13 months

13 months old!

I'm done with the monthly stickers, but I still like to capture a snapshot of the month, so here are some from Christmas morning, Wilder's 13 month birthday. :-)

This month, Wilder:

• Has mastered cruising and is beginning to let go of support. He's got pretty good balance, but our careful guy is reluctant to take steps without backup. He gets around quickly though, by holding onto things and crawling!
• Started stacking blocks and other items on Tuesday!
• Said his first words: mama and dada. He's also said "puffs" and "moon". He knows who people and pets are, and nods his head when you ask him things like "would you like a drink of water?" "Do you want to see the Christmas tree?"
• Loves all the Christmas decorations and the tree is a new fascination every morning
• Is obsessed with the advent calendar
• He'll do a spin on his bottom to get to a new direction
• Shares his food, toys, you name it with anyone!
• Still loves reading. His favorite books right now are Curious George Goes to the Zoo and Where is Baby's Puppy? He will point things out in the books and laugh when you finally find whatever character has been hiding.
• Takes 1-2 naps a day and wakes up once in the night.
• Eats lots of things. Right this second his favorite food is pomegranate seeds, followed by yogurt and strawberries. He enjoys almond butter toast too.
• Playing outside is his favorite activity besides reading. He loves leaves!
• He's wearing 12 month clothes. Pants are still a bit long.
• He's such a sweet, happy boy. He laughs at everything and loves participating in conversations with laughter. He is our joy!

More photos!

12 months old

12 months old!!

Today is the day, my friends. Thank you for walking with me through Wilder's first year! At 6:08 a.m. one year ago, Wilder Dean Boatwright joined our family. What a joy and a blessing he is--far more than I ever expected. As I've been looking through photos from the last 12 months(wayyy too many :-)) I'm overwhelmed with how much Wilder has changed. From a shell-shocked newborn to a happy infant, a charismatic baby to a curious little boy. He laughs all the time and he loves to cuddle. He's precise, determined and meticulous, but loves to explore his world and enjoys his foods. Wilder, I'm so very excited to watch you grow up!

This month, Wilder:

• Height: 29.5" weight 17 lb, head 45.75 cm. His 12 month appointment isn't until December 1, so these stats are what Zach and I put together. He wears 12 month clothes, but his pants are too long.
• Wilder says mamama, hey, and wow. He'll nod his head yes and shake it no, but he doesn't always connect words/actions with what's going on. He points things out all the time though!
• Wilder is standing holding on to things all the time. ALL THE TIME. He's cruising too-- taking little steps while hanging on. And every so often he lets go of everything for a second or two and just stands by himself! He can crawl really fast.
• He eats 3 meals a day with a snack or two. He loves yogurt, any kind of meatball and fruit, especially apples and pears. He's started using a spoon for soups and yogurt and is very deliberate about it, but he mostly still eats with his hands. He'll also "dip" things into his bowl. He can drink from his cup and water bottles with help.
• He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 and wakes up between 6:30 and 7. He usually takes two naps, sometimes only one (Mama does NOT like that). He will occasionally sleep from bedtime to morning, but usually wakes once to nurse.
• Wilder LOVES airplanes right now. He can hear them from inside the house and will point toward the ceiling. Outside he can hear and spot them before we can. They've been flying around here a lot lately, so he really enjoys walks and being outside spotting planes.
• Wilder will sit in front of his bookshelf and choose books to read--pulling every single one off the shelf. He loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Huggy Kissy, Sophie the Giraffe books, Where is Baby's Belly Button? Barnyard Dance and those bathtub dollar store books. He will read for a very long time (like 10 books in a sitting).
• Wilder loves to flip light switches on and off. On and off. Off and on. And he'll open his kitchen cabinet and take out every single cup and piece of tupperware. And sit in front of his toy box and systematically take every toy out. We've not graduated to putting anything back... :-)
• He recognizes people and pets, and is starting to connect things like turning a switch on to the light switching on and off overhead. He'll sit and play with a bead pusher toy or toys with buttons for a long long time.
• He still has 8 teeth - 4 on top, 4 on the bottom, but he's been teething all month. I think some molars are next!

As always, here are some more photos!

Eleven Months Old

11 months old

I wrote this post on Wilder’s 11 month birthday while we were in Italy, but I waited to post it until we took the monthly photo. I’m trying to come to grips with my baby turning one in November. It’s coming on too quickly!

This month I’m seeing Wilder mature into a little boy. He’s a crawler, he’s starting to pull himself up and he has so much personality. He’s a bit cautious and precise in his movements, but he laughs easily and it doesn’t take much to make him smile. He loves interacting with people, petting Pierre, smacking things to make noise and throwing balls. He eats just about everything (except tomatoes and eggs) and loves blowing bubbles in water. Our little boy is the joy of our life, and we’re so happy to spend this time watching him grow.

