13 months

Dear Cassius,

13 months!  Holy wow!  I can't believe we are already at 13 months.  Now I have to tell people that you are 13 months, you are not just 1 year.  You are growing every day, learning, becoming more brave and more stubborn too!

Your words are picking up like crazy.  Today you said "ish" (fish).  Yesterday you repeated "zoo" but I don't thnk you knew what it meant. You officially call dada by name.   You love to point out cats and pumpkins and scarecrows.  In the morning, when you wake super early, we pull you into bed with us.  You love to look at the book about not getting out of bed (ironic, really) and point out the "woof-woofs".  You've also just added on the cats and the birds.

Last night we were at your Oma and Opa's (Opa asked to be called that last night) and you got to open your present from them for your birthday.  It was a cool ride-on firetruck and you loved it!  You love pushing the buttons to make sounds/lights and you love when your Oma pushes you around.

It's so fun watching you grow and add on new words and see you understand more and more about life. 

I love you.

Mama

No photos for you!

Dear Cassius,

Your mom has been a lazy mom lately and all your photos from the last 4 months are on the cameras and not on the computer.  One day, I'll upload them but not right now.

Thanks for understanding.

Love,

Mama

1 year! (and 1 month)

Dear Cassius,

You are officially 1 year old (and have been for a month, but who's counting?).  I can't believe it's been a year.

You change and grow every day.  Hmmmmm... Where are you now?

At your 1 year appointment, you weighed 23 lbs, 9 oz (63rd percentile) and measured 31 inches (86th percentile).  You got one shot and screamed at the doctor.

You are communicating more and more every day.  As of today, you sign: more, all-done, cat, and bird.  You point to indicate where you want to go.  You wave bye-bye.  You blow kisses on cue.  You will give a fish a kiss on cue (but you've only given me a kiss like 5 times, you little stinker!).  You say: woof-woof and dog (sounds like "doh" or "og") reliably.  You call Sibley "guh guh (good girl)."  You'll occasionally said dada for your dad but no mama yet.  Your first word (dog) came just a few days shy of your first birthday as you saw a dog walk by the house.

Just this week, you basically communicated in sentence form.  You signed more, pointed at the door and waved bye-bye.  I asked you if you wanted to go to Eliza's and you said yes.

You are still crawling and show very little interest in walking.  You are standing more and more on your own each day.  It's so cool to see that you are adding seconds to your solo stand time each day.  You will occasionally walk with me if I'm holding your hand but most time you just drop to your knees as if to say "this is so much faster."

You are obsessed with feeding the dog treats.  You say "guh guh" the second we walk into your room in the morning (and after naps) and point towards the door (or the cup with treats on your dresser).  Then you direct us to the laundry room door and then to the treats.  You love to have her "touch" your hand.  This week I showed you the dog door and we got Sibley to go through it together, so now you are obsessed with having her go through the door. 

You are quite the whiner.  If you don't get your way, you throw quite the tantrum.

You loved to be chased.  You love "I'ma gonna getchu!".  You love "1! 2! 3!"  You love to be tickled, especially when I squeeze your little thighs.

You still love to eat.  You still love to be out and about.  You still love Here Come the 1, 2, 3's.  

Your birthday party was small and perfect. You didn't really know what to do with the cupcake that your grandma made you.  I think you were just happy that all those that you love were there, even Mimi and Karsyn! 

This first year of your life has been absolutely amazing.  I love being your mom and look forward to future years together.

I love you.

Mama

11 months

I wrote this letter back in September but didn't post because I wanted the photos to coincide.  Well, I still haven't got the pictures (I have to get more memory for my computer) but I wanted to post the letter

Dear Cassius,

Less than a month left before you are 1... HOLY COW!  Time sure has flown by fast.  I can hardly remember those itty bitty days because these days, well, they are just fun.  Every day I get to spend with you is fun.  It's fun watching you grow and learn.  It's fun watching your demands and signs.  It's even fun watching you poop!  Did I really just type that???

Since I'm actually writing this (mostly) on time, I'm only going to recall the last few days and pick out some of my favorite moments.

On Friday, I picked you up from Eliza's and your dad came home shortly after.  We raced up and down the block towards each other and you laughed such hearty laughs.  Saturday you spent the day with your dad.  He taught you to motorboat onto your arm.  You are pretty good at it, but your dad is the best.  Sunday was a family day and the day you actually decided to start the day darn early... like around 6:15am early.  We had a lazy morning of hanging around the house and we took a little trip to our local park.  You proceeded to eat the plastic little thingies on the ground when you dove face first into the grass, so I made us leave.  You took a nice nap, we had some snacks and then headed out to Top of the World with Sibley.  I wore you out to the view in the backpack and your dad wore you on the way back.  You were a happy little clam, just taking it all in.  Your dad spotted a fox and managed to get a few photos... so cool!  Your dad watched football and I took a nap while you napped... All in all, it was a great day.

Today, at Trader Joe's you squealed in delight and a guy working there said "Whoah!" but I just gave you a kiss... it was just a happy little squeal!  You loved the chocolate covered blueberries at Peet's (I ate off most of the chocolate- sorry!) but didn't so much like the candied ginger...

We also went to a park to play with Brooke (who's about to have a baby, anyday) and Kara and Maddie.  You are so stinkin' cute- eating your plum, cruising around, giving me hugs and hanging out.  You did try to steal several of Maddie's toys, but you did your share of sharing too.  Right now, you're just snoozing in your crib.  You are such a great sleeper and really make my life pretty easy in that regard.

Let's see... anything new with you??

