I'm also out of pages in Samuel's baby book (which I filled out after much procrastination) so I thought I would talk about some fun and interesting things he's learned in the last month.
- We have been teaching Samuel his body parts. We've been working on most of them since he was only a few month old, but so far he is only able to identify his hair, someone else's nose, and his penis. Lately, he has been very curious about his penis. Every time we change his diaper or give him a bath he touches it so we tell him what it is called. He just happened to catch on to that one much faster than anything else - ha ha!
- He give us, and his stuffed monkey, hugs. One day he was giving me hugs then backed up and started signing more. So I gave him a bunch more hugs. He's such a little love bug.
- He's been walking more regularly and even stands up on his own to start walking. Now that he's gotten the hang of it he wants to practice all the time. Sometimes I will turn around and there he is walking up behind me. He even walks in the tub!
- The first solid food we fed him was bananas and he loved them. They have been one of his favorite foods for a while now, but this month he has decided that he hates them. If we put them on his tray he will throw them off and if we try feeding them to him he will spit them out. He went through a phase where he only wanted to eat finger foods and now all of the sudden he likes when we feed him purees. I just sneak his bananas or other fruits and veggies in there.
- Now that he is a year old his attention span is increasing. Sometimes I will turn on Nickelodeon or the Sprout channel and he will actually watch part of a program. His favorites are Calliou, Kipper, Wonder Pets and Sesame Street.
- I can tell he is starting to learn discipline. He will hand us objects he knows he isn't supposed to have or he will pick up something new and look to us to see if it is okay. Also, he will start smiling and slowly inching towards things he knows he is not supposed to touch. He's definitely starting to test his limits.
- He loves to open all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. I only installed locks on the cabinets with toiletries (all the cleaners and medicines are up high) so he could still have some to explore. Although, since he likes to empty out the contents of them, I am thinking I may need to install some more!
- Our efforts at teaching him sign language are starting to pay off. He learned 3 new signs this month - fan, milk and light. He had already learned all done and more.
- He has started climbing over and on top of things like the ottoman and tables (especially when he's in the booth with us at restraunts). He also tries to stand up in the cart when we are out shopping.
- He danced for the first time this month. I was singing the old Rock-A-Teens song from the 50s called "Woo Hoo" and he started bouncing up and down with his arms in the air. I grabbed his hands and started dancing with him and he laughed and laughed.
- He has started to master many of his developmental toys. He is able to stack rings & blocks, pull the lever on his See & Say and maneuver the knobs on his Pop-Up Farm. He is also able to fit the blocks into his shape sorter. The other night he even worked one of his 3-piece wood puzzles.
- He laughs at his daddy doing push-ups.
- We went to our first story time at the library this month. His favorite book that was read was "Go Away, Big Green Monster!" He especially loved the monster puppet.
- When we lay in the floor on our backs he likes to climb up on our tummies and bounce. I imagine he's thinking, "Giddy up, Mommy (or Daddy)!"
