13 Months

I know I said I was quitting with the monthly pictures/updates.  However, when I actually do sit down and update Wyatt's baby book I'm going to use this blog as my reference so I decided to do another little update.

Friday, Wyatt turned 13 months!!  Every day he is less 'baby' and more 'little boy'.  He's a total maniac and is constantly into everything.  Nothing in our house is sacred, as he is constantly strewing his toys around and pulling stuff out of our cabinets.  He can be quite micheveous, especially when he's tired.  One of his favorite things to do when he's tired is to go and play with the picture frames and plants in our living room.  We of course look at him and tell him 'no-no' and remove him from the situation.  He will look up at you, smile, then go right back to doing what he knows he's not supposed to.  It is hard not to laugh at him ...

The boy also has an APPETITE! I love this about him because I think I would stress myself silly if he didn't eat much.  Although he has an appetite, he has his certain things that he likes and even then if he's not in the mood for something he'll just push it away.  (I'm trying to teach him to say 'no' instead, although I'm pretty certain that word will be overused!) He still tends to throw his food on the floor so I will usually only put 1-2 bites on his tray at a time and I end up feeding him myself probably more than I should.  (But if I don't, then he will not eat as much healthy food and more of his less-healthy ones).  Right now, I think I would have to say his favorite 2 foods are cheese and yogurt.  Just in the last week or so, he's been eating 2 yogurts/day -- after he finishes his dinner each night he will fuss if I try to get him out of his highchair and he hasn't had that yogurt.  I should probably buy stock in Stonyfield ....

His doctor advised us to quit giving him the bottle at 12 months.  She pretty much instructed us to go cold-turkey but I just couldn't do that.  At the time of that appointment, he was still taking 3 bottles each day and although he drinks water from his sippy cup very well he will usually push the milk away when you try to give it to him via sippy cup.  (This is one of those adorable, yet frustrating things that he does -- if you try to give him something that he doesn't want he just shoves your hand away) Anyway, I took a little different approach -- I dropped them one at a time and told myself that I would wait until 13 months to drop his morning bottle.  Since he hit the 13-month mark on Friday, that was his very last bottle.  He handled this MUCH better than I expected and is surprisingly cooperative when I give him his sippy cups.  Whew!  

He is going through a little attachment phase right now and it is really just sad.  For everyone.  His doctor predicted this would start and it did about 2 days after she told us that!  He cries every morning when Ben drops him off at school.  Talk about a sad panda.

Favorite things right now:
- yogurt
- snacks (yogurt melts, cereal, puffs, crackers, vanilla wafers ... he loves them all)
- pushing things -- anything really but the object gets bonus cool points if it makes noises when it rubs against our hardwood floors when he pushes it.
- sliding things/skating -- he'll get 2 frisbees, or books, or really 2 of anything and sortof skate across the room on his hands with those items.  very cute
- banging toys on tables to make LOTS of noise
- slamming cabinet doors repeatedly
- wheels or anything that spins 
- head bonk game
- playing pat-a-cake
- songs: Wyatt-wyatt-bo-byatt; Curious Wyatt: Wyatt the Riot; and BINGO are his faves.
- peek-a-boo
- Ellie
- Sing-a-ma-Jigs (especially his pink one!)

Things he could do without:
- sitting still - getting him dressed and diaper changes are quite the challenge these days
- being told "no" -- he gets kinda sensitive and will cry if you're stern about telling him no
- walking.  he just shows no interest at all.  he will take 2-3 steps to me from a piece of furniture but even then he's got to be in a certain mood. 
- getting his nails cut.  this is easily my LEAST favorite task each week
- being dropped off at school each day

Overall, he remains to be a very happy child and adjusts well to pretty much any situation.  Although he doesn't necessarily talk yet (he has a few words, but I don't really consider them talking) he communicates with us very well.  And he babbles all the time, so I think once he starts talking we probably won't be able to get a word in edgewise. 

Wyatt is such a joy to us, and we enjoy each day we have with him so much.  Each little stage he's gone through has honestly been fun, but it always seems like whatever age he is is the *most* fun.  Not sure if that makes any sense at all to anyone other than me! Ha.

Perdido Key

We spent the last week in Perdido Key with my family -- Mom/Dad, Kimmie/Dave/Ellie and Me/Ben/Wyatt.  Although we see each other often and much of that time is sorta 'vacation-mode' since we're at the lake, its still nice to just get away once in a while.  We weren't halfway through the week when my sister was trying to plan the next family vacation!  She's usually the catalyst to these trips and I'm usually just the beneficiary but it all works out!

