December Tidbits:

First, a flashback photo, circa LAST year:

Awww..... QuasiSanta! Love this one!

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Second, A few cute tidbits about my cute baby (toddler??!) from recent days:

* He does the CUTEST thing: he'll push his little wooden fire truck or his big plastic fire truck, etc. around on the floor while he scoots, and MAKE "VROOM VROOM" NOISES. Seriously??? Seriously. It melts me into a puddle every time.

*his mimicking is really picking up-- he mimics baby signs, attempts words, and does the motions to songs. All of these are ROUGH, of course... but it's a start!

*when he attempts a verbal word, he will say the LAST consonants. NOT the first ones. Example: I say "sock", he repeats, "kkk. kkk. kkk." And today, he also attempted the sign for "sock". It amazed me. yay, Noah!!

*He has become a CHAMPION cow's milk drinker. Yesterday, he had 18 ounces total, all from a sippy, and very little dribbling down his chin like it used to when he was getting used to it.

*He is really good at climbing stairs AND getting back down. We don't have any in our apt., but we do have a LOT in the Mason Lodge in general. So we'll take him to those stairs for intentional playtime/practice. He LOVES it and works so hard. It's great for wearing him out!!

*He is SO good with our Christmas decorations. I started from day one pointing to the lights and the various decorations and signing/speaking the word "beautiful" in a drawn-out, hushed, reverent tone. I'd point to the tree/figurine/light/etc. and say, "beeeyooooootiful"... And he'd look at me, watch the sign, then look back at the thing. Now he "signs" the word (though his sign is not circular, around his face--- it's an open palm raised high, hallelujah! Haha!)... and shows me he recognizes the correlations. he'll even make the sign when he wants to be picked up to look closer at a Christmas object. It's AWESOME.

*He is a bit tricky to feed... He loves the stuff we ALL love, as Americans-- starch and sugar and fats.... But the veggies have lost a bit of charm. So I smuggle them into other things, and we get by! Currently, he is in LOVE with the zucchini/cranberry bread I made him!
(this video shows him letting food fall out of his mouth when he is uninterested. It's.... CHARMING. Or annoying. You choose.)



*He is in LOVE with books. He can sit quietly an pore over his whole collection for the longest time. It is amazing! He is "kind" to his books, as well, which is a blessing. I don't have to supervise terribly closely, because he just doesn't rip them! :)

*he is so musical. Loves to listen, loves to try to match pitch... Loves rhythm sections of songs....(check out this video-- it is Dave Brubeck's "Take 5", and when it is the drum solo, he is ALL over it... but when the main music starts back up, he stops. So interesting!)



*His one-year check up last month went smoothly, until the blood draw... but that is old news, and not something I want to dwell on or remember. His stats?
20 pounds, 5 ounces
29.5 inches
And healthy as a horse!!

That's all for now... But he has been doing so many new things, I need to make time to come back and do some more of these soon!

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