21 months old

This boy is cut out to be an entertainer. He is so funny, he loves to sing and dance on command and he especially thrives on the attention of a group of people. Want to see what I mean? Look at this face!

The picture above was taken just after his haircut a few days ago. He did scream and cry but wasn't hysterical like the last time we took him to the salon. But, even though he was mad at the lady for cutting his hair, he politely said "thank you" and then proceeded to give her all kinds of cute looks to make her laugh.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* I think I start off every month's list talking about his vocabulary. This month is no different. The child can say just about anything we ask him to. He says a lot of words that he doesn't understand. Just the other day he said, "disguised" when we were reading a book.

* He is still in love with Elmo and will hand me the remote control when he wants to watch. Now he says, "Elmo, Abby, Bert, Ernie, Sesame Street" to try to communicate exactly what he wants to watch. He is also liking Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney DVDs.

* It has been fun watching him take in the joy of the Christmas season this year. He really likes our Christmas tree and frequently talks about how pretty it is. Rod set up one of his trains to go around the base of the tree and he was delighted with that idea! We can't wait to watch him open his presents next week!

* James' imagination has really sparked over the past month. He is starting to chatter while playing with his trains. It sounds like he is telling a story but we can't quite decipher the words. He really enjoys landing his helicopter in the Christmas tree and then talking about the "crash" when it falls out. Another example of his imagination is when he takes his trains and makes them pretend to eat.

* He has always been vocal about his likes/dislikes when it comes to food. He has started asking for certain foods even when they are out of sight. Some days he will ask to have "bread" (french toast sticks) for breakfast and other days he will ask for cereal or "tatoes" (tater tots). He is also very clear about what he does not want. This morning I was eating a banana with peanut butter and offered him a bite. He said, "no, it's gross". LOL!

* He can count to 10 and also knows good portions of the alphabet. He can even identify a few letters: T, G, W and O. We are working on colors. He can say the names of lots of colors but he cannot identify them yet.

* James is a sweet little boy who brings us more joy than we ever could have imagined. He makes us laugh constantly. I honestly think I have laughed more this year than any other year of my life.

The big 2-0 (months)

The lighting isn't great, but the above picture is one of my favorite recent family shots. It gives a good glimpse into how much joy James brings us.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* His vocabular continues to amaze us. He says "exciting" a lot now...especially when talking about trains. There are many other words that he picked up over the past month. Pretty much every day brings a new word for him.

* His enthusiasm is unmatched. Driving in the car, I often hear "Tree. Oh wow! It's pretty." That's his approach to everything.

* James has very clear ideas of what he wants. He typically starts off asking very politely for the things he wants. However, if his wish is not granted he progresses to stage 2 which is "please? OK!" accompanied by an full-body nod. It is VERY hard to resist this cuteness bu if that still doesn't get what he wants he resorts to whining and crying.

* One of his favorite activities is to throw blocks down the stairs. He also LOVES to watch DVDs. Arthur, Thomas the Tank Engine and "Fishies" are his current faves.

* James is all about people. He greets everyone by name and frequently says "hi Mama" as he walks past me in the house. He wants to know that all of his favorite people are around him at all times. When they aren't around he asks to see pictures on the computer.

* A few weeks ago James and I had our first night away from each other. He stayed with Daddy while I went to NYC with some of my friends. James and Daddy had a wonderful time hanging out together. This is the start of many more Mommy-vacations!

* Just today a colleague was asking me about James. At first he said, "how old is your baby now?" I replied that James is 20 months old. Then he surprised me with the next question, "do you like him?". I didn't know how to answer. Saying "yes, I like him a lot" seemed like such a gross understatement. I think I said, "he is about 1000 times more fun than I ever could have imagined". Even that is an understatement! I don't just like him and love him, I truly think he is one of the most fantastic people I have EVER met. This morning on my way to work I got all teary just from seeing a glimpse of his precious little face in my rear view mirror. He is the epitome of joy. :)

5 reasons James made me smile this week

5) He learned how to nod his head. He is very proud of this new skill even though he isn't very good at it yet.

4) On Tuesday James was on my bed throwing pillows onto the floor. I said, "James why are you making a mess?". He replied, "mess funny!".

3) James has developed a new laugh. It is very loud and very fake.

2) He likes to line all his trains up into one big train. It fascinates me to watch how he organizes them and reorganizes them. I also appreciate that this new game can entertain him for up to 30 minutes at a time!

1) As I was changing his diaper earlier this week James grabbed his boy parts, giggled, and said "it's a toe!".

OK, one more bonus story for you just because I love to brag about my little boy. :) I was sitting on the floor next to James as he was playing with cars. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him how much I loved him. He then turned to me with an adorable little smile and said, "it's a smooch!". His favorite book of all time is The Pout Pout Fish. At the end of the book the main character (The Pout Pout Fish) goes around kissing everyone. It says "smooch, smooch, smooch" as he kisses each character. I guess James figured out that my kiss on his cheek was also called a smooch. Little smartypants!

19 months

James is now 19 months old and just as feisty (yet lovable) as ever!

* He says so many words. I can't even begin to count them. He is a little parrot and will try to copy most things we say.

*James has always been really social but I think he gets more friendly every day. He says, "hi Mama, how're you?" several times each day. He is on a first name basis with my Mom (calls her "Jo"). He also makes nicknames for people. Tim is Timmy, Tom and Thomas the Train are both Tommy to him.

* For some reason he has decided that he dislikes clothes. A few weeks ago he would not sleep until we took his pajamas off.

* He does not like to have a dirty diaper. Usually he will immediately come to us and say, "poo poo change". I think that's a good step towards potty training but we aren't quite ready yet.

*James still loves to be active. He thinks it is his right to visit a park at least once a day. He says "park. swing swing. slide." and that's our clue that he wants to go to the park.

* While driving around town he recognizes many of the roads and landmarks. He knows we are almost home when we are 3-4 blocks away. He also recognizes when we are getting close to his cousin's houses, the park, the grocery store and this one particular fruit market that he calls the apple store.

* James knows the names of almost all of his family members and can usually tell you who goes with who (so when he's talking about his cousin, he will usually mention his aunt and uncle too).

* He really likes animals and doesn't seem to be afraid of them no matter how big they are! We have gone to the fair and a couple of petting zoos recently and James marches right in with no fear.

* He has mastered all of his toys so he gets bored pretty quickly at home. Within 15 minutes of getting in the door he starts asking for some of his favorite movies, "fishies" or a Thomas movie.

All these quirks add up to make our precious little boy. :)

12 on the 12th - October

I try to do this every month but only remember once every 6-7 months. The idea is that you take 12 pictures of your "everyday life" on the 12th of each month. In October, the 12th happened to fall on a Tuesday. Since I was off work, it was a little easier for me to take 12 pictures. So, here you go...this is my average Tuesday with James.

Right after he woke up, James was pretty whiny. I was still tired and longed for a little more sleep. I brought him into bed with me and he watched a whole episode of Curious George while I rested.


After we got dressed and ate breakfast, we headed out to run some errands. Before we left, I took this picture of my pathetic pumpkin that's taken over the front of our house.


The first place we stopped was Dunkin Donuts. I got their delicious pumpkin coffee. Yum!


James read his new train book (thanks Dad and Linda - he loves it!) while waiting for me to get my coffee.


Next stop - the park! We are so lucky to have 10+ parks within 10 miles. James really needs to go somewhere to get his energy out everyday so most Tuesdays include a trip to the park. This was the first time in 5-6 months that we've been to this particular park, so he was really excited to explore it.




I took this one of myself to show off how pretty the view is from this park. Isn't that farm fabulous?


After he got all of his energy out, we went to the grocery store. I didn't take any pictures in the store but you can imagine a whiny, crying, screaming toddler trying desperately to climb out of the cart all the way through the store. LOL! He knows there is a mechanical train outside the store and he thinks that the quickest way to get to the train is to scream the whole way through the store. Next time I might let him go to the train before we go into the store and see how that works.


