Time's fun when you're having flies...

I hate it that I can't remember what teacher used to tell that joke. (What did one frog say to the other?) I really think it was my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Dorff, but you Mt. Vernon people can correct me if I am wrong... Anyways, back to the punch line, time flies when you're having fun. I have not updated this blog in 11 months. I noticed this when I visited a friend's blog and she had mine listed in her sidebar. It nicely tells how long it was since the blogger last posted. Sheesh.

I actually hate it when people apologize for not blogging, so I am not going to do that. I am just being super sentimental these days since my sweet son is going to be a year old in just a matter of days. We seem to be an "official" family now - with a child that can walk and talk (a little) and participate in most of what we do.  I want to mark the moment, and do a quick recap of the last year - its been a good one!

Months 0-3 - EAT
Urban was a very cute, yet very skinny baby. He never made it on the chart in weight, and we were always worried he wasn't getting enough milk. I fed him every two hours for these first few months and it was exhausting. I was so worried about feeding him that getting him to nap during the day was just not something I thought about. He cried a lot, I fed him a lot. In retrospect, we realized he was probably sleepy, not hungry! Being a first-time parent is hard! He first smiled at me at about a month and a half, and all those hours of crying were worth it.

Urban's early post-eating pose

Months 3-6 - SLEEP
After talking with friends, I realized I needed to get Urban on some sort of a sleeping schedule. So, we started the eat, awake, sleep routine and it worked! Less crying! Except that the only way we could get Urban to nap during the day was to swing him around in our arms and sing to him. (or taking a car ride, or going for a walk in the ergo carrier). So we spent a couple months sitting still three times a day while Urban napped in my arms. Again, exhausting. At about 4.5 months, we tried the good-old Ferber method and successfully got him to sleep at night and nap during the day! In a crib! At three months he started playing with toys on his own, at four months we took him to Kids Club at church for the first time. We started rice cereal at 5 months (which he loved). He started gabbering around 6 months. Once this kid started getting rest his bright and fun personality really started to show up.

Napping in my arms after Thanksgiving dinner

Months 6-9 - MOVE
Urban is advanced. I will just go ahead and put that out there. (joke). He has been rolling over since birth practically, and was scooting and crawling around by five months. He has always been a busy kid, looking around, playing and just generally entertaining himself. But during months 6-9, he was seriously on the move. There was nothing this kid would not find and put in his mouth. Electrical cords were his favorite, but really anything would do. His crawl was more of an "army crawl" for months - he pushed himself along with his right foot. Occasionally (at the end of month 7) he would "regular" crawl if on hard flooring. Goofy kid. We loved his energy, and his smile. He is just such a happy kid. We moved on to foods other than bland rice cereal, and it was so much fun to see his reaction to each new food. He ate anything we fed him, but made a face and gagged for a lot of different foods, especially plain white potatoes.

Army-crawling around our bedroom

Months 9-12 - PERSONALITY
I would say in these last three months, Urban is starting to really develop his personality. We noticed him really showing a sense of humor - he loves to crawl away from you and giggle as you chase him. He loves to be startled and scared. He has also recently decided that he would rather pick up his food with his fingers and feed himself as opposed to being spoon fed. He's already showing signs of wanting independence! Yikes! He will be asking for the car keys soon... He loooooves to eat, and his favorites are kiwi, any kind of melon, toast, yogurt, cheese and blueberries. We have been trying to teach him sign language, with signs for "more" and "all done" but he chooses to use his own signs: banging his hands on the table for "more," and ripping off his bib for "done." Hilarious. He is also quite the talker. The first word (besides babbling "da da da da") seemed to be "book," followed by ball, boo, ma ma, and what we think is monkey! That is right, our advanced kid is saying two-syllable words. Not sure what possessed me to start this, but around 9 months, after feeding him in the rocking chair, I would ask him if he wanted to "see the monkeys" and I would then lift him up to eye-level with the shelf above my head where two adorable stuffed monkeys sat. After repeating that a few times, he would try to stand on the boppy, wave his arms, look and reach out to the monkeys! Soon he was grabbing them off the shelf and carrying them around with him everywhere. Now he will grab and cuddle any stuffed animal in his room. He loves baths, swimming, books, car rides, trips to the grocery, and eating out in restaurants.

Monkey!

Chilling at Uncle Danny's pool

Mr. Personality

It's been a fantastic year - I get all weepy when I think about how much he has changed and grown, and that we no longer have a little baby in the house. I never would have imagined myself being someone who would get weepy about such things, but I guess that is what parenthood does to you.