Potty!? I thought you said we were going to a party!

Scott decided to put Grayden on the potty today to see if magic would happen. We have been coaching him for a few weeks now every time he fusses about getting his diaper changed. "What son? You don't like having your diaper changed? Why I have a solution for you!" Then we explain where he can go do his business if he would prefer. Well he has yet to take us up on that offer as of late. So today when Scott thought he was getting the thousand mile stare, he stripped Gray down and on the potty he went. Scott said he seemed more concerned with keeping himself from being flushed away then with actually trying to get to work. So I went online ordered a potty seat and hope to try the experiment again when my delivery arrives.

15 month Well-Baby

I read somewhere that by 13 months your baby should be able to draw with crayons, and by 15 months he should be able to draw straight lines. Granted, I can't even draw a straight line, but my 15 month old should be able to. A picture may say 1,000 words, but these pictures only say one. FAIL!

Birthday Boy

I am a little behind on my posting. Please do enjoy a picture of Mr. adorable from his first birthday at the zoo.

Champ

I came home last night to Grayden walking up to me and collapsing into my arms. Ok, so I am making it sound much more fantastical than it really was. Scott let him go to walk towards me, and through lots of encouragement and backing up from mommy, Grayden took probably 7 steps towards me. And they were Glorious.

Not much new

Not much new to report. He has made a few more steps, like 2, but then he just gets nervous and drops to the ground to crawl. We know he could walk if he really wanted to. I think he just gets overwhelmed at the thought of carrying that giant head around on that tiny neck of his.

Ta-dah!

Guess who took a few big boy steps last night all by himself? Boy was he proud. So were his mommy and daddy.

Dislikes

I know I have mentioned things that Grayden likes, but I realized the things he doesn't like are just as adorable. Granted, he doesn't have many dislikes, I am sure as he gets older, that will change. Currently, his dislikes can include Oscar the Grouch who lives in the garbage can at grandma & grandpa S's house. Truthfully, normally he does love Oscar, and that's usually the first toy he picks. He does not like, however, when Oscar pops his green face and big eyes out of the can a little too quickly. In fact yesterday he had a truly surprised look on his face and nearly jumped out of his diapers and into grandma's lap. He also mostly loves his little toy with the propellor that speaks to him in 3 different languages. He loves stearing the toy to make plane sounds, and hitting the buttons to hear it say "Fromage" and "queso". What he doesn't like is when he hits the little bear sound and the teddy bear growles back at him. The teddy bear growl makes him come crawling towards mommy every time. I really do think that's all he's afraid of. Oscar & Growly bear. Other then that, he's pretty zen with the world.

Happy Birthday

Grayden turned 1 yr old on Wednesday. I have no idea where the year went. It's been awesome to see him grow and change into the good natured little cuddle butt that he is. He has learned to go up and down the steps by himself, say mama and dada, drop balls into his giraffe ball game, and he has also learned to be much gentler to the kitty cats. He loves, bananas, sweet potatoes and veggies & pasta with sauce. He loves chasing the cats around, making echos in the hallway, splashing in the bathtub, and scurrying away once the diaper comes off. He also really loves tushy tickle time, which involves him frantically crawling around the bed while mommy tries to pinch his tushy.

For his birthday on Wednesday we all went to the zoo. Daddy tried hard to point out the monkeys to Grayden, but Gray was much more interested in making kissy faces at the zoo volunteers. He enjoyed the warm day walking around the zoo, the prairie dogs poking their heads out and chirping, the very tall giraffes and the bear that swam back and forth right in front of the glass.

Saturday we will have his birthday party, though I am not too sure that he will know the party is for him. The theme is Big Top Circus, which involves decorations with Ring Masters, lions, seals & some pretty creepy looking cupcake topers shaped like clown heads.

Stats: He is 32" long and weighs 23lbs 10oz. And he's super cute, that's a fact.

All my friends are here

Grayden started this really cute habit. After every nap he likes to be taken over to his bookshelf of stuffed animals so he can look them over and chose a new one to play with. He is very fond of Blue Elephant, Gonzo, Kissy Bear, and Rhino.

11 months old

Grayden turned 11 months old yesterday. His favorite activities include:

-Pulling the cat's tail
-Climbing up the steps
-Seeing what naughty things he can do to get a reaction
-Wrestling
-Crawling around on the bed without his diaper on

Jazz hands....

OK, not Jazz hands, but clappy hands! Guess who can clap now, and really enjoys it? I think it started because Grayden got a new school bus toy that plays the song "The Wheels on the Bus". Whenever it starts, Scott and I clap to get him excited. Well apparently he is really excited by it because now he claps, whether or not the song is playing.

