Jeff, DeAnna and The Littles: 13 months!

Caleb turned thirteen months on the 25th (Wednesday). I had debated whether or not I was going to keep this up and continue to write about updates each month... but he's still so little and he keeps growing and learning so I decided to go with it. :)

This past month has been a busy one. Our summer has been jam-packed with excitement, new things, trips and fun! :)

Anyway, this month:

-Caleb experienced his first water fountain splash area at Stony Point mall. At first, he couldn't wait to get into it. He loved it at first and walked over to the fountains all by himself. Unfortunately, I was too busy chatting to get any pictures. When I did whip out the camera, he'd already had enough. We actually ended up staying for awhile anyway- I was hoping he'd warm up to it. I found a bucket no one was playing with and I filled it with water for him to splash in. He seemed to enjoy that. I also walked him over to the fountains and he would walk with me over there, but then he wouldn't stay. Alas!

- Caleb has learned to "sit down" upon request. Jeff taught him to sit down using food as a reinforcer/motivator. Now it's to the point that if Caleb sees something he wants to eat (i.e., if you're eating something) he will walk in front of you and sit down. He will also sit down upon request without food being present.

-Caleb has done so much better at prayer times. He's done great with meal time prayers for awhile now, but now he'll usually sit in my lap as we kneel for family prayer and most of the time he'll sit quietly (every once in awhile he'll try to get up or move around).

- He is making more and more sounds with his mouth... putting more syllables together and using a variety of consonant/vowel sounds... however, he still hasn't said anything (that we can make out).

- He LOVES to read. He will sometimes run his little pointer finger across the page as he "reads" books. He's gentle with hardback and paper books. He gets super excited and begins babbling very loudly as soon as you hand him a book. So if you wanna get him talking... give the kid a book.

- He has gone from a part-time walker to a full-time walker and part-time runner. He tries to run, but always stumbles when he does. Whenever Jeff and I both hold his hands if we are on a walk or something, Caleb will "run". I guess he feels confident then.

-He continues to understand more and more and follows simple instructions.

- He's gone to his first two and a half family reunions.

-He went to the beach for the first time for a quick day trip and LOVED the ocean!

- He continues to be OBSESSED with doors.. if there's a door, he's happy.

- Loves music and loves to try and sing along.

- Loves to climb down from furniture, and tries to climb up.

- He's been so happy lately, too... laughing and smiling all the time. And he's incredibly animated and a bit dramatic. :)

- Has been sleeping soooo well lately!! He's been sleeping pretty much all night this past week, which has been awesome. (Sometimes, he will wake up, but he doesn't cry and will go back to sleep on his own.) He has also been going to sleep on his own, also. We go through his night time routine- and then put him in his crib and he talks to himself until he falls asleep.

- He has a huge appetite. I can't believe how much he eats sometimes! We recently gave him some bread and he loves bread/toast/ biscuits/etc. He loves fruit (bananas are his favorite). He loves most veggies (carrots and sweet potatoes are his favorite). He's also tried new things this month and I've been more lax on what we give him to eat- meaning, I give him more sweet things than ever before... like he's had his first popsicle this month and he's had some dairy-free chocolate pudding that Jeff made. (We don't give him sweets too often, but he does have some sometimes).

- He's still nursing, but nursing less and he drinks coconut milk or soy milk as well. He also loves water.

Since I posted so many last blog post... here are some from just the recent weeks.