Its tough for Dad and I both to be out of the office at the same time, and because of this we ended up not going for the WHOLE week but rather Tues-Sunday.  When we all got there on Tuesday, we did take a little time to go down to the pool for an hour or so before getting dressed for dinner.  Its tough to take W out to dinner because he likes to go to bed so early but we figured we could swing it a couple of the nights.  As it turns out, dinner took a longer time than expected and as a result we spent a lot of time trying to entertain Wyatt to distract him from his exhaustion.  This ended up being one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip just because it is hilarious.  Ben and I look so stoopid, but as you can tell Wyatt is very happy!

We set up a tent on the beach complete with a baby pool (you should have seen us lugging up water from the ocean one bucket at a time) and lounge chairs.  Wyatt had a tendency to want a morning nap as soon as we got down to the beach so I kinda set up camp for him in the shade.

Wyatt was extremely tentative about being in or even near the ocean.  We did manage to get one of Meme, Wyatt, and Ellie by the water

and of him playing giddyup with his Daddy

and of Wyatt and Ellie sitting by the sand castle that Meme built for them.

But mostly if he was on the beach and not asleep he just wanted to play in his baby pool in the shade.

He quite enjoyed his beach snacks after he woke up from his morning beach nap.  (Kid has a rough life)

And he found a new sippy cup that he loves! 

Meanwhile, Papa enjoyed the shade and the air conditioning. 

When we went inside for lunch each day, the kids would play in the condo for a while.  I had 2 frisbees that were really meant for (adult) beach toys but Wyatt LOVED just skating around the condo on these things. He also had fun playing under this table!

After lunch, naps, and snack time, we usually headed back down to the pool for a while. 

We spent a lot of time teaching Wyatt all about waving.  (I think this is a trick he's known for a while but just this past week has begun to do it on command)

Wyatt is clearly going through some sort of growth spurt right now because the child has been eating like a horse!  In this picture, he had already eaten his afternoon snack and was begging Ellie for some of her yogurt. 

At night, we ended up splitting up the staying home duties in an effort to not make the kids go out for dinner. This was nice because the nights we did go out, we didn't feel rushed and actually got to relax and not worry that the kids were interrupting other people eating!  Here are Dave and Ben one of the nights with enough food to feed a whole army (or at the rate he has been eating, one Wyatt)!

The guys all went fishing on Thursday and really had a good time.  I don't have any pictures of their prized catches but they caught some mackerel, redfish, and a flounder.  Friday afternoon Ben, Dave, and Dad grilled the fish for lunch and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. (I don't eat fish, but I hear it was very tasty!)

We did do some family pictures on the beach one evening and despite having a tough time getting sleepy Wyatt to smile, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

This one is my favorite, I think.  It will be framed and in my house eventually. 

We also got a good one of Wyatt/Meme/Papa!

On our last day, we spent the morning at the beach.  While Wyatt was taking his usual nap, I managed to (attempt) a game of frisbee with Ben.

 And when he woke, we posed for one last family beach picture.  I tried to get him into the water after this but he just wasn't having it.

We braved it on the last night and EVERYONE went out to dinner together.  Of course we had to get our only group picture beforehand since we were all dressed.

It was a fun trip, and I was definitley not pleased at the sound of my alarm clock at 5:30 this morning.  Don't think Ben was either and Wyatt certainly wasn't.

Perdido Key on Dwellable

Wyatt at 12 Months

This post is quite belated, but I need to do it to document for myself what Wyatt is like at 1 year old. 

• As of his 12 month appointment, he weighs 22 lbs, 13 ozs.

• Wearing size 4 diapers but I'm about to graduate him to 5's

•  He can pull himself up on just about anything -- our legs, cabinets, furniture, etc and he cruises very well.  He will go between things (i.e. couch to table) but is not brave enough to stand or take steps on his own quite yet.

• He can walk using a push walker as long as one of us is right behind him guiding him along.  I don't think it will be very long before he's brave enough to walk.

•  He is no longer eating any baby food at all.  Except for yogurt melts, puffs, etc.  His all-time favorite food is grilled cheese or cheese quesadilla.  About the only way I can get him to eat any veggies is when I sneak them into his sandwiches or quesadillas.  He does love kiwi, mango, blueberries, strawberries and to a lesser extent cherries and raspberries.  

