I guess technically it's not his birthday until later tonight, but we were in the hospital waiting for him at this point. I still can't believe that it has been a year. I'll post pictures of the festivities later, but for now I'll tell you about his new things he's been up too.
He's been saying more words consistently these days. He still won't way a word when we ask him to, but if he's feeling up to it he'll use a word here and there. Just this morning he handed me a bag of marshmallows and said "pease." I was so impressed he got to eat marshmallows before his breakfast. We've been working on please for the last little while and he's always refused to say it. That is pretty typical for him. We'll go over a word for a while, but he won't use it for a while until one day he just decides he wants to use it. Some of his other words are...
- dada - He typically uses dada when he first see's Todd and wants to say hello.
- mama - He says mama only when he is tired and hungry.
- hi - He says hi when he wants to be especially cute.
- more - He'll come up to you while you're eating and say more if he wants what you are eating
- baby-baby - He talks about himself as 'the baby-baby'. He'll use it when he is happy but more often than not it's when he is sad and tired. If I leave him in a room when he is tired and cranky he'll say "a baby-baby mama, a baby-baby."
- yeah - This one is always paired with clapping. If you do something he likes or if he is proud of himself he always cheers.
- please - He's used it twice this morning so I'm counting it as a word he knows. It's so sweet, I don't mind giving him marshmallows before breakfast.
A few of the bad things he's learned are hair pulling and biting. He's always been a little bit of a biter, but with teeth on top and bottom it's more of a problem. So far he hasn't really bitten anyone because he was mad, it's been more of a game. The hair pulling he's doing to get mine and Hailee's attention. If Hailee takes something away he just goes and pulls her hair. He is a little too good at it. The only other little problem we've had is his tantrums, when I take something away he'll throw a little fit. They have never lasted long and before I know it he's back into some other kind of trouble.
He also got a new tooth this month, he now has three on top and two on the bottom. The fourth one on the top is just about to break through as well. He has been chewing on just about everything, but has been pretty happy getting these last two in. His top two teeth still have the biggest gap in them. The third tooth that game in is right next to the front tooth, so he's going to look a little like Michael Strahan. It gives him a mischievous look.
He has really been enjoying using his top two teeth for eating. Some of his favorite foods are bean burritos and rice, chicken, green beans, pizza, and pasta, but he isn't too picky and will try just about anything. Every day he is getting better at feeding himself and getting full.
He even is starting to grow a little hair. The back is starting to come in a little longer (pretty soon we'll have to cut it so he won't have a mullet). It's still so funny to me that most people automatically assume he has blond hair because you can't see it, but I assure you his hair is as dark as the rest of ours. Todd is secretly hoping it doesn't come in until after Halloween. He thinks James would make the best little Charlie Brown with his bald head and his ears that poke out.
He is still as busy as ever and it's been quite an adjustment getting used to him. I really had no idea how blessed we were with Hailee. I never understood when Hailee was little and we had places to go people would always offer to babysit. All our trips to doctors and other appointments people would ask if they could babysit for me. I never took them up on it because Hailee was really good and would just sit quietly with us. Now that James has come I finally understand. The thought of driving an hour to Todd's doctor and then having to sit for up to two hours waiting and talking to the doctor only to turn around and drive an hour home with James makes me break out in hives. He just can't stand the thought of sitting still for 5 minutes. The other day we went to dinner and it was a wrestling match the entire time. I only ate about half my food and the rest of the time it was trying to contain James. He wasn't bad, he was just curious. He wanted to talk to all the people around us, he wanted to see what was under the table, find out what sound the ketchup made if you dropped it on the floor, and on and on.
We all have absolutely loved the last year with this little guy. He has us all wrapped around his little finger. He loves playing with his sister when he is not driving her crazy they actually get along and play quite well together. Most of the time they are quite sweet with each other.
