Thirteen Months!

This past month has certainly flown by! In fact, Ian actually turned 13 months this past Monday (June 14) and I am just now catching up on his 13 month post. Ian is definitely leaving babyhood farther and farther behind every day and starting to become much more of a toddler. I have to say that as much as we thought I would miss his little baby days, we am really enjoying the little person he is growing into. It definitely makes it harder to keep up with all his new developments though. Instead of happening at a rate of one or two a week, it seems like he can do something new every day!

Here's the run down of everything new I can think of at the moment. At thirteen months, Ian:

* likes to plays trucks - he will push them back and forth, which is definitely a new skill for him.

* likes to pull himself up on Mommy's back when she is sitting down and play peek-a-boo. This started at 12 months, but he is really getting quite adept at moving from one side to another as I look behind me and pretend to be surprised to see him!

* understands several words and phrases, including "come here", "walk to Daddy/Mommy", "put the toilet seat lid down", "do you want to eat?", "are you ready to go?", and "wait a moment".

* stands up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything and walks to the nearest couch or chair.

* often keeps his sippy cup in the bottom stove drawer and remembers where it is when he is thirsty. He can also stand up and drink his sippy cup without falling over.

* takes items out of a container and puts them back in (we love the putting back part!).

* repeats lots of sounds and laughs when we do.

* will "tickle" us and gets a huge kick out of our response.

* loves to climb (scary for Mommy!).

* will purposely challenge himself by climbing/crawling/walking over the hardest route possible.

* can get all the way out from under the middle of a large blanket.

* helps dress himself. He knows head goes first and then will put each arm up, one at a time, to go through the shirt sleeves. If he is standing up holding onto a chair, he will also step out of his shorts or pants one foot at a time.

* loves to sing along with his personalized Veggie Tales CD. He almost always sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and God is so Good. He also surprised us by clapping in the right places to The Hokey Pokey without any prompting!

* is actually starting to prefer The Wiggles to Veggie Tales. He is so fun to watch - he tries and mimicks The Wiggles and will shake his head back and forth and bounce as they dance.

* has much stronger understand of the context he can sign "more" and "all done". He made us laugh the other day by emphatically signing "all done" when we were washing his face.

* is not yet sleeping through the night, but is doing much better on going down for naps and at bedtime on his own. Often we can lay him down while he is still awake and he will go down on his own or with minimal fussing. He likes to sleep on his tummy with his knees drawn up...adorable!

Another view of our little cutie!

Happy 13 months, little boy! We love you so much and are having so much fun watching you grow!