This month, Wilder:

• Stats—I don’t know how much he weighs or how tall he is. He doesn’t have a pediatrician appointment this month, and we don’t have a scale around. He’s a bit small for 12 month old clothes and too big for 9 month old clothes.
• Wilder says “Hey” when you come in his room after a nap or when you bring him into a room where people are. He says ohlohlohl a lot too. His big thing this month is nodding “yes” and shaking his head “no.”
• He crawls really fast now and can pull himself into a standing position. He’s even started trying to climb up stairs. he’s stood without holding onto anything for a few seconds, but hasn’t started cruising. He’s super careful to sit down deliberately after he’s stood for a while.
• Wilder eats three meals a day with the occasional afternoon snack. He loves cutie oranges, peaches, pears and strawberries. He can feed himself yogurt and soup somewhat with a spoon as well as his other foods. He drinks water like a camel from his cup and blows bubbles in water and yogurt. On our trip to Europe, he’s tried: croissants, pastries, foi gras, pate, gnocchi, gelato (just a smidge), all kinds of pasta, prosciutto…
• Wilder sleeps through the night most of the time. In Europe, he would often wake up when we went to bed because he heard us come in the room, but when he slept in a separate room he slept all night. He takes two naps a day.
• Reading is by far Wilder’s favorite activity. We read him about 20 books a day… or like 4 books, 5 times a day. He is content to sit and be read to for many many minutes at a time. If he’s fussy, pull out a book and he will laugh and clap his hands as he turns pages on cue. His favorites right now are: Huggy Kissy, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Sophie the Giraffe books and a couple of bath books I got at the dollar store. I will always remember reading Huggy Kissy literally 20 times in a row nonstop while traveling on planes, trains and automobiles in Europe.
• He recognizes people and pets, and he will look at the correct person/pet if you ask him “Where’s Mimi?” “Where’s Pierre?” etc. He’ll also wave “bye bye.”
• He got two more teeth on our trip--both on top! That makes 8 teeth in all--three all this last month. Yikes!

Here are some more photos!

This is his fish face. He'll do it if you do it to him too!

Ten months old

10 months old

We're into the double digits! This past month Wilder learned to crawl, and it's totally changed our little family! He's getting faster and faster--he's like a speedy turtle marching across the floor. He has found the wall plugs, and specks of leaf, and drawers to open and close, but he's not a tornado into everything (yet). It's been so fun watching him be really mobile, and he's having a blast getting around. Right now he'll crawlcrawlcrawl and stop and double over laaughing… and crawlcrawlcrawl. Just to go somewhere. If we build a stack of blocks or cups, he makes a beeline to knock them over as fast as he can. So fun. He's also still content to sit and read a book(really loves books right now) and to be worn in a carrier while we run errands. We go for walks or running with the stroller just about every day, and I think he likes seeing the world pass him by from his comfy seat.

This month, Wilder:

• Weighs 17.9 lbs. I will say he had his clothes and diaper on for a sick visit at the Dr. on his birthday, so I think he weighed more than he would normally. :-) That's a whole bunch more than last month! I don't know how tall he is to be honest. I tried to measure him and it was around 28 inches.
• He has 5 teeth--a top one is finally poking through!
• He sleeps through the night sometimes, other times waking 1-2 times a night for a snack or to be rocked for a few minutes. He still sleeps 8 pm to 7 am most of the time, and takes two 2 1 hour-90 min naps a day.
• He crawls! Rolls, crawls with military precision, drags a peg leg, practically break dances sometimes. He'll pull up on the coffee table to his knees too.
• Wilder still eats 3 full meals a day. He loves his fruits and veggies. Cutie oranges and strawberries are favorites right now. He's started eating oatmeal too and loving it. He had some pureed zucchini soup this months and stuffed his baby belly full!
• Wilder tries to share his food with us every single meal these days. 
• He says "ohlohlohl" all the time right now. Also mum and dada. Still not totally connected to us though.
• He loves reading books right now. Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Huggy, Kissy; and Sophies Colors are big favorites at the moment.
• Wilder and Pierre are still buddies. Even now that Wilder can crawl at Pierre, he just accepts the "pets" and even let Wilder sit on him the other day. Pierre is worth his (hefty) weight in gold for his patience with the baby.
• We went to Houston for a wedding and College Station for a reunion this month. That's twice he stayed in hotel rooms in a month, and he did so great. He'll even buckle down for naps… sort of. We're still working on that, but he slept at night so much better than past trips.

Here are some more photos!