DAYS OF GRACE: 13 Months Old

**It seems like I'm always making excuses and apologizing for how far behind I am on the blog, and here we go again with this post. It's no secret that life with a toddler just doesn't allow for much free time, combined with my New Year's resolution to organize and declutter the entire house, all three of us being sick at various times since the first of the year, and a computer that was on the fritz and finally bit the dust. Thankfully, we have a brand new computer now, the house looks great, and we're almost all healthy (my allergies finally sent me to the doctor today, which my orders to rest have given me the chance to post today). I still want to document all that's happened these last few months and I promise, one day I will be up-to-date! Hope you enjoy the coming posts as fun memories to look back on at this point!

Anthony turned 13 months on July 30th, and so much happened in between his birthday and the end of July!

Right after Anthony's birthday, he got sick with roseola. It was so sad because both of David's brothers came into town for a few days for the 4th of July, and Anthony and I weren't able to spend hardly any time with them. My usually happy-go-lucky sweet boy was so irritable and fussy for a whole week. My mom said I had roseola when I was a baby, and she also said she had never seen me so grumpy. It was a long hard week for Anthony with his fever and rash and lack of appetite, but he recovered fairly quickly. When we took him in for his appointment, he weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces, so he gained a little over a pound in a month's time, but of course, had probably lost some weight at that point due to being sick.

Anthony's trying to communicate more and more. He is starting to nod his head to say yes and no. This month he's also said "red" and "quack" and tried to say "I love you" and "thank you". He can also consistently make noises if he sees a dog, he'll try to say "arf, arf" or when he sees or hears a train, he'll say "choo, choo", which mainly just sounds like "ooh, ooh".

Foodwise, it's also been a big month for Anthony. He's now drinking whole milk! We had been extremely hesitant and fearful that he had a milk allergy. We had mixed in some formula with his cereal when he was six months, and it caused him to break out all around his mouth and even on his arms or hands where any milk touched. So, we held back until about nine months when I gave him some freeze-dried yogurt bites and the exact same thing happened. So, we waited again until after his first birthday and just went ahead and gave him some milk so we could know for sure or at least find out how severe the allergy was. As it turns out, he still broke out for about two weeks, but the milk didn't seem to bother him at all, and he loved it and drank it up! After two weeks, it stopped doing it just like that. We asked his pediatrician about it, and it is apparently just a mild reaction at the first introduction and that's all. Thank goodness for that! Since it ended up being okay and with hot mid-July summer days, Anthony got his first taste of ice cream on the 20th, and he loved it! Also, the boy who refused to eat sweet pea baby food now loves actual sweet peas. Go figure!

Anthony is still not walking at 13 months. However, he can stand easily and balance while holding things like the couch or a larger toy. He also got a little alphabet train for his birthday that he loves and can walk behind it and push it. He's actually doing pretty good at walking with it so it won't be long until he'll be walking on his own. Also, he is a climber! This month he's been trying to climb up on everything he can - small chairs, his music table, and he's desperately trying to climb up in the recliner or on the couch, just not quite there yet!

The other big news this month is that Anthony is sleeping through the night like a champ! Not that he wasn't before, but for some reason, as soon as he had his first birthday, he started consistently sleeping between 11-12 hours a night without waking up at all. Because of that, he's already cut out his morning nap and is only at one afternoon nap a day now so I guess it's all evened out.

As many toys as he got for his birthday and as many as he already had, his favorite things to play with are still little balls that are small enough for him to hold, and he still loves to read books. He'll pick a book over a toy pretty much every time.

Anthony's also started to play peek-a-boo on his own this month. He had always liked playing it with you, but he's covering his eyes and/or trying to hide and play it with you on his own initiative now. He also has a fake laugh he's been doing a lot if he thinks you want him to laugh at something where he'll force himself to. He's also been clapping on his own whenever there's applause or if other people are clapping. The sweetest thing ever this month is that when I give him a hug, I almost always pat him on the back. Well, he's started patting my back too, and it just makes me melt! So sweet!

I'm not taking any more monthly pictures of Anthony with the dated sign because I only planned to do them through 12 months, but here are a bunch of miscellaneous pictures from this month: