13 months old

13 months?  really?  13 months came and went and I started to write this post about two weeks ago when I realized, he really is doing a lot more stuff right now that I really want to document! 

1) He can say ball and balloon, both he just says “ba” but he knows! 

2) He understands!  If you ask him to do something, he can do it! 

“Riley, can you put the ball in the basket?” and he will!

“Riley, can you throw the ball to Finn?” and he will!

“Riley, do not throw that cup!” and he will look you in the eye, hold it up over his head, give you a sly smile and throw that cup as hard as he possibly can and then laugh.

3) Sign Language:  He can sign more….its some version of more, it isn’t the actual sign, but he is putting his hands together and definitely wants more.  He can sign eat now too!!  He is also doing the sign for milk, except it isn’t milk he wants, but I still can’t figure out what it is and it is frustrating him because he is trying to tell us something and we are clueless.

4) He is still a thumbsucker, although he used to only do it when put to sleep, now, he will keep it in his mouth a lot more often.  :(

5) I think he is trying to jump….he does this squat thing and shoots straight up into the air…he has actually gotten his feet off the ground a couple of times.  I have no idea if that is his intention but it is hilarious to watch him do it.

6) He LOVES to dance!  He’s got the cute little butt bounce dance going on, he shakes his head from side to side and claps his hands anytime there is music….I mean he even danced the other day when Finn was singing the ABC song, no music, just Finn singing.

7) He is talking in sentences….not actual words, but if you talk to him, he will say something back to you.  He’s got inflection, he’s very excited and he looks at you when he is talking like you totally understand what he is saying.  He was full-on-gossiping with his hair stylist last week.

I get these weekly letters from the hospital that the boys were born at.  They are really awesome when you have a newborn and they continue to be interesting and useful I think as they grow.  Anyway the one I got this week about my “toddler” (gasp!!!!) says this and I think it perfectly sums up exactly what he has been doing lately:

Sometimes children with older siblings do things differently from first-borns. Instead of learning words for familiar objects and names of caregivers first and then combining words into sentences, toddlers with older siblings at home may begin their journey into the world of speech by babbling in sentences. They may sound like fluent speakers of a language no one knows. Eventually, more and more real words sprinkle their babbled sentences, until they are speaking the same language as everyone else.

 

8) He can high five!

9) He lost a toenail.  :(  He was playing in the pan cabinet in the kitchen when a lid fell out and he started bawling/sobbing uncontrollably.  I thought maybe it just scared him cuz I thought “sure, the lid is heavy, but it isn’t that heavy, it couldn’t have really hurt him.”  Until just an hour later I took off his socks and shoes and his toenail was black!  Eeek!  Within just a few short days it was all puffy and the blood bubble under it burst and then about a week after that the nail came off.  Ick.

10) When I first started typing this I was going to say that he doesn’t really wave bye-bye but he will put his hand up in the air when you wave bye-bye to him.  sort of like a “cya later”.  But now, now he can wave bye-bye and say “bu bu”!!!!  yay!

11) Books!  He loves to read books!   He will pick them up and bring them over to me, turn around and plant his butt in my lap, so stinking cute!

12) He does this downward dog thing where he puts his hands and head down on the ground with his butt up in the air and looks through his legs.  It is hilarious, and he thinks so too! 

13) He is allergic to amoxicillin.  :(  He recently had his second ear infection (not too bad for 13/14 months!) and on day 8 of taking amoxicillin he broke out in a rash, and then it got worse.  Sad baby.  :(  Big brother Finn is also allergic so I wasn’t too surprised that Riley was too.