You sign more and up and potty/poop (occasionally).  You pooped on the potty today (first time in several weeks- but yeah!).  You eat just about anything.  You give great hugs.  You are starting to bite which is not cool.  Apparently you left some nice "oh's" on Sam's shirt on Friday.  You love to take the DVD's and Atari games from under the TV.  You are obsessed with the refridgerator.  One time we even found you trying to drink directly from the Hershey's syrup bottle!

Spending time with you is so much fun.  Haven't I said that a million times already??  But it is.  I look forward to each day with you, even if we don't get to spend a lot of time together.  I know I tell you about a hundred times each day, but I love you.

Love,

Mama

10 months

Dear Cassius,

I wrote this about 2 weeks ago.... forgive me for not publishing until now.

Just yesterday, you transformed... from a baby to a I-don't-know-what-this-next-stage-is-called-before-Toddler.  When I went to pick you up from Eliza's you crawled to me a different boy.  You looked older, you've started to communicate, you're huge!  Your dad called me at work the day before and told me that you signed "More" as in more yogurt and it melted my heart just hearing that you are learning but then yesterday, I saw it.  You signed more as we were laughing and giggling.  I was bouncing you around and asked if you wanted more.  You put your sweet little hands together and made the sign.  Oh how my heart melted!!  Eliza also said that you saying "no" and "aya" as in all done with her.  As we walked home, we saw the airplane in the sky and as I signed airplane and said "avion" you tried to say it too.  You are starting to communicate! That's not to say that you don't still do your fair share of whining, but it's getting better, I see the light at at end of the "whining because I can't tell you what I want" tunnel.  Holy Cow!!

You are ever so sure of yourself crawling.  In fact, you prefer to crawl.  When I try to walk with you, you just push me away and get on the ground and crawl.  You can get there much faster that way apparently and you know it.  You have the cutest peg-leg crawl.  Your right knee doesn't touch the ground, yet you push yourself forward perfectly. 

You are quite adventurous with your food.  In the last week, you tried sauerkraut, hot and sour soup and carnitas.  You seem to love it all.

You are still a rockstar sleeper when you are at home.  You're like clockwork.  Down at 7pm-ish and up at 7:02am.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you. 

That's not to say that you aren't thrown off when we travel.  We got to experience Lake Tahoe in your last month and I got to experience walking to Nevada at 6am.  That's because you decided to wake up at 5:30am and we were with a whole bunch of other people.  So you and I and our new handy backpack made the trek down to the local Starbucks and over the Nevada line.  We went to another state and back by 7am!  I have to say.... it was actually pretty cool and you were a happy baby once we were out and about. 

I'm pretty sure I end my letters with my adoring love for you but I can't help it.  You teach me so much every day, baby boy.  You teach me to have fun.  You teach me to laugh and go with the flow.  You teach me a love even greater than I could have ever imagined. 

I love you.

Mama

9 months...

Dear Cassius,

You've officially been out as long as you were in and I'm uber late in writing you this letter. 

You got to spend your 9 month birthday at Witch Lake!  We spent 3 awesome weeks at the lake with family.  You giggled and screamed and scooted and learned to crawl at Witch Lake.  You didn't really like the water in the lake, but loved playing in your little pool on the deck.

Before that, you got to meet your cousins down state.  I have to say that I think Andy is your favorite.  He visited Witch Lake and is all kinds of goofy!  He made you squeal with laughter.  Once you got a bit of attention from Andy, you would scream at him if he left the room or stopped paying attention to you.  He greeted you every morning and wanted to say good night every night!

You weigh close to 21 lbs and are 29.5 inches long.  You still have 2 teeth on the bottom and 0 on top, but that top right tooth is just about to come through. 

You love to eat, most of the time.  You especially love chicken and turkey and will eat a ton!  You still feed yourself most of the time and prefer that to being spoonfed, especially when you are tired. 

You just started day care with our neighbor down the street.  You seem to love it and barely noticed that we even left you on your first day there.  On days you aren't in day care, you are spending it with your dad.  He likes to keep you busy (and you are much more pleasant to be with when you are out and about) so you guys have a constant stream of activities.

You are sleeping like a champ now that you are home.  The last few nights you have slept from 7pm until at least 7am, sometimes almost until 8am!  Rockstar!

You still love music of any kind.  You still love clapping and know what to do when we sing the clapping song or when we ask you to clap.  You are also waving hi and bye though sometimes it's a few minutes after we ask.

You are sort of giving hugs and those are the best.  Sometimes, when I pick you up, you'll give me a quick squeeze around the neck and it's so cute!

It's been a challenge and joy these first 9 months but you remain the light of my life. 

Love you little man,

Mama

8 Months!

Dear Cassius,

Time if flying by!  I'm actually closer to your actual month birthday this time, or maybe it just seems like it because I've been so busy.  But it's not about me, this is about you!

You are now 8 months old and, for all intents and purposes, mobile.  Just today, you learned how to push yourself back into sitting after you've reached forward and landed on your belly.  You are really, really rocking on your hands and knees.  You have just started to lift one hand and then the other (though you don't go anywhere).  The knees are next and I'm expecting it anyday.

This morning, before I left for work, I left you in one place on the rug and when I walked back in the room, you had moved over to the drum, then to the books and then were heading off somewhere else.  Watch out!

You are still eating like a rockstar.  Tonight you had your first taste of Uncle Yu's and your first bite of beef.  Of course, it was your father's favorite: Mongolian Beef.  You loved the fried rice, you even liked the mushrooms and asparagus.  You power down pretty much anything.

You still sleep like a rockstar though earlier in the week you were waking at 5:30 ready to party.  Not cool, kid, not cool.

Your smile is contagious, your clapping hands are adorable. You are the light of my life.

Mama

and just for the record... 1 year ago, you were: