with Grandma and Grandpa....
digging in the kitchen cabinet....all sorts of fun things to play with!
I love to look outside!
Look at me! I am such a big boy!
Hiking with Daddy.
A visit from Great Aunt Kay and Great Uncle Nap!
Swinging.....
I have started this blog post a zillion times since JD turned 9 months. Now he is 11 months old as of yesterday. Summer always has a way of just flying by way too fast....so fast that a friend of mine coined the term, "Julaugust." Julaugust flew by and now here it is September.
I have lots of flashbacks these past few weeks of all that was unfolding a year ago. Getting the baby's room all ready, wondering if we would be welcoming a little boy or girl, wondering if I could really, indeed, get any bigger, feeling equal parts excited and equal parts frightened at how our lives would be forever changed. And now here we are....with a little precious boy who is just weeks away from turning 1.
Whenever JVD and I would discuss having children and planning the arrival of our little one, we always envisioned a little buddy. I actually always envisioned a tow-headed little boy who would toddle around wearing khaki shorts and a little polo shirt and a baseball cap....a curious little guy who would investigate every little thing and wrestle around with us with shrieks and squeals of laughter. Well, our little buddy officially arrived this summer. Our little baby has been fading away little by little every day....so much so that I began to jokingly hold JD in a cradle hold and say in a sappy voice "when you were just a little itty baby I used to hold you just like this...." he just laughs and smiles at me and thinks it is the silliest thing.
So our little baby is gone. :( We are officially moving away from mommy's milk and venturing into the world of whole milk - he drinks from a cup and sips from a straw and he eats everything under the sun. He loves nectarines and apricots and grapes and blueberries and broccoli and cauliflower and carrots and green beans and peas and zucchini and LOVES bananas and noodles....bread, bagels and cream cheese, CHEERIOS, oatmeal, bunny grahams and goldfish and yogurt and chicken and beef...pretty much anything! I do love meal times because he is a delightful eater and he also tries to feed me food off his plate. Sure, the noodles and cheerios might be a bit gunky from his little baby hands but he is determined that I should have it. How can I say no?
The amount of changes that have unfolded in little JD's life these past few months are almost too many and too amazing to count. He started on a rolling spree as he approached his 9 month birthday. He would roll and scoot military style to get from here to there....but that did not last long. A few days after his 9 month birthday he started to crawl....and once he discovered what it means to be truly mobile, life has not looked the same since. He is little Mr. Independent and we now have a full-fledged little hurricane/tornado who hits our home each day. Every bookshelf and cabinet within reach gets attacked and items get taken out, played with, moved to other locations in our home and every night, mommy and daddy put all those things safely away....until Hurricane JD strikes again. :)
Since JD is now crawling (and a fast crawler at that!) one of our favorite things to do is to play peekabo around our kitchen island and/or chase after him on our hands....he loves it! He will just cry out with loud belly laughs. Love it! I will forever cherish the sound of his little hands hitting/slapping the hardwood floors with such forceful determination. He moves and moves fast! But if he is in a serious mood he kind of looks like a giant kimono dragon as he crawls stealthily across the floor.....
I cannot really remember what it was like to have a stationary baby. Now, wherever we go, little JD follows. If we are in the kitchen, he will follow! If we move down the hall to our bedroom, he will follow! If we move to the living room.....yep, there he is! Not only does he follow but most of the time he will crawl right up to our leg and pull at our pants as if to say, "hello? Hi! It's me! I am here!" I must say, it is so nice to be loved so much.
Not only does he kneel to get our attention, but he kneels now to play and reach for things...which means standing really is not too far behind. He especially likes to kneel in front of the oven door and giggle and gibber gabber to the baby in the reflection. But too much kneeling resulted in us lowering his crib. :)
Goodness...what else? Well, he has the cutest little smile...at least I think so. He sprouted two teeth shortly after his 6 month birthday and within 2 months he practically had a full-fledged toothy grin of 8 teeth. He loves to attack and wrestle his stuffed animals and he loves reading books and he loves going for walks/runs (well, going along for the ride, anyway :) ). He has a great adventurous spirit which allowed us to drive out twice to Montana this summer. The highlights of our summer travels included the 3 days in Mandan, North Dakota (due to an unforeseen unplanned car repair that required a stop at a reststop in the middle of nowhere (i.e. North Dakota) and a drive with Butch, our tow truck driver, and a stay with the ever-hospitable Simmers family who took us in due to all the hotels being booked in Bismarck (softball tournament) and who had a great dog named Grommit. Grommit and JD hit it off splendidly. JD would drop food on the floor and Grommit so kindly would eat it all up. It was a great relationship. Once we made it to Montana, we ventured to Yellowstone for the day....saw a grizzly mama and her 3 cubs (at a distance), enjoyed the scenic vista of Lake Yellowstone and met a Harley Davidson Biker who was completely enamored with our little boy. He insisted on saying hello and asked if he could touch JD's head. He said he had a little boy at home and seeing JD just reminded him how fast they grow up. He was so very nice....and he and his buddies revved up their motorcycles and honked and waved at JD as they drove away.
Other highlights this summer? Lots of visits from family....from Nana, Aunt Michelle, cousin Taylor and Alison in June, Great Aunt Kay and Uncle Nap in July and Grandma and Grandpa in August. He is a loved little boy.
So....there we have it. Gone baby Gone, but a hearty hello to our little buddy...our little friend....our sweet boy. We love you, JD!
