Thirteen Months

With my very late one year post in mind I have been committed to being prompt with Leland’s thirteen month post. Today marks thirteen months exactly for my little man. July has been a very busy month, full of blessings.

I don’t have any updates on Leland’s height or weight since his one year check-up, but I can assure you he is growing. He eats, a lot! Sometimes he even eats as much as I do. He has a few new favorite foods: spaghetti with meat sauce; and steamed carrots. He is still nursing 3-5 times per day, although our nursing sessions generally only last between 5-20 minutes at a time. I nurse him first thing in the morning, after lunch, sometimes before dinner, before bedtime, and sometimes during the night.

Leland is sleeping though the night some now. He wakes up about 2 out of every 3 nights, usually between 2:30 AM and 5:30 AM. Lately, it has been closer to 5:30 AM, which is almost all the way through the night. He still naps in the car on the way to and from the daycare. We are trying to achieve an after lunch nap between noon and 2 PM at daycare, but this is slow going with limited success. Many days we can get him to nap, but often the nap only lasts 20 minutes. This week he graduated from the crib at daycare to a floor mat. This only complicates the napping situation.

Leland has his first tooth in the bottom front of his mouth. It started coming in around the beginning of July and is now nearly all the way in. He shows no signs of any new teeth coming in any time soon. He is so, so close to walking. He stands without support and sometimes tries to take a step. He literally runs around the room holding onto a push toy. I am nearly certain he will start walking this month.

We had a few little firsts this month. We bought him his first pair of real shoes. They are brown suede Stride Rite shoes. He mostly wears them to play outside at the daycare. Good baby shoes are expensive! I’ve made a note to check the fall consignment sales for some shoes in the next few sizes up. We had our first power outage last night. We encountered an awful storm on our way home last night and arrived to find the power was out. Leland had yogurt, fruit, puffs, and cheese for dinner. The power was thankfully restored about 10 PM last night. My biggest worry was that my small freezer stash of milk (about 30 oz) would defrost.

Leland’s vocabulary continues to improve. He calls Archer (our cat) and Daisy (our dog) by name. He says “cat” when referring to both Archer and Penny (our other cat). Frequently used words (as is words we hear almost daily) include: more, done, Daisy, cat, dada, mama, up, bye-bye, and Amen. My heart just melts when he says “Amen.” When we say a prayer at dinner he will usually repeat Amen after Robert and I say it. Sometimes he will say Amen over and over during the whole prayer. It is so, so sweet and I just love it!

Monday starts the new school year here and marks the start of a new curriculum year at Leland’s daycare. There has been some transitions in place this week, but next week he will officially be in the Toddler class, with new teachers, two new children added to the group, and a new daily schedule.

Leland with his Mema (great-grandmother)

Playing his Xylophone

Proud of his new IKEA stool - looking out his bedroom window...

With mommy in the kiddie pool

Ready for a bath

"Helping" in the Kitchen

Sleeping