Our little boy is growing up so fast! I can't believe he will be 1 in a month. Heiko is doing something new almost every day; the speed of his physical and cognitive development blows us away.
-Says a few words (sort of): mama, dada, banana (nana), bye-bye (bah-bah), ball (buh), milk (me-uhl), and nose (no). Imitates LOTS of words and sounds, mostly beginning consonants, but pretty good with middle vowel sounds too!
-Signs for (and says his version of the word) milk when he wants milk.
-Loves putting things into different containers. And taking them out. And in. And out.
-Waves bye-bye... when he feels like it. ;)
-Crawls only on his hands and knees now, no more army crawl.
-Eats mostly finger foods; thinks he is way too cool for spoons.
-Stands unassisted for a few seconds.
-Kicks his legs on command (learned this from swimming, but does it anytime you tell him to... good practice for soccer!).
-Can point to mom and dad's noses (and say it), and sometimes noses on his toys and stuffed animals, but isn't interested in finding his own nose yet.
-Pushes his toy cars around.
-Tries to fit things together (the cap onto his soap bottle, a block into a cup, etc.)
-Loves pushing buttons on musical toys to listen and dance to the songs. He will push the button one time to make it play, then wait for the song to finish before he pushes it again.
-He is very deliberate about his play now. No more random banging and grabbing and throwing. He knows exactly what he wants to do and wants to try out.
-When he hears the door opening when Jonas get home from work, he squeals, says dada, drops whatever he is doing, and races toward the back door. Does the same when mama picks him up from daycare. =)
-Learned last night how to blow kisses to Nana on Skype! And now he is doing it all the time.
-Still no teeth.
Heiko started daycare 2 weeks ago when I went back to work for the new school year, and he is doing great there. It is literally a 3 minute drive from my school, and we really like it so far. His teacher tells me that he has really surprised them with how well he is doing with such a big change. He is napping longer each day, he falls asleep as soon as they put him down, and he is a happy, fun little guy! But... he does not like mama leaving him there in the morning. It is so hard leaving him screaming and crawling to the door. When we walk into the classroom he holds on to me tighter, and starts to whine and say "mama". Then I have to put him down and pry his hands from around my neck... it is so painful; kills me every time. But they tell me the crying doesn't last long, and that he doesn't cry AT ALL for any reason for the rest of the day. He just talks and plays and eats and sleeps; just like he is supposed to. I am so proud of my baby boy.
We are done nursing. =( I'm a little sad about it because I wanted to make it to a year, but one month short is not too bad I guess. We were down to one feeding a day for the last few weeks because my supply tanked really quickly over the last 2 months. Then Jonas and I got a nasty stomach virus a few days ago, and I couldn't eat for 2 days and couldn't drink much either, and after that extravaganza I tried nursing and Heiko was very mad because there was nothing left. Breastfeeding comes very easily to some, and it was a very difficult journey for us, but I am so thankful and so happy that I was able to provide him with nature's best nourishment for the first 11 months of his life!
After I combed the macaroni (from lunch at daycare... not our #1 choice of lunch for him, haha) out of his hair, Heiko would not let me take his picture without the comb.
Until daddy got home, and then he would only awkwardly lean back like this and smile at dad.
Oh gosh mom, what do you expect? I'm not your trick monkey!
Heiko and mommy loved playing at the children's museum this summer!
The hair has a mind of it's own!
The scrunch-face smile is reserved for the happiest times. =)
Mom, you missed a spot on your apple.
Heiko's new post-sleep routine: throw everything out of the crib while waiting for mom or dad to come get me.
We love the zoo!
Heiko Bode met the elephant named after him! (Bodhi) =)