He ate lunch while I put the groceries away. James is a picky eater but when he finds something he likes he gets very focused. In typical fashion, he eats with one hand while holding a dirty fork against his head with the other hand.


After lunch, James took his nap. I cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry and made some phone calls. Nothing worth taking pictures of there! I did make this cottage cheese loaf, though. It was delicious, too! (Thankfully this picture doesn't showcase the eggshells that fell in the casserole.)

Rod left for work at 6:20AM and arrived home at 8:20PM. He had to pack for his trip (a school trip to Williamsburg) so we barely saw him at all. Beasley tried to sneak into Rod's bag.

Thanks for looking!

Waiter...I'll have some normalcy, please.

The past few weeks have been busy around here. James is adjusting pretty well with the exception of his sleep schedule. Several nights this week he woke up at 3:30 and was up until 5:30 or 6 then went back to bed until 9. This morning he was up for the day at 5:30. Hopefully he is easing back into his typical schedule of sleeping from 9PM-7:30AM.

The first odd thing that happened about 3 weeks ago was our cat got sick. He spent 3 days at the vet's office then came home with a bunch of pills. At first we were able to trick him into taking the pills but then he figured out what was happening so we had to force the pills into him. James would go into hysterical crying fits every time he saw us wrap the cat in a towel and give him the pills (even though the cat didn't make any noise or even struggle much). So, every morning and evening we would have to hide from James and give the cat pills for almost two weeks.

Two weeks ago our house got broken into. It was crazy for one day while we made police reports, had detectives doing fingerprints, etc. But, everything turned out just fine.

The weekend before last we stayed in a cabin for the weekend. It was fun and relaxing but that is when James got his sleep schedule all mixed up.

Then last week I got sick with Pleurisy. I was off work Tuesday-Friday and home with James. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to lift him or spend much quality time with him for the first few days. Although James was well taken care of, I think it threw him off a bit to be so off schedule.

I'm really hoping that things will start to get back to normal this week!

In the midst of all the craziness, James went to the doctor and he was 35 1/2" tall (97th percentile) and 26.14 lbs (62nd percentile). He also got the flu shot and MMR.

James has also picked up a lot of new words this week: chair, work, today, home, giraffe (he doesn't call it a tractor anymore!).

He has also introduced some phrases like, "Hi train! How are you, train?". Pretty complex for an 18 month old, I think! He also asks what people are doing by saying, "wa doooing?". Grandma Jo taught him the Hokey Pokey recently and he loves to show off this new skill.

Well, it's time to finish getting ready for work. I just wanted to take the few extra minutes I had this morning (thanks to my early riser) to remember some of the craziness of the past few weeks.

I have an 18 month old? How did that happen?

I can't believe James is 18 months already! The past year and a half have been exhausting but so much fun. James is such a social little creature. He constantly talks about his family members and when any of us are in the room he says, "hi _____" every few minutes, just to make sure you're still there and paying attention to him.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* His speech continues to amaze me. The past few weeks he has started getting more brave and tries to say just about anything you ask him to say. Some new words he started saying this month are: "train, bean, raisin, come, you're welcome". He also added a "y" to some words he already knows. So, now "stuck" is "stucky" and "rocket" is "rocky". I don't know why he saw the need to change those words but it's funny.

* Although he is still fairly picky, we have been successful in getting James to eat a wider variety of foods over the past few weeks. He even ate some raw broccoli yesterday!

* We have to remember that he is always listening and learning even when it appears that he is focused on something else. The other day I was singing the alphabet song and he joined in with me at certain points of the song. I had no idea he knew that song! I was also counting and after I got to eight he said, "nine ten". I was shocked that he knew his numbers that high!

