Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: Milestones: 13 Months Old

I just realized I have still been telling people Austin is 12 months old, when in reality, he has been 13 months now for 6 days! I think I have been in denial. I don't want my baby to grow up!

At 13 Months, Austin is:

- Talking A LOT. Mostly babble, but he has added a few words to his repertoire such as: Baby (whenever he sees a baby or a picture of a baby), more (whenever he wants more food or drink), dog (he loves dogs and says this word constantly throughout the day). He is also learning how to bark like a dog, and the yesterday he learned the word eyes. I have been trying to teach him the different parts of the face and now he walks around poking people in the eye and saying, "eyes!" I also hear him saying "baba" a lot throughout the day which doesn't stop until I give him his bottle. He also says "Jesus" whenever we climb the stairs towards our picture of Christ at the top.

- This kid is so social and he loves other kids! Whether he knows them or not, he wants to be their friend. Sometimes I feel bad for him because the other kids don't always want to play with him (usually because they are 5 years older than him) and he doesn't understand that. He thinks he is big too and doesn't understand why they don't want him tagging along.

- He calls other kids "baby" whether they are actually babies or not. I honestly think he thinks he is an adult like us and sees all the other kids as babies. He is getting better at being gentle with the actual babies which helps me not feel so nervous whenever he runs up to them wanting to pet them like a puppy. All day long he says "baby" and points to all the pictures of himself around the house. He doesn't know that is him..... it's so cute!

- He got his first kiss at the splash pad a few weeks ago. I died laughing, and the mom of the little girl died from being so mortified at her daughter's forwardness. The story went like this, I took Austin to the splash pad to play and get some of his energy out. There was a little black girl his exact same age there and instantly they connected. At first they stood there staring and poking at each other. I think the difference in skin color was the reason for that. They seemed to be in awe! Then they began playing and the two were inseparable. Where one went, the other followed. Her mom and I had a great time just talking and watching them explore together. Then, out of the blue, the little girl went up to Austin, grabbed both of his arms so he couldn't escape, and gave him the biggest kiss! It was such a big kiss that it knocked him off his feet! He just laid there on the ground, stunned. He wouldn't move. He laid there and stared at her, totally confused at what just happened. Like I said earlier, her mom was mortified. She picked Austin up and kept apologizing. I thought the whole thing was too cute for words and told her not to worry about it. From there on out, the little girl chased Austin around the park trying to kiss him and he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. It was love I tell you! So stinking adorable!

- We also had a not so hilarious experience at the splash pad. Austin loves water. He loves to play in it, and most of all, he loves to drink it. He doesn't care where it comes from or how disgusting it is, he will drink it! So I find myself constantly chasing him around trying to keep him from drinking the pool water, the puddle water, the dog bowl water, the bubble bath water, and the splash pad water. He was too fast for me this time though and boy did he suffer the consequences! For over a week he developed the worst case of diarrhea he has ever had in his life and with that came the worst diaper rash of his life. We were all miserable. It killed us every time we had to change his diaper (which was multiple times per hour) because he screamed in agony and was literally shaking from the pain. I tried everything in the book to help soothe that diaper rash but nothing I did worked until the diarrhea stopped. We are SO glad that's over!!!

- He is in the stage of life where he is watching everything we do and he is learning what our routines are. When we say it is bed time or nap time, he runs to the staircase and begins racing us up the stairs. This little race also happens at bath time. When we wake up in the morning, he asks for his bottle (baba), then he runs to the living room windows because he knows that's where I am heading next to open the blinds. When he sees Josh and I talking, he wants to come talk too. When he sees Josh and I kissing, he wants to come kiss us too. He is our constant shadow and we have to be very careful around him.

-One of our biggest challenges with him being our shadow is that he wants to do whatever we do! So he now loves to unload the dishwasher and run around with the knives, open up the oven, and any other dangerous thing he can do to drive me insane throughout the day! He is climbing now so our childproofing has gotten even more creative. It is a constant challenge and we have to always be watching him because the second we aren't, you can bet that he is doing something he shouldn't.

- We started putting him in time out because saying "no" isn't working. He just repeats "no" back to us while shaking his head vigorously and then returns to doing the naughty thing we were saying no to! I have noticed the time outs working, although not as well as I would like. I have to sit there with him to keep him from escaping and at first I don't know who was more excited for that minute to pass by, him or me. He threw a fit and for those 60 seconds and I felt like I was holding a wild animal thrashing around trying to make its run for freedom. Then, once he got used to it, he started putting himself in time out! As soon as I would yell "no!" he would run to the corner and make a game out of it. Although it feels more like a game now, he has calmed down slightly and knows I mean business so I think it is working on some level.