Update on M (at 13 Months)

I’m not going to be one of those parents that says their kids age in months past the point that is reasonable, I promise.  But I do want to keep doing monthly updates, at least for now, because M is still changing so much and learning so fast. 

He is such a funny little boy.  He is developing such a personality.  M has figured out how to fake laugh.  It is so funny to hear him chime in with his loud, boisterous fake laugh when Spencer and I are laughing at something funny.  Or sometimes he crawls around his room fake laughing to himself.  It cracks us up every time we hear him do it. 

M is getting closer to walking, but isn’t walking on his own yet.  He walks all about the house holding on to our hands, but has yet to venture off on his own.  It is so cute to watch him stoutly marching along while holding on to dada’s hands.

M does some other pretty funny things too.  He likes to army crawl along gripping his giraffe rattle in his teeth like a swashbuckling pirate.  He also does this thing where he holds a toy in his mouth and shakes it back and forth really fast like a dog (we are about 99% sure he picked this up just from watching Lizzy play with her hedgehog).  Perhaps my new favorite thing is when M holds his hand out in what we call the “politician wave” (arm extended, palm down, stable hand kind of wave).  He does this from the shopping cart with just a hint of a smile as we stroll the aisles of the grocery store.  It’s like he thinks he’s in a parade.  It’s pretty funny.  

M says a few more words each week.  His latest favorite thing is to say, “the end” at the end of every book we read together.  Of course, it sounds more like “eee enn” but we know what he means.  Other new words include: hi, uh-oh, izzy (Lizzy), and boo.  He can make a few animal noises as well, his funniest being “lutter” (flutter) which is the sound a butterfly makes. We think he likes making that one because he thinks it’s funny to poke his tongue in and out.  M knows hand, eyes, nose, and mouth and can point them all out.    

M has also learned that clocks go “tick tock” and makes a clucking noise with his tongue in imitation whenever he is near a clock. He did this one day out of the blue and completely unprompted when Spencer was holding him and they were standing next to a clock.  We were amazed that he picked that up all oh his own from “Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?”  I think it is one of the first times he has connected something from a story to real life. He’s done a few things like that where we realize that he just picked something up without us really teaching it to him.  For example, every time he gets his hands on a comb or hairbrush he runs it through his hair. The first time he did it I was so surprised.  He knows more than I realize I think.  

M has finally (and unfortunately) discovered how to drop food down to Lizzy during mealtimes.  It was only a matter of time until he discovered it’s fun to feed the dog.  Now Lizzy has put on a good pound (which is quite a lot when you only weight ten pounds to begin with).  She even looks a bit chunkier even though she goes for a walk nearly every day. So we have been locking her up during M’s mealtimes so she can’t vacuum up the morsels that tumble to the floor.  Meanwhile, M has also discovered the dog dish and we have had to put it in the bathroom or he’s constantly after Lizzy’s nasty dog kibbles. He wants her food.  She wants his food. Oh the irony.   

M is still very determinedly attached to mama.  He loves to socialize when we’re out and about (both with other babies and with adults) but if it’s just our family at home, M wants to be with me (preferably in my arms) at all times.  He just is not interested in being independent yet. He would prefer cuddling to playing independently any day.

M still loves flirting and spends all his effort and energy when we’re out and about trying to woo the grandmas.  Little charmer.