Christmas

One Year Old!

It is amazing to me how much he has grown and changed in just ONE YEAR! We had a small family birthday party for him, and he had a great time. He loved having everyone over and having three of his cousins at his house to play with. He ended up eating most of two cupcakes on top of a huge dinner...he LOVES food.

Some of his favorite things to do right now (aside from figuring out how to get into areas we block off or open cabinets we have locked) include playing with the dogs, playing 'chase' with anyone who will 'chase' him, climbing under anything he can wiggle under or over anything he can get a foot hold on. He loves being outside, and as long as the weather is at all warm enough we try to get him outside for at least a little while every day.

He is 100% boy, into anything and everything and keeps us on our toes every second! (Did I mention that we totally love it?)

Halloween

For Halloween he was a little frog, mainly because I know by next year he is probably going to want to pick his own costume. We went to both grandparents and got to see his two of his cousins and some aunts and uncles. He didn't really like having the feet on, because he couldn't walk in them, but he actually kept the hat on pretty well.

Eleven Months

At eleven months old, he has so much personality and such a strong opinion about things. He is really starting to understand words, and mimics sounds constantly. He has a handful of words that he says all the time and then other words that he has said randomly, but he doesn't say them often and we aren't sure he really knows what they mean.

He is past the point of 'learning' to walk, he really has it down for the most part. He can get up from a sitting position without using anything to help him up, bend over while standing and pick something off the ground, and is mastering the art of walking in his shoes. He still falls, but less often and he is crawling less and less because it is almost as fast for him to get to something walking as it is for him to get there crawling.

Going outside is one of his favorite things. He loves to walk around the yard, and now that he has it down when he falls his hands pop up in the air so that we can put our fingers where he can pull himself back up. He LOVES the dogs and gets super excited when they come inside and loves following them around when we go outside. He likes the cat more, but she still runs and hides from him.

Bath time is one of his favorite events. The other night while he was in his bath Ronnie asked him "Do you like the water?" and he looked at him and said "Wa-er", and ever since then has been trying to drink it out of the faucet.

He still would rather play with us or anything electrical than with toys, but he does love his blocks, his ball crawl, and really balls of any kind. He has a little toy that looks like a radio that plays different songs when you hit the button and he has started 'singing' along with it.

The above picture was the first time he got to sit at the table instead of using his tray...he loved it! And he loved having his own bowl...he kept stirring his food around and laughing.

He is such a happy guy, giggles and laughs constantly and jabbers on all the time. Although he doesn't have consistent words yet, he changes his pitch to show that he is questioning, excited, frustrated, happy....really the full range. He loves having other kids around to play with, and when people come over or we go somewhere he goes around to everyone to say hi and to greet them.

It seems like every day he does something new, or something a little bit better and you can tell that he is just soaking up everything around him. He is so amazing! We truly are the luckiest parents ever!

Ten months old and on the go!

Once he hit the ten month mark, he decided it was time to move! He started off taking two or three small steps, then a few more. He fell a lot, but would just crawl over to something he could use to pull himself up on and start all over!

We decided he was a little young for the state fair, but we did bring him home a cheese on a stick to try...he LOVED it!

He is so curious! If you walk outside he is pressing his nose against the glass to see what you are doing, if you go into another room he is right behind you. When we go new places he wants to 'explore' by crawling or walking into every room and putting whatever he can find in his mouth.

10 Months Old

Thomas is ten months old now and curious about EVERYTHING! Every time I think we have something child proofed, he figures out a way around it! He crawls all over the house, and is standing more and more often on his own. Although he loves to crawl around, he also likes to get in his walker and race through the house. He weighs 18.4 pounds, and is SO big! He is an extremely happy baby, laughing and smiling almost all of the time.

Baptism

Thomas was baptized on August 16th at St. Pauls Catholic Church by Deacon LaChance. Natalie and Andy are his Godparents.