* His favorite playtime toys continue to be trains and anything having to do with Elmo. He is getting addicted to watching TV in various forms. He likes DVDs like Elmo and "songs" which is a nursery rhyme DVD. He also likes to watch videos of himself on the iPhones. On the laptop, he enjoys watching youtube videos of "Choo Choo Soul", Elmo and trains.

* Because James is so active, we try to get him outside at least once a day. He knows where all the parks are around our house and every time we drive by one he yells, "swing swing!".

James at 17 months

What a fun little boy we have! He is a constant blur of motion but that's ok because he keeps us young. Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* He is ALL about trains right now. About 20 times a day you will hear him say, "bye bye choo choo". The funniest thing is that he says this even when he can't see or hear a train.

* James loves watching Sid the Science Kid on TV, his favorite movie is a children's nursery rhyme DVD that I got for $2.99 at Ross, and he also loves watching Elmo or trains on Youtube.

* He learned how to walk backwards and spin around in circles this month.

* James is really interested in music. He likes it when we sing to him and now he is starting to sing along with us. He knows a couple of phrases from 15 different songs. It's so cute to hear him singing to himself in his crib or carseat.

* His vocabulary is about 8 times more advanced than most children his age. I read today that most 17 month olds can say 10 words. James can say EIGHTY words! Some of the most obscure include: starfish, Bert (from Sesame Street), penguin, glasses and stick. He also knows many names of his loved ones.

* In addition to the words he knows, James has mastered the sounds of over 30 animals and vehicles. He makes a really cute ambulance noise "weee-uuuu".

Here is a picture of my sweetheart with his most beloved possession...his blanket.

"Gotchu"

James crying in his bed. Mama enters the room, picks him up and proceeds to the rocking chair.
James: "Mama?"
Mama: "Yes?"
James: "Gotchu?"
Mama: "Yes baby, Mama's got you"
James: contented sigh.

16 months

Mr. James Edward Kerbs is 16 months old today. Since I'm about 15 months behind in my scrapbooking, I like to keep track of his milestones here so I can go back and look at my notes when I finally catch up in his memory book. LOL!

Here are my notes on James' past month:

* His biggest advances continue to be in his vocabulary. Just this past week he learned the words: "pizza, poop and airplane".

*For his entire 15th month, James spent the weekdays with his daddy. Every day when I get home, I am greeted by a very happy little boy and a proud daddy. It's so much fun watching them together!

* Last week James took his first visit to the ocean. He was a little overwhelmed by the sand, sounds, wind, water, etc. but he did well and had fun when he was distracted. His favorite things were to wave at airplanes, people, birds and dogs he saw along the shore.

* Prior to last week, James has only been on one roadtrip in his life. It was when he was only 4 months old and he was in the car for about 8 hours in one day. This past week he took two 11-hour car rides and he did wonderfully. Rod was so proud of him that he promised to buy James a custom Powerwheels with leather interior. Ha!

* Some of James' favorite books are: The Big Hungry Bear (can't remember the exact title), Pout Pout Fish and anything with pictures of animals. His favorite toys are: tractors and trains as well as things that he can make noise with. His favorite things to watch on TV are: Sid the Science Kid on PBS and Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs.

* James is really interested in music. He likes to listen to daddy play the guitar. Some songs he knows a few lines from include: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy Happy Home, The Trees are Gently Swaying and Pattycake.

Commence heart-melting

My sweet little boy said, "I love you" for the first time today without being prompted. He was saying goodnight to Daddy and out of nowhere blew him a kiss and said "laa luu" (his version of "I love you"). How precious!!!

James at 15 months...

Every day brings at least one new word or skill for James. It is amazing to see how quickly he is grasping the English language.

He says a LOT of words now. Some that I think are unusual for a 15 month-old: gentle, glasses, bear, starfish and Elmo. My favorite words he says are: shoe (Mom says he sounds like a French baby), thank you (he does the "dee dou" thing a lot of babies do), I love you (what Mommy's heart doesn't melt when she hears those words?) and Jeremy (he says "meremy"). It's also pretty neat that he says "diaper" when he wants to be changed. This could make potty training a little easier!

