13 Months

This post is long overdue! I decided to quit taking the monthly sticker pictures since it started to seem like a monthly wrestling match. I loved having them his first year, but was hard to get Austin to sit still in the chair the last few months! For my own memory I want to make sure I keep documenting Austin's monthly updates. Also, I've been surprised at how quickly I'm forgetting what happens at each stage with him. Someday when I'm brave enough to have a second child (not yet!!), I think I'll be glad I have these.

So, what's new at 13 months (and now really he is almost 14 months)?....

Skater boy!

We officially have a WALKER! Austin officially started walking (taking more than 2-3 steps) right around his 13 month birthday when Andy and I were in Florida for Pat and Patty's wedding. We came back from that short trip and he was cruising all over the place.
Every day he gets better and better and faster too. He's certainly had his fair share of bumps and falls since then, but usually gets right back up and keeps going.

Bossing around Grandpa and Dexter. He got it from his mama...

We also have quite a little talker on our hands. Some of Austin's favorite words are...ball, bird, bunny, "chhhh" = cheerios, baba (sippy cup/milk), awa = agua/water, book, boat, dad, mama, "ja"= Jessi, auto=car, "da"= Dexter, dog, woof, door, bye-bye, shoe, teeth, nose, where, there.

Disturbing amount of tennis balls found under our couch

His personality is showing more and more. He is definitely an extrovert and loves to laugh! If he is getting grumpy/fussy, a trip outside to visit friends usually perks him right up. Austin also loves to hug. He loves to hug the kids on our street and he will hug Dexter 20 times in a row. So sweet!

Notice a trend with his best friend here? Austin is really into Dexter. Dexter just uses him for Cheerios.

Along with the good is a little bad...Austin has started to throw little fits. He's bitten me on the shoulder and hand a few times and isn't afraid to show his frustration. When he really gets mad he's started banging on his mouth. He's also starting to push boundaries and will go all around the house and say "no" and point at whatever he is not supposed to touch, then will immediately touch/throw/pick up that thing (i.e., cookbooks on the shelf, TV remote, baby monitor on the table).

Playing with the cookbooks he's not supposed to touch.

We are also in the process of transiting to one nap. Some days he still takes 2, but it kind of depends on what is going on that day and how tired he seems. He was starting to completely boycott his morning nap, so we decided to give 1 nap a try and for the most part it is working. Today he slept from 1:30-4:40pm and happily went back to sleep around 7:30pm. He also took a short morning nap in the stroller around 10:30. We normally put him down for his nap around 12:45/1pm and he'll usually sleep until 3:00/3:30pm. I'm excited about the new schedule because I think it will allow us to get out and do more things in the mornings.

This month has had a few lows too - we all had a 24 hours stomach bug this month and have been to the doctor for 2 other unrelated issues - a busted lip and a bad cough. The day I had the stomach flu Austin fell in his crib while playing around and boycotting his morning nap and busted the inside of his lip/gums (right above his teeth). We didn't hear him fall, but he started crying a cry that seemed a little different than normal. Andy went in to get him and there was blood all over his sheets. We were freaked because we thought he may have thrown up blood. Andy put him in the bathtub and then we realized something was wrong with his tooth/lip. Thankfully, the doctor was able to get us in right away and Andy took him in. They put him on a liquid diet for a day, then he was fine. Next, he caught a cold, which turned into a nasty cough a week later, so we went back to the doctor exactly one week later. Welcome to cold and flu season with a baby/toddler, right?!

We sure do love our little guy and are trying to enjoy every phase!