Like nails on a chalkboard

Did I mention Grayden grits his teeth? The running tally of teeth is now two on the bottom in the middle and one coming in on top. However, now that he realizes that he has somthing to grind against, he is now grindging his teeth all the time. Scott thinks it sounds like the creature from Preditor. I just think it gives me goose bumps. People have told me that it's really not a big deal and all babies will do it. I sure can't wait till he grows out of this phase.

Our son the faker

I received this email the other day:

"Our son is a big faker face - he is drinking water from a cup and then faking like he is choking - how do I know it is fake? cause he starts to choke before the water gets to his lips!"

Yes, it's very fun when your child pretends to choke and die just for a little attention. I swear we give our child attention. I swear we do.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

A Boy and His Dad

Moving on up!

Yesterday Grayden climbed the steps all by himself. The other day we shot some video of him climbing maybe 3 steps and I thought we'd have some time to practice this new skill to get it right. But Scott said that he just took off after the kitty and followed her up the steps. Of course we think he's a genius because the experts say they usually don't start to climb steps until they are about 12 months old. Whew! It's exhausting being the parent of a genius.

He likes it, he really likes it!

Since when can Grayden feed himself his entire dinner, and why didn't he tell me this before? I decided to lay out a whole buffet of food for Grayden to pick at to see what he'd eat. I normally always give him some toast or if I feel fancy French toast. Last night I laid out a lot more for him to choose from. There were carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, beans & French toast. He ate nearly everything, except the peas only because they were hard for him to pick up. On top of that he kept eyeing my dinner and I had to feed him nearly all of my broccoli. Funny though, he really had no interest in the pasta I gave him. I still tried to give him some jarred food, but he really wasn’t that interested. Do you think he’s ready for a pork chop yet?

Floss daily

Grayden cut his first tooth last Friday night, it's on the bottom. He won't let me see it because he keeps sticking his tongue in the way. However, I stuck a finger in his mouth and felt it, he has also dug it into my shoulder, my chin and my clavicle, so I know it's very sharp. Unfortunately, it's so sharp that we think it's digging into the gums on top. He has been a little fussy, but if we give him a teething biscuit, a finger, or a cat's tail, he seems to be ok.

Speedy Gonzáles...

...might be The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico, but Grayden is the fastest baby in all Winsted. Now that Grayden can crawl he won't sit still. Yep, sure it's adorable, but my gosh he just won't quit. And along with his crawling he has now started to climb, scale is more like it. He pulls himself up onto things and clings precariously to them, then cries because he hasn't learned how to get down. One of his favorite activities is to climb onto his carseat so he can reach the blinds to slam them against the window sill. He also loves to pull himself up on the hall table (you know, the one with the pointy edges that stick out) and grab the basket and slam that against the wall, or pull it out onto himself. Great fun. He reminds me of a certain uncle I know.

Genius? You decide.

So we think that Grayden might be saying "mama and dada" and actually knows what they mean. He definitely can say them, but is he calling his bottle dada, and the kitty mama? Scott said that when he was sick the other day he kept crying "mama" I'd like to think that meant that he wanted me to comfort him, but he just as likely could have been calling the cat over to comfort him.

Huzzah!

It's official, Grayden is a big boy. He now can pull himself up and balance precariously against things. I saw him do it about a week or so ago, well, I didn't actually see him, I looked over and he was standing against the sofa to grab a toy. He then started pulling himself here and there over the weekend, but now that's all he does. He's starting to climb too, not just stand there. However, I think I see a little fear in his eye because he knows that his head is so giant that if he ever lets go then he will tumble over.

Sick Day

The World's Cutest Baby takes a sick day. Grayden is having his very first sick day today, and from what daddy tells me, he is not enjoying it one bit. He demanded to go to bed early last night, then woke a few hours later moaning with a slight temp. Mommy spent the last day and a half on sick leave so me thinks that had something to do with it. He has been getting lots of extra hugs and kisses as well as plenty of sleep, so let's hope that knocks it out of his system.

Christmas Presents

Grayden enjoyed both opening his Christmas presents and eating the paper.

Giddy Up!

World's cutest baby enjoying his rocking chair that he got from Santa for Christmas.

Watch out cats, here I come!

It's official, Grayden crawled last night. One day before his 8 month birthday. He did this adorable little hop, where he tucked his knees under him to scoot across the floor. At first he went after daddy's chicken coconut curry, then he was happy with a pile of spoons. We got it on video too, which I promise to post along with everything else I promise to post. After a bit though he did get bored and decided that he would rather just pull himself across the floor to what he wanted or just roll to where he needed to be.

