Leonidas Update - 12 months

Ok, so it's been a lonnng time since the last update. Let's see...

Walking! Leonidas took his first two steps at 7 months...then would only take one or two steps at a time for two months after that, lol. He officially started walking at nine months - by which I mean, he took seven steps one day and has been running ever since!

Throwing and kicking a ball: He's been doing this since about 10 months. Such an athlete!

Teeth: He now has 10 teeth. Yes, he's still nursing. No, it doesn't hurt.

Speaking of nursing: We're still going strong. He's still nursing on demand, which is several times a day (I don't count). He just snacks all day - a few minutes here and there - and only has "meals" at naps and bed time. I wonder how he'll react to me nursing the new baby...

Baby-Led-Weaning: We have been doing BLW since about five months. I absolutely love it and will never do purees or cereals after this experience. He eats everything. It's been so nice not to have to spoon feed him or deal with solid-food-introduction bowel problems. He can join the family at meals and we all get to eat together, which is priceless. Of course, saving money on baby food is also a plus. Now if only restaurants would have something other than pizza, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets on their kids menus...it's really nice that he will eat healthy meals like steamed vegetables and seafood, but it sucks to have to spend $15 on a meal for my one-year-old, even if I do have leftovers.

Baby's First Piercing: Leonidas got his ears pierced last weekend! He was so brave and only cried for a few minutes (thanks to mommy, the human pacifier). We've decided to make it a tradition to get all our children's ears pierced when they reach the one-year mark - their first "coming of age" ceremony, so to speak. I know that even more people will think he's a girl now, but we did our best to make them look manly - he put in 16-gage labret studs facing backwards so the flat disk is on the front, which is a bit more masculine in my opinion. He wears them quite well, actually :)

Talking: We've had a bit of a language explosion lately. He now knows how to say about 40 words consistently and learns more every day. He favorites are "flower" (followed by "mmm" and leaning forward to smell the flower - or plant, tree, grass, as the case may be), "book" (his favorite past-time), "bird" (a new fascination), and "banana" ( I usually have to spell this in front of him, otherwise he will be terribly upset if he can't have one).

I'm sure there are more, but it's late and I'm tired, so here's where it ends for now. :)

EC Update - 12 months

A year has gone by, and we are still EC survivors :) Leonidas has had his share of potty strikes, but right now, we're in a pretty good spot (knock on wood). He's talking more now, and so he can tell us when he needs to go (when he feels like it). I was so proud of him today. This afternoon, he came inside and said "ba ba" (which is Leo-speak for "pee pee") and took out his little potty seat and tried to set it up on the floor, lol. I took him to the potty and he went :) Then, this evening, while sitting in his high chair, he pointed to the bathroom and said "bope" (aka "poop"), and did just that when I took him in there! I think this cancels out the peeing-on-the-floor incident from this morning :/ I've only really been home one day since I've stopped working, so I'm not quite sure how the day usually goes, but I'm guess we have about 2-5 misses per day on average. Since he probably pees at least a dozen times a day, I guess that's not bad for a one-year-old! Sometimes he tries to tell me that he has to go and I don't realize it until after the fact, but mommy's learning, too. The great thing is we're communicating, and most of the time I just "know" when he has to go (even though I ignore the feeling at times, not being sure of myself). I feel so close to him, being able to know what his needs are and meeting those needs. More than anything, I think that's the point. Pee on the floor once in a while is not a big deal, but feeling this close to your child is unparalleled.

Yes, I'm still here...

I don't think I've written anything here in months. I'm not dead. Really. I'm just busy - too busy living life to write much about it I suppose :) Anyway, where were we...

Leonidas is now a year old! That went by so quickly. I'm not sad about it. I'm loving every moment of it. I love where he's at and I'm looking forward to where he's going. He's grown so much and is so smart. I'm so proud of him!

I'm graduating in one week! There's really not much else to say about that except: Whew!

I guess I'm a stay-at-home-mom now for a while. I love it! Don't get me wrong; I liked my work and I think I do a pretty good job at what I do, but I love being able to be home with my hubby and my baby :D

So our little Ruby Jane is on the way in a little over two months. If her in-utero activity is any indication of what she'll be like on the outside, I'd better start working out now! She's going crazy in there, and I'm so huge, I often wonder how I'll ever make it to nine months.

Ok, so I guess that counts as an update, in a nutshell. Let's see if I can keep this up from now on...