantrum muscle.  It's still rare (knock on wood!) but if we take away something he wants (like a pen) or take him from the swing when he wants to keep swinging he will cry and scream hysterically.  It's intense (and embarrassing sometimes) but I just keep reminding myself that it's developmentally appropriate...  How comforting. 

- His sleep is different.  Sometimes it's for the better - like he will conk out at night and not stir for hours and now we can actually move him while he's sleeping without waking him.  Other times he just won't nap.  It's like one day he's trying to move to a one nap schedule - but then the next day he'll take three naps to make up for it.  It's not awful.  Just in transition - so unpredictable. 

- His eating is changing.   He used to eat anything we put in front of him.  From turnip greens, to mushrooms, to seaweed salad.  Now he's getting really picky about his vegetables.  He still eats some, but it's getting trickier and trickier - and he's picked up the very bad habit of throwing food he doesn't want.