Physically, he is much more stable on his feet and starting to climb things (yikes!). He also finally learned how to stand up without pulling up on something this month. He used to fall down in the back yard and stay in one place grunting and whining until someone would help him up.

James loves music and he knows one phrase from 5 different songs. I ask him to sing at least 10 times a day because it is so cute!

He also knows quite a few animal sounds. The unusual ones are: lizard, donkey and owl.

This summer he is staying home with daddy. Some of his favorite activities include throwing things down the basement stairs, going on bike rides, reading books, watching "baby" videos, going to the park, watching Sid the Science Kid, torturing the cats, playing in the backyard (pool or sprinkler) and stealing Daddy's glasses off his face!

I will leave you with a cellphone picture since Rod is rebuilding our other computer that has the real camera pics on it. Rod always sits on this step to put his shoes on. Whenever James wants to go outside he grabs his shoes and sits on this step.

James at 14 months

This adorable little face is starting to develop quite a personality! He is so much fun and has such a great sense of humor.

Some things I want to remember about him at this age:

* Just moved into size 4 diapers. I'm hopeful that he will potty train before he reaches size 5. :)

* His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Some new words are: "maamaw" (grandma), "soosh" (shoes), "asai" (outside).

* He still loves to be outside any chance he gets. His favorite things to do are talk to the neighbor kids, talk to the neighbor dogs, swing and go for walks in his stroller.

* While inside he enjoys watching videos on my iPhone. He tells us this is what he wants by yelling "baby" at the top of his lungs. He has also discovered how much fun it is to run on the couch. Yesterday he fell off and landed on his head pretty hard, but the minute he was done crying he got right back up there.

* James has started dancing at just about anything that resembles a song! His jerky dance makes me laugh every time.

* He notices noises that I don't even hear and he often tries to mimic them. Motorcycles, airplanes and school buses are some of his favorites.

* In the past few weeks, James has discovered temper tantrums. He turns bright red, clenches his fists, throws himself backwards and screams. It's pretty funny and so hard not to laugh at him. The good thing is that he is still really distractable so he can be in the middle of a tantrum and suddenly stop and smile if you know the right thing to say.

* James is just starting to sing a little bit. Sometimes he makes up his own songs. At his cousin Traiden's birthday last week, he started singing Happy Birthday To You. It's more like, "haaa you".

* He is so affectionate. He always greets me with a hug and "awww...mama". In fact, even when I'm home with him he will often stop and give me random hugs during the day. He started blowing kisses to people when they leave which is super cute, too.

Blogging from my phone!

This is a test. A goofy little boy with an orange piece of plastic over his face should be appearing on your screen. :)

Update: the blogwriter app says I need to login to picasa in order to upload photos but it doesn't give me the option to do that. Do you know if I need to pay for a picasa app? If anyone has a good blogging app, please let me know!

random updates

It's been a while since I blogged so I drew up this new post for all my faithful fans!

James' vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. The average person off the street could not decipher most of his words, but those of us who see him daily can recognize that he is trying to say lots of new things. As soon as we approach the driveway he starts saying, "Buuuuck" (the neighbor's dog or "swing swing" indicating that he wants to go adventuring in the back yard. He is in the "no" phase. When asked a question he always responds with "no" but you can tell how he really feels by whether he waves his hands or flails his arms. It's pretty comical to watch how passionate he gets about certain things. Other things he started saying recently are: "fish, shoes, glasses, bath". He calls the cats "dog" except Beasley whom he calls "Beebee".

He is all about independence when it comes to eating. We discovered that he really enjoys some fruits when he can take bites himself versus us giving him little pieces.

James' daddy turned the big 3-0 last week. James enjoyed all the celebrations!

I finally lost my "baby house"! That's the term my little cousin uses for the weight a person gains when carrying a baby. :) I gained a total of 50 lbs with James. The first 20 lbs came off in about 6 weeks. After that I tried to exercise and eat right, but the weight just stuck around. I started a new diet on March 22 and as of today I have lost 32 pounds! (This picture doesn't show off the weight loss as well as it could because of the way my shirt was hanging).

