Corgan at 13 months (+ 1 week)

Corgan's intelligence and awareness of the things around him seems to have exploded over the past month! On his first birthday, he was still a bit wobbly when he walked, only signed or said a handful of words, and was still relatively baby-like. He seems to have aged months during this past month. He's now a good playmate for his sister and loves to run after her anywhere that she leads. He does things that show you that he's taking in everything that he sees you do (like going and getting a container of food and a spoon and bringing it to me when he's hungry). He tries to copy everything his sister does (like doing the dance that she made up for the song that her robot-parrot sings), and seems to be pretty well coordinated (he can climb on the rocking horse or his John Deere tractor all by himself and propels himself too). He signs 17 words/phrases (all done, help, more, puppy dog, cat, elephant, please, thank you, fish, milk, baby, ball, remote, hop, and bye bye) and says 8 (uh-oh, dada, mama, more, food, Belle Belle, duck, EIEIO minus the O). He also can tell you the sounds of many animals (moo for cow, baa for sheep, roar for lion, tiger, bear, leopard, dinosaur, or anything else resembling any of those animals, buzz for bee, hiss for snakes, and a silly head-shaking and lip blowin' sound I made up for horses). It's so much fun to look through animal books or flash cards with him now because he is able to either say the name of the animal, make a sound that it makes, or do a sign for the animal or something that it does. And speaking of books... he is a total book lover! He will take a book over a toy many times. He also loves to throw the ball though, and has got a pretty good arm (that's no surprise though since he does have Kolumbus genes). He's also really getting into his cars and trucks. He loves to drum on his toy drums, his drum kit, the Rockband drums, or anything that he thinks should be a drum. He loves to put things into other things, so I am constantly finding baby food containers in the cup drawer, toys in the baby food bin, cups in the hamper, trucks in the pots and pans drawer, etc., etc. He makes it really hard to keep anything organized. He will eat non-stop if I let him and is constantly in the pantry (when someone has forgotten to shut the door) finding food containers or boxes of cereal to bring out into the living room. He has just recently started rejecting certain food, especially something solid served with soft food (like turkey bits in mashed potatoes). He gets VERY angry and throws a fit when you don't feed him exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it. He is obsessed with food. He is very active though, so weight isn't an issue. He seems to have slimmed down quite a bit since he really started walking all of the time. He still doesn't feed himself with a spoon because I hardly ever let him try. I already have enough messes to clean up, so I have been avoiding letting him develop this skill. He loves to pretend feeding others and himself with a spoon from the kids' kitchen though, and loves to "cook" with the kids' microwave. He also likes to feed Belle's baby dolls with their bottles (which I find kind funny since he never would take a bottle, but I guess he's seen Annabelle do that). He loves to push things around the house including his walk-a-long walker, the rocking horse, the JD tractor, Belle's doll stroller, the "pop pop" toy, toy vacuums, and his sister. He has just recently figured out how to get these "pushed" items to go where he wants them to go when he gets stuck. He loves to shut doors so I have to always have an ear open listening for him to shut himself in a room. He loves tumbleweeds gymnastics, especially running up and down the trampoline, tumbling down the wedges, and going through the tunnels. He finally enjoys riding on the bike for the whole ride and doesn't scream when I put the helmet on him. He has been going to sleep at night without crying for about a month now, and loves to snuggle with his super-soft fuzzy blankie and his "Blue". He still takes two naps a day (most of the time) and cries at nap times, but not for long. He has just stopped crying when I leave him at the gym daycare too, which is a big step! Corgan constantly falls down because he has no fear of falling and runs everywhere as fast as he can, so he usually has a bump, bruise, or cut (or two) on his head. Annabelle has always been this way too, but I think she has a little more of the clumsy gene than he does.

Watching Corgan and Annabelle play together makes me realize that there really are benefits to having two kids so close together. It has definitely been hard at times having two "babies", but seeing them play with each other makes it all worth it. Don't get me wrong, they fight like siblings too (pushing, shoving, and hitting-when-mommy-isn't-looking included), but I love it anyway! I wonder how much longer it will be before they start to look like they are the same age and I get questions about them being twins. :)

I love my little boy more than I could've ever imagined! There is definitely a special bond between a boy and his Mommy, and I hope that Corgan and I never lose that!