•  His very favorite food is yogurt melts.  

•  He still likes to go to bed by 7 or 7:30 each night.  By the time we're getting him out of his bath he is rubbing his eyes.

•  We are down to 2 bottles/day now.  He does not love whole milk in his sippy cups and I believe these last 2 bottles are going to be difficult to drop.  

• We're still weaning him off formula and onto whole milk.  I think we're down to our very last little bit of formula and his doctor said not to buy more.  She was very laid back about the whole-milk drinking (just not about the fact that we're giving it to him via bottle) and says if he doesn't drink out of a sippy cup to just cheat and get it to him in other ways (yogurt, cheese, smoothies, even ice cream)

•  He is very busy and always on the go.  We literally have to chase him around his room each night to get him bathed and dressed for bed.  

•  He still love, love, loves his paci.  I put him down with 4 of them in his crib each night.  Sometimes I'll peek in to check on him before bed and he will have one in his mouth and one in each hand.  He loves to tote 2-3 of them around the house, but I don't let him do this very often.

• His favorite toys are anything with wheels closely followed by anything he can drop or bang on tables to make noise.  He is all boy.

• He does not like getting his diaper changed.  Unless he is on his changing table it is virtually impossible.

• He has just recently started going through a little attachment phase.  He cries when Ben drops him off at school each morning and cries when I leave the house. 

• He DOES. NOT. LIKE. the vacuum cleaner.  It frightens him to death and he just cries if he hears it.  Therefore it takes 2 of us to vacuum the house -- one to take Wyatt outside and one to vacuum.  

• He likes being sung to, and his favorite songs are "Wyatt, Wyatt bo-byatt" and "Curious Wyatt" 

• His favorite book is still Bubbles, Bubbles. 

• He really doesn't like to be told "no" (who does though?) and sometimes will cry.  Sometimes he does things he knows are a no-no while looking at us just so we'll tell him no.  Then he cries.  

• He throws his food off his highchair.  I can usually only put 2-3 things on his tray at a time and I better hope those are things he likes or he'll throw them.  

• He has 8 teeth -- 4 on bottom and 4 on top. 

• He tricked me the other day - he went to throw something off his tray and i said "no, Wyatt.  Do not throw your food.  You can eat it or put it back on the tray but don't throw it"  So, he pulls his hand up to his mouth, opens it and acts like he's going to eat his strawberry.  As I was praising him and telling him he was a "good boy" he threw it down.  Stinker!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial weekend started off a little traumatic.  We were getting ready to go to work on Friday and I sat Wyatt on the bed and turned around to pick up a pillow when I heard a terrible THUMP.  I only turned for a brief second and the poor kid had nose-dived off the bed.  He cried and cried and I felt HORRIBLE.  But once we had made sure that he was okay we took him on to school.  That little scrape below his eye?  Carpet burn.  Its healing but that is why he looks beat up in all of our memorial day pics.

I never know how to pick and choose between all the pictures that I want to post so I'm just doing them all via collage to recap our weekend!

Wyatt spent a LOT of the weekend playing with Ellie.  They loved the little baby pool that Papa bought them for the dock as well as the little kitchen playset that Kimmie brought up to the lake. 

Since Wyatt is obsessed with wheels and all things in motion, I figured he would like to play with the steering wheel on the boat.  I was correct.  We also went out on a few boat rides, both of which lulled Wyatt into a much-needed nap.  He also posed for a picture on the Sea Doo with Meme but we decided that he may be a little young for a real ride.  I'll get him out there before summer is over though ...

We also spent some time playing with the baby Gator. Wyatt was so proud to be driving and he seemed to enjoy it but once he was the passenger and Ellie was the driver he decided he didn't want to play anymore!  (I guess he heard a rumor that women can't drive very well?)  He also played several games of 'giddyup' with Meme.  He LOVES giddyup!!

The big excitement in our cove this spring/summer has been that there are 2 beavers living there.  Ben often goes down to the dock about dusk to fish and has had numerous run-ins with them.  So, Sunday night we ALL went down to the dock for the beaver sighting. We only saw one of the beavers, and from a distance.  However, Dave and Ben did manage to catch a few fish for Ellie.  She was so excited and when Ben asked what she wanted to name her fish she replied "Aunt Katie". 

So that pretty much sums up our long lake weekend.  It was fantastic and I can't wait to be back again soon!