Baby's first stomach virus :(

Poor James was so pitiful last evening. He had a fever which made him want to do nothing but

lay on my (or Rod's) lap. He vomited all over himself, me, the chair, his clothes, his special blanket, the floor and his night stand as I was putting him to bed. It was such a mess to clean up but my wonderful husband came to the rescue (even though he was very tired and still hadn't eaten dinner at 9:00 at night). Thankfully James' fever was gone when he woke up but he was still pretty lethargic. He and I sat in the recliner together for almost 2 hours reading books, watching TV and looking at videos on my iPhone. The picture was taken this morning when he was watching Clifford. I don't like to see my baby sick but it makes me so grateful that he is a typically healthy child!

James at 13 months

Wow...it's been a long time since I have submitted a new post. Sorry to keep all my faithful fans waiting. :)

James is so mobile and busy these days that it is hard to leave him alone for the length of time it takes to write a blog entry. Rod has been away a lot due to work which means I am the only one responsible for making sure this little toddler doesn't tear our house to shreds! Anyway, I will try to write more often.

At 13 months James:

* is walking really well. He still can't get up without holding onto something, but he is pretty steady once he gets up.

* is becoming opinionated about everything. He whines, pulls on your clothes, hits things out of your hands, etc. to try to communicate his requests. We are all looking forward to the time when he can use words!

*is learning more words every day. Some of his new ones include: dog, nod (from a song) and bath.

* is able to respond occasionally when asked a question. For instance, if I say "are you hungry?" he will either ignore me (meaning no) or say "mmmmmm" (meaning yes). It is really neat watching him learn.

* has 3 favorite things: dogs, books and the outdoors. He LIVES to be outside where he runs around in the back yard, pets the neighbor dogs through the fence, swings and plays with bubbles.

* typically sleeps from 8PM-7AM. I am loving the full nights of sleep!

* spends at least 20 minutes/day watching videos of himself on my iPhone. His favorite videos are those that show him playing with Daddy, Grandma Jo or Tyce.

* is a wonderful little boy who is showered with love every day!

What I want to remember about James at 12 months...

* He can walk (when he wants to!). In most cases, he will start off walking then when he falls down he finishes out the journey by crawling. He can crawl much faster than he can walk.

* James absolutely loves being outside. He can be super tired and whiny inside and then turn into the happiest little guy as soon as you step outdoors.

* He can say quite a few words now. I'll see if I can remember all of them: mama, dada, byebye (buhbuh), baby, up, down, Beasley (Bee), bottle (baba), no no (nah nah), uh oh. Rod and I just went through his animal sounds tonight and these are the ones he knows without prompting: elephant, cow, sheep, bird, dog, cat, duck, snake (just learned this one today!), monkey, lion.

* When we start to sing "I have hands that clap clap clap" he claps his hands. If we sing "with James in the family" he says "hah" (his version of "happy happy home").

* One of his favorite activities is watching videos of himself on my iPhone. He probably spends at least 15-20 minutes every day watching his videos.

* He is still in love with books. The Pout Pout Fish remains at the top of his list. His attention span has extended and he will usually sit through about 4-5 books at one time. We usually save "Blub Blub" (as he calls The Pout Pout Fish) for last.

James makes us laugh constantly with his goofy faces and noises. He brings lots of joy (and entertainment) into our family.

Happy Birthday to my little sweetheart!

James turned 1 year old today. We are the luckiest parents in the world! This sweet little boy has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. :)

I love my silly little boy!

This week I noticed that James has started to take an interest in cars. Previously, we had thought he was going to be a tech geek like his parents, but now I see that he also has a mind for mechanics. :) He has taken to pushing cars all around the house. He crawls with one hand and two knees while the other hand is pushing the car out in front of him. Of course, he is not picky about what kind of car he uses. In fact, he has been seen pushing a remote control, book and cooking pot.