I can't believe how fast he is learning. And here I have been meaning to post that he has been making adorable motorboat bubbly sounds, sitting up on his own and sleeping through the night. And before I even got a chance to post those new activities for him, he's up and crawling. Don't worry, I'll be sure to post again before he goes to college.

Quiet nights

I should probably update this. Grayden sleeps through the night just fine. He maybe whimpered the first couple of nights, but I don't think he ever really woke up. I've stopped turning the monitor on at night. I figure if I can't hear him cry from his bedroom then he really must not be that upset. He does seem to enjoy his big boy bed. There is much more room to roll around in and play with his stuffed monkey.

Play on Player

Scott says I have been played. Last night I let Grayden cry it out, granted I had to move to another room to sleep, but eventually he fell back asleep and didn't wake up till morning. When he woke Scott said he ate a ton, much more than usual. Leading him to believe that I have been played and Grayden didn't need to wake up at night to eat. Maybe Grayden doesn't need his mommy at night, maybe it was just mommy wanting a little more baby time?

Words of encouragement

I need Grayden to sleep through the night. If momma doesn't get enough sleep then momma ain't happy, and if momma ain't happy....well, you know...

I have heard from a few people that at this age if he's still waking at night, it's just out of habit and not because he is hungry. However, when I hear a whiney baby in the the middle of the night, my maternal instincts tell me that he's hungry and needs to be fed. However a friend with 3 little ones of her own, and two being twins reassured me that he is not hungry at night and just wants some mommy time. So I guess I need to buck up, stick him in the other room and let him cry it out.

Even though I logically know that he will just sooth himself and go back to sleep, I just don't want to hear my little baby crying. So wish me luck.

He does exist

Greg that is. Grayden's uncle Greg came home for Christmas. Though I don't really know if he came home for a good home-cooked meal, peanut butter balls, lots of wine or to spend time with his new nephew because frankly neither of them seem quite comfortable.

It's Christmastime in the city

Grayden's first Christmas was filled with family, crown roast, Melanie's love of Obama, lots of mocking, and thankfully lots of wine for everyone but baby.

Grayden and Dafyd

I just thought this picture was so cute. Someone across the table is apparently saying something really interesting....or boring.

Boy he's getting big

Oh Christmas tree

Here are the pictures of Grayden's first trip finding his very first Christmas tree. It was a little chilly that day, so we had Gray wrapped up in his new snuggly PJs, blankets and hugs from mommy and Gram. At first I thought that we would need to keep him in the van while grandpa cut down the tree, but he didn't even flinch when grandpa S turned on the chainsaw. What a toughie.

I can fly!

Thanksgiving fun at Grandma & Grandpa M's house

Thanksgiving day, which was actually held the Saturday after T-day, was enjoyed with mommy & daddy, Gran & Gramps M, Auntie M and her beau MATT!, uncle Dafyd and his gal Megan (will we say auntie Meg some day?), Great uncle Lance, Great uncle Michael and aunt Jean and her brother David who has shared many holidays with us. Oh! and not to mention his annoying furry little cousins Dante-a.k.a Rusty and Duncan a.k.a. Bear.

Visitors

We had visitors on Saturday. Aunt Adrienne, uncle Richard and cousin Brigitte came to visit, oh and Grayden's furry little cousin Abbey. A quick visit since they were just passing through town. Unfortunately, Grayden didn't warm up much while there were there and didn't show off his mad rolling over skills that I swore he could do. Maybe next time. Sorry, I have no pics, maybe one of them can email some and I could post those?

Here's to you Kid

I'll have the salad

So baby butt has been eating big boy food once a day now. It does not seem very appetizing, warm rice cereal mixed with pears or maybe squash. I have to tell you that I probably made a mistake with choosing pears as his first mix-in. He loved them, and was very happy to get them. However, he noticed that bananas are not as good as pears and proceeded to show me with a full body shudder, gagging and watery eyes. Which I have to tell you was hilarious. And of course I had to be mean and feed him more just so I could get video of this. Will post as soon as I can figure out how to.

Thankfully I think eating the real food later at night is helping him sleep through the night better. This morning he actually slept all the way until I had to get up at 6am. I will be very happy if this trend continues.

Hello?

Ok, I am sure you are wondering where the rest of the holiday picures are....so am I. I promise I will update the holiday adventures of Grayden the Super Baby as soon as I can. No chance at night and I have no idea where my weekends go to. I think I need to find a better way to add photos to my Blog, since I have so many cute pictures, I can't decide which ones to put on the Blog. If anyone has a better way, let me know. I am not a flickr album kind of person, but maybe I should be. Ungle Greg sure seems to know his way around the flickr website, and dirty subway stops, and creepy alleys, and bad art....