Ethan turned 13 months old on Monday, and I'm not sure where this last month went; it seems like I just posted his birthday pictures! Days seem to go by so quickly, especially since he's become quite the walker. It has been amazing to watch him improve on a daily, sometimes hourly basis! We spent Memorial Day weekend in Florence and it was there that he really started taking off on his own, without our prompting, and just this past weekend, he started walking more than crawling. He can now change directions easily without falling, carry all sorts of objects while walking, stand up from the floor without support, squat and stand, and is trying to jump (unsuccessfully, but it sure is cute), and is starting to try to walk up the stairs instead of crawling. All of it so exciting, but also a little bittersweet because he is on the go, so those moments of snuggling with Mommy are fewer these days.
Summer so far has been fun; we've been swimming at the Y a couple of times, and he loves the water, (which makes me so excited for our beach trip at the end of this month), but not the nursery there... We are still working on that. Church nursery however, is going great; he had a blast last Sunday! He loves playing with all his toys from his birthday, and continues to experiment with them to find alternate uses, as the pictures below will illustrate.
We went to his first concert on Tuesday, Roger Day, at the Hoover Library, and Ethan was mesmerized! He clapped and danced and stared, and asked everyone around if they had a ball. That's his favorite word and toy; his first word in the morning and probably his last before bed, and a 1000 times during the day. It's also all I hear from the time I pull into the Target parking lot, until I get him a ball to carry in the cart, and as we are leaving (so far without having to purchase another ball-we'll see how long that lasts...)
He's also saying "all done" (most of the times it is an appropriate usage, and sometimes, i have to disagree, like on our recent shopping trip at the mall:). He teases me with "Mama", screeches "Daddy!" and calls "Dada". Still calls Milli and all other dogs "illi", and this week has started calling all birds, especially the giant crows in our yard "a duck". He also calls any cup or drink of any sort a "baaaatal", even though he hasn't had a bottle in over a month... He also sometimes surprises us and tries to repeat something we just said.
We may also be done with his pacifier? He's been really congested this past week and kept spitting it out at night, so I sort of just quit giving it to him, and so far, so good. He occasionally gnaws on his fingers since he seems to be cutting more teeth, but no finger sucking as of yet... fingers crossed! I'd love to be able to get rid of the pacifier before he forms a real attachment to it...
Tonight, we broke out of our normal, "walk around the block after dinner" routine, and we packed up Ethan and Milli and headed to a nearby playground and park. This was our first visit since he's started walking, and he LOVED it! He took off exploring, loved all the open space, the stairs and the slides. We also stopped by the park so that we could show him REAL ducks to try to set him straight, of course he also called the swans and geese ducks, but at least he has now seen an actual duck and heard them quack (which made me realize I really need to work on my animal sound authenticity...)
Here are pictures from the past few weeks. I tried and tried to get a decent "13-month" picture, but Ethan refused to sit or stand still, so most of them were pretty blurry. These days he is rarely ever "still", but it is so fun to see him explore and learn, and I love that he is so curious. He truly is a joy and enriches our life more than we ever imagined. Praising God for His goodness and grace!
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| Bounce, bounce, bounce, I won't mention the hair... |
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| Did I mention I LOVE spaghetti? |
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| On the move |
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