One of his favorite new games is sitting on my lap and then bending backwards so he can see the world upside down. He clearly says "up" and "down" to tell you which direction he wants to go!

He is really enjoying the warm weather lately. Every time we walk by the door he says "buh bye" and tries to grab the door. As soon as you walk outside he gets a huge smile on his face!

Right now he is very sleepy, so I must end this and put him down for a nap. I wish I could post a video of how he is telling me he is ready for a nap. He is rubbing his face as hard as he can on my face. One of us is going to get a black eye!

Walking! (almost)

James at 11 months old

Wow, I can't believe how fast he is growing. A year ago we hadn't even met the little boy who is now the center of our world. These have been the best 11 months of my life so far!

Some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* He has become a very picky eater. If he is bored (or over stimulated) he won't eat. If the food is too slimy (or dry) he won't eat it. If the food is too hot (or cold) he won't eat it. You get the idea!

* He chatters and talks constantly. The words he says regularly are: mama, dada (occasionally), bye-bye (occasionally), uh-oh, ball and blub blub blub. He can also tell you what some animals say: dog, sheep, cow (he says "boo) and monkey.

*In addition to speaking words, there are many more that he clearly understands. As soon as we put our coats or his coat on he gets really excited. He also gets excited about "bath" or "baba" (bottle).

*Physically he is growing really fast. I don't know exactly how much he weighs but he has outgrown most of his 12-month clothes in length although they still fit him width-wise.

* He is starting to play more interactive games like peekaboo and chase. He laughs like crazy if you chase him while he crawls.

* James has taken a couple of steps between us or between the chair and the couch but he still relies on crawling as his main mode of transportation. He is a very fast crawler.

* I think we have a little monkey on our hands. He tries to climb EVERYTHING. He will hold onto the bottom of a windowsill and use his little monkey feet to climb the wall (thankfully he hasn't been successful in that yet). Our oven door locks closed and he uses the handle as a chin-up bar. He also climbs the dresser if any of the drawers are left open for him to use as footholds.

* James is totally in love with books. When you get to the last page he does a fake cry and flails around at the book until you go back to the beginning and read it again. His favorite is called "The Pout-Pout Fish". Here is a video of him saying, "blub blub blub" while reading the book with Daddy.

13 on the 13th

I always try to do this challenge that some of my other friends do called "12 on the 12th" where you take 12 pictures throughout the day on the 12th day of each month. I forgot AGAIN this month, but decided to do my own version called "13 on the 13th". (I have to apologize for the spacing of the pictures and words in this post. I keep messing with it, but Blogger is playing mind games with me!)

Yesterday James and I spent most of the time at home which gave me lots of opportunities to take pictures. Many of them looked like this because he wanted to grab the camera instead of pose for the picture.



For breakfast, James had yogurt bites (freeze-dried yogurt for babies), 1/2 a nectarine, and some Life cereal.

Every time he is in the high chair (or carseat), he must pull one of his socks off. I'm not sure why, but he insists on it!

While he ate, I enjoyed a bowl of cereal. At our house, this is the view you get when you eat cereal. For some reason all 3 cats think that they will get to drink the remainder of the milk. This never happens, but they still hover as you eat.

After breakfast James wanted to do some reading. This has become his absolute favorite book. I tried to count the number of times we read it yesterday but I lost count. It was at least 7 or 8. At one point in the book, the fish says "blub, Blub, BLUB". He loves that part and tries to say "blub". It's pretty cute!

When Rod got home from church, he gave us a taste of the music he performed during the service. James wanted to help him strum the guitar.

I'm not sure why it has taken him this long to discover the air filter in our bedroom, but it has become a new favorite toy. He likes to stand above it and let the wind blow on his face. He spent 20 minutes playing with the air filter yesterday which gave me a chance to read a magazine...something I NEVER do anymore.

I snapped this one during his nap. He always has his precious little blanket up next to his face no matter where he scoots in his crib.

