13 months

Logan,

You are 13 months old!  I do not know how big you actually are, as I did not attempt to weigh or measure you, but you sure are big to me!  You seem to be growing and changing every day.  You are doing so many new things it is hard to keep up.  You are so silly, and cute, and smart, and fun, and adorable, and loveable, and so many more wonderful things that I can hardly stand it!

This month you...

- are using more sign language.  You can now say "please" and "thank you" along with the "more" that you learned last month.  However, you have made up your own little versions of them, but we know what you are trying to do.

- are climbing!  You have discovered you are strong and can climb on all sorts of things.  You can climb into your stroller, over the tray and everything.  You can climb onto the cedar chest in front of Mommy and Daddy's bed and then climb onto the bed.  With the help of the stool Papa made for you, you can climb onto the couch.  I'm hoping you don't figure out you can climb out of your crib any time soon. Ha!

- are now drinking whole milk and only nursing one time a day.  It has been an easier transition for you than I expected.  We only have your morning feeding left, and I plan to take that away soon.  You have seemed most attached to nursing first thing in the morning, so I hope it is not hard for you to give that up.

- are a super star at drinking out of a straw sippy cup.  I was so worried about this transition because the sippy cups we had tried in the past were a huge failure.  You would just chew on them, and ultimately cause them to leak and spill everywhere.  I started using a regular straw with you first, and you were able to figure that out pretty quickly, so the transition to the straw sippy cup was very easy.  However, we are working on sitting while drinking and placing your sippy cup on the table when finished rather than walking around with it and dropping it on the floor.

- had your first birthday party and celebrated your 2nd Christmas.  You do not quite understand the concept of gifts, and you definitely aren't able to understand the true meaning of Christmas yet (which is most important and we will get there eventually), but it was still fun to see you with the family and watch you play with your new toys.

- are enjoying lots and lots of new toys!  Between your birthday and Christmas, you have been spoiled with lots of new toys to play with.  You got new books, a musical telephone and lawn mower, wagons (one to ride in and one to pull), trucks, a wooden block train, instruments (including a drum!), some Little People sets, a fire truck to ride on, and much much more!  You are very blessed with lots of people who love you and want to give you presents.

- can point to your ears and nose when asked.  You often will point to your mouth when asked as well, but we're not quite there yet with that one.  You must be having a hard time differentiating between the sounds in the words "ears" and "eyes" because when we ask you to point to your eyes, you always point to your ears.  We will get there eventually though.

- LOVE going outside.  You have always been pretty interested in being outside, but lately, it is probably your favorite thing.  You love to go on walks around the neighborhood in your stroller or wagon.  You often get upset when it is time to come inside.  I think you would spend all day outside if I would let you, but outside is, unfortunately, not Mommy's favorite place to be.  I'm doing better and getting you out a lot more now than I used to though.

- can fake laugh.  It cracks me up, but if other people are laughing, you want to laugh too.  If people fake laugh at you, you fake laugh right back.

- want to eat pretty much anything Mommy and Daddy eat.  You have started to become a little beggar any time someone is eating and you are not.  You will go over to them and do the "please" sign or the "more" sign.  It is so cute, and no one can resist sharing with you.  You are usually a very good eater too which makes Mommy happy.  You prefer meat usually above anything else and love fruit too.  Your favorite veggies right now are squash and zucchini, but recently I've discovered you like bell peppers too.

- must be getting taller, because you can now reach things in places that you could not before.  It is getting harder for Mommy and Daddy to find places to put things out of your reach.

- got your THIRD haircut!  You sure do have a lot of hair, and it grows fast.  I cannot believe that in your short 13 months of life, you have already had 3 hair cuts.  I see many more in our future though.  Ha!

- love to brush your teeth.  We used to use a little brush that went on Mommy's or Daddy's finger, and you loved that, but we have started using a regular brush and you really love that.  You love to try to brush them yourself and chew on the toothbrush.  If we ask you if you want to brush your teeth, you start doing the brushing motion with your hand at your mouth.

- are very very busy.  You do not spend a lot of time doing one thing and often go from one thing to the next constantly.  However, if you really enjoy something, you want to do it over and over and over again.

I still cannot believe how big you are.  You look so much like a big boy now and it makes my heart happy and sad all at the same time.  I love seeing you grow and learn new things, but I also miss you being a tiny baby.  This time goes by so fast, and I want to treasure every second with you.  I am looking forward to seeing the little boy, big boy, and man that you will eventually become.  I just hope that, as your Mommy, I can raise you to be a boy that loves God and eventually becomes a man who not only loves God but also wants to serve Him in all you do.

I love you so much sweet boy!

Love,