Can you really be almost a year old now?  Yes, we see it in you everyday…you’re starting to lose the look of a baby and look more like a little boy.  It’s scary to us you know? Perhaps you should slow down a little.

This month has been a month of discovering emotions and practicing getting stronger in the skills you already know.  I have a feeling that you’ll walk in the next 4 weeks, because you always seem to learn new skills one month, and then take a month to assimilate. You’re becoming a VERY practiced crawler…and are able to pull yourself up on things easily and sit down as well.  You’ve also had less accidents this month which is great!  Nothing worse than seeing your little one tumble head first into a glass table (EEK) or fall flat when he’s trying to stand.  I sometimes think it’s harder on us than it is on you!  You’re over it a few moments later, but we keep worrying.

You’re into everything these days and have learned the art of the stealth maneuver. I caught you a few days ago in the bathroom next to the toilet, just having knocked over the toilet brush (which had some yucky water in the bottom of the holder that spilled on the floor) and you were crawling in it! Thank goodness I caught you just as it happened so I put you right in the bath to get cleaned up. Yuck. I’ve learned to listen for the quiet these days!

We’re just about 4 weeks away from totally moving out of Catford, and as usual, haven’t even really started packing.  All 3 of us are down with colds at the moment…your Dad keeps going away to work and bringing more than just money home.  This is your 2nd cold in the last month. Thankfully I avoided the last one for the most part, but this one is getting me down!  You’re out with your Daddy at the moment, though I had qualms about sending you out, but in the end my need for a little space won that argument.  I’m feeling a bit selfish now. Ah the guilt of Mothers. We swim in it.

You’ve said some really interesting things this last month….you practice talking a lot and sometimes we’re amazed at what you say.  This morning you sneezed and coughed a bit and said “I have a cold”.  Now some would argue that there’s no way in hell you could say that at your age, but there it was. Very plainly.  If you get lucky with language…you sure get lucky a lot!  The other night you were cracking us up (until you wouldn’t go back to bed for 2 hours) as we came to bed late (gone 2 I think) and you woke up as we laid down to sleep. To wake us up you were whispering your own name over and over. Now anyone who hasn’t heard little kids whisper….it IS possibly the cutest thing EVER. After that you said a few more things, called one of us a WANKER, I think it was meant for your Dad really, and then kept me up for another 2 hours.

You’re also going through a bit of a fit throwing stage.  You’re over them very quickly, but it’s all about not understanding why we say yes to some things and no to others. Why can I pull on Daddy’s nose, but not on Mommy’s nipple?  Why can I take my trousers off but not my nappy?  Why can I watch 3 Pomplemoose videos on youtube but not 8?  Why can I play with the water in the bathtub but not the water in the toilet?? Ah yes. So you tend to throw a bit of a wobbly when we tell you no. It’s all part of the learning process I guess. From what I’ve read, you’ll start to listen to the word no in a few months, but you won’t truly understand WHY we tell you know for a few years yet..so we have a long way to go.

You’re really going through an interesting phase with clothing and nappies.  It’s pretty cold in London right now and you tolerate clothes while you’re up and about…but you WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT sleep in clothes. We even had to switch your naptime/nightime nappies to pull up pants because you just would not keep a nappy on otherwise. (serves me right for teaching you how to do velcro!) You seem to tolerate the pull ups though you still protest a bit of course.  It’s either those or you’re sleeping in the bathtub I guess!

You are officially eating cheese now which is fantastic!  You still don’t seem to be able to tolerate yogurt.  I guess it just has too much lactose in it for your system, but cheddar, swiss, and glouchester seems to be fine.  You love love love cheese.  Your eating is usually pretty good, but you have slowed a bit in the last few weeks.  Sometimes you don’t eat much breakfast, though your lunch and dinner are still fine it seems.  You’re signing a lot more with food to tell me that you’re all done or you want something else, which is very helpful!  A few weeks ago I gave you some banana and you threw it on the floor and signed “ALL DONE”. Then immediately you signed, “MORE FOOD!”. I took that to mean that you weren’t eating any damned banana, and could I then get you something proper to eat? You are cheeky!

I think we’re about to do the great toy clear out when we move as you’re pretty bored with most of them.  You play with your books and blocks and animals…but there are a lot of baby toys that you’re completely uninterested in now.  We’re really picky about what we buy you (almost all your toys are hand me downs or were purchased by friends/family) because you’re more interested in playing with household items anyway.  I think your first birthday is going to see you getting some musical things..cause you never seem to lose interest in those.  We also want to get you a rag doll…as you have no dolls at all, but have seemed really interested in playing with them at other people’s houses.  We got you a racecar walker, it’s only fair you have a doll as well.

It’s been a bit of a hard month for Mummy, I think knowing that I’m not going to the States in Dec, for the 2nd year in a row…and also because your Daddy will probably go for 3 weeks on his own.  It’s hard to know that we won’t get a break from the cold greyness of London, and I’m starting to feel increasingly isolated from everyone. I’ve tried to start working on the things that I love in order to fill that space, but I think it may be too early and now it just seems as if I’ve piled more work on top of myself and I’m not getting the pleasure out of it that I should be.  I think about people who are lucky enough to live close to their parents, or their best friends and have some sort of support network. I really don’t have that.  Steve is an amazing husband and father, but he’s just one human.  As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and I think we need at least one more person in our village.  I wonder how single mothers do it really? It must be that if you know that there is no hope of help, you just get on with it. Perhaps I need to stop whining and just get on with it too.  Anyhoo, I miss my parents, and my friends and my family in general.  It’s hard sometimes.  Hard but worth it.  I look into your clever little eyes and know that each and every second that we’ve spent with you is helping to make you a strong and happy and healthy adult.  I pray every day that you grow into a strong, happy and healthy person who is true to himself and others and who knows that his parents love him with all their hearts.

You are still the single most amazing occurrence in my life. You bring joy to me every day. You make me laugh a lot; sometimes you make me cry too…but mostly you just make me love. Thank you.

Faves this month:

Activities:
Standing up and sitting down
stalking the vaccum
crawling into rooms where you’re not meant to go
watching CeeBeebies

Music
Pomplamoose!
Daddy’s new music
Songs from Dr. Horrible
La La La Lemon
You are also singing, I forgot to mention this earlier.  It’s brilliant!  Good pitch too!

Fave toys:
Sticky covers for wipes
Daddy’s Card Reader
Blocks (we set em up, you knock em down! )
BOOKS!! YOU LOVE EM!

Fave Foods:
Curry
Quinoa
Blueberries
Kiwi
Grapes
Carrot
Broccoli
Toast
Cheese
Pasta

Words: (things you say on a regular basis)
Hiya
Hey
Yeah
(your own name)
Good
Book
Ball

In sign language:
UP
All Done
Food
More
Dog (though I’m not sure you know what it means)
Cheese