I woke him up from his nap so we could do some shopping at Borders. He was so cute and cuddly that I had to get a self-portrait.

This was James' first trip to Borders. He loved the huge pile of stuffed animals.

Poor Big Bird!

He is so active that we get worn out chasing him around the store. So, Rod put him up on his shoulders. James thought it was a great way to shop!

After Borders we went to Panera Bread for dinner. I didn't take my camera in, but I wish I had. He was a complete nut! He was throwing bread all over the place, trying to climb out of the high chair, laughing at other people in the restaurant, etc. Rod gave him a pickle to keep him busy and he thought that was pretty funny. He sucked on it a bit then threw it over the edge of his high chair and kept saying, "uh-oh". After eating, we decided it was time to head home. When we got home we watched some of the Olympics then read his new books.

What a nice day spent with my two favorite boys! :)

Chatterbox

James loves noises of all kinds. He jabbers and screeches constantly but he is starting to make more sounds that can be translated into words. Animal sounds are a big favorite currently. He can tell you what a monkey, dog, and cow say. Sometimes he will do the lion, also.

Lately James has found a new fascination with cabinets. (Don't you love that cheesy grin?)

On Wednesday we put him down in the snow to crawl around while we shoveled. He had fun cruising all over the snow-covered front yard.

James is a VERY energetic little boy. Thankfully, he sleeps pretty well because he has to re-energize. Here is a picture of my sleeping little angel.

Because he sleeps so soundly and has a full head of hair, he often wakes up with crazy new hairstyles such as this one. :)

10 months of pure joy!

Happy 10-month birthday to my sweet little James! Our lives have been made so much richer by the addition of James to our family.

I think the last month has been full of more "firsts" than any other month in his life so far. James is learning new things every day and we are having so much fun watching him grow into his own little person.

* He experienced his first Christmas and New Years holidays this month.

* He learned how to clap and point.

* James has begun copying sounds. When we say "uh-oh" he says "uh". He also growls and makes other various noises when prompted.

* Can you believe that he now knows how to whistle? I've never met a 10-month old who could do that!

* He loves to open and close doors...everything from real full-sized doors to little doors on his toys or even flaps in books.

* Sadly, James had his first experience with antibiotics this month because he had an ear infection. We found out that he is just like Rod and I were when we were little...terrified of taking medicine. Thankfully he will take it by eating bread soaked in Amoxicillin. At night I add the medicine to his bottle and he doesn't seem to mind.

* When it comes to eating, he is all about the independence. He likes things that he can pick up and eat by himself. He refuses to eat off a spoon. Right now James' favorite food is string cheese.

* I still can't get him to drink out of a sippy cup. He likes taking sips out of regular cups but he makes a huge mess.

* Although he doesn't often smile for strangers he loves to be out in public. We make an effort to get him out of the house at least once per day.

* It is amazing how he recognizes the people who care for him daily. He can definitely pick them out of a crowd! Right now he stays with my Mom on Mondays, me on Tuesdays, Rae (my sister-in-law) on Wednesdays, and Rose (my mother-in-law) on Thursdays and Fridays. We are so thankful that he gets to stay with people who love him!

* James still thinks that the world revolves around Rod. Every evening when he sees his Daddy walking up the sidewalk he gets the biggest smile. When Rod enters the house, James wants to be held by him for no less than 15 minutes. He looks at Rod and smiles then looks at me and smiles. He sticks his finger in Rod's mouth and makes this "shhhh" sound that means he is happy. It's pretty cute!

* Our cats bring James lots of joy and entertainment. One time this month he got Beesley cornered and ended up getting scratched on his face. This has not deterred him from chasing the cats every chance he gets.

* I really need to get a good video to show you how he can "shake his booty". He loves music and shakes his head back and forth as his way of dancing. Even when music is not playing, I can say, "shake your booty" and he will shake his head.

* Size-wise he finally reached the 20 lb mark and continues to be in the 95th percentile for height. He wears size 12 month clothes.