Tuesday, October 23, 2012

13 months

Wow, the 13 month has brought a lot of changes into our life.  To say he has mastered walking would be an understatement.  In just a few weeks it went from a wobbly toddler to a quick little runner giggling as he ran away from his parents at every chance.  With the good also comes the bad. A few more bumps and scrapes as Brayden can get up to speed fast, but stopping often involves tripping on toys that he has left around the house.

The not so fun development is the ability to throw tantrums.  I thought it was supposed to be the terrible two's, who said anything about the terrible 13 month olds.  Brayden knows what he wants, and if he doesn’t get it, will sit on the floor and lean forward and slam his head into the carpet.  Luckily for him he hasn't tried to throw a tantrum on cement as I think it would be a quick lesson of how tantrums are not as fun as they may seem.

His additional independence has also changed our summer a lot from last year.  A relaxing day at the lake where you lay him in a blanket and read has become a day where you’re lucky if you get to refill your drink as you chase after a giggly baby, scoop sand out of his mouth that he decided might taste good, and keep a steady supply of sippys and snacks as being a big boy walker takes a lot of energy.  

My baby is a 1 year old

My little baby just became a 1 year old.  It’s amazing to look back at the first year of his life, the stages, the changes, and also look forward to everything the next year will bring.

His birthday party went well, even if everything didn’t work out as planned.  My goal for his Mickey themed birthday was to use my birthday gift of a circuit and make most of the decorations myself.  Well, the circuit never worked for me, which already threw a big wrench in my plans.  Add to that the fact that some things are just too expensive, while others just take too much time, we had to make some cuts.

Even with the cuts, it was an amazing party, and the weather turned out fantastic as well letting everyone enjoy the outside weather.  We had mickey burgers for lunch, mickey cake for desert, and mickey ears for fun.  I think Brayden was more excited about the sheer number of people at his party then the presents or anything else.  He loves to be around people, and whenever there is a party, he doesn’t want to nap as he is afraid he'll miss even a second of the fun.

Catching up to the one year mark

What has gone on you ask, well everything.  Life has gotten extra busy, and that’s a good thing. But here are some of the highlights of the 7 month blog break.

- Braydens first Christmas It’s funny how a special holiday gets even more special with a little one.  I can't wait until next year’s Christmas when Brayden can get excited about presents and stockings and opening things up.  This year he was too young for much of the excitement, but it was still an amazing holiday for our family.  It also helps to have braydens presents under the tree as without them it always used to look a little bare.  We probably spoiled him a little too much but that’s what Christmas is for.  To give parents a reason

- Sledding  We got to sled a few times this winter, and needless to say, it’s a little anticlimactic for an infant.  Brayden did well and didn’t seem to mind it, but I’m looking forward to trying again next year when he can enjoy the rush of wind and the chill of snowflakes on your face.  I’m sure it didn’t help that he was in a snow suit much like the Christmas story that keep his arms and legs spread out.  But he sure was a warm little peanut.

- Museum - there is not much you can do in winter with a baby, but visiting inside things like the museum was a great choice.  It also holds some extra significance with the face that mommy and daddy had wedding pictures there due to the rain.  Brayden loved the people more than the exhibits, but he was fascinated by the butterfly exhibit and even got to see a few butterflies up close. 

- Standing up on things - right about at the 7 month range, Brayden began to pull himself up on various pieces of furniture. I think it started with his crib.  Every morning or after nap, when we go into his room, he is standing up in the corner of his crib, with his arms held to in the "get me outta here" pose.  Standing up added a whole list of things for mommy and daddy to do, as now it was another couple of feet that needed to be baby proofed.  From cabinet knobs and drawer handles to clearing off coffee and end tables, it’s slowing becoming more and more braydens domain.  Where once a flower pot or picture was, now is a toy truck and stuffed animal.

- Walking a few steps  - we began trying to walk about 10 months, with a few steps at a time.  It was more brought on  by mommy setting him standing in the middle of the room and then moving a few feet away then Brayden wanting to walk himself.  Regardless, he was starting to pick it up, or at least get a few steps down.  He quickly decided however that walking was just too slow.  So he regressed a bit, and converted to a lightning fast crawl whenever he was put in a standing position and then given something out of his reach.

- Hand foot and mouth  -  Another thing that didn’t help the walking was that about at 11 months, Brayden got hand foot and mouth.  Isn't daycare great, they learn to share everything, even germs.  We had seen a week before that one kid had it, and one week later, Brayden and 4 other classmates came down with it as well.  The blisters cover his hands, feet, mouth / lips, and bum.  To say it looked painful is an understatement.  And there isn't a treatment, beyond giving it time to resolve itself.  Talk about feeling like a helpless parent. 

Brayden also stopped trying to walk completely during this time, and who can blame him.  When you have huge blisters on your feet, crawling sounds pretty good to even me.  All in all, it’s amazing how quickly babies recover.  I could swear when it was happening that he would have scars from the blisters as they were everywhere and big.  But with it behind us now, there is not a trace of the marks and even during the process he was in far less pain at least outward showing then I know I would have been.


- Swim lessons  The Lake is such a party of our family, from gathering there for social events to relaxing on a hot summer day.  We knew we wanted to get Brayden into swim lessons early, as the quicker he can swim, the more comfortable we will be at the lake/pools/Kalahari etc.  And who says 9 months is too early to do the butterfly?  We signed Brayden up for "swim lessons" at the YMCA to accomplish that goal.  Well, I use the quotes because at the baby stage, it’s more about getting comfortable being in water with a parent, and not about learning swimming itself.

It was a great way however to do some family bonding mandatory each week.  We tried having both mommy and daddy swim with Brayden, but that got too overwhelming so we decided to switch off each week.  That also allowed for some cute pictures to happen, so you can't complain