Oh Maverick...

Mommy has been putting off and putting off doing you "monthly update" for...months now. Gosh it didn't seem that way. But the summer has been so busy and we have been go, go, go and I just haven't made the time for it I guess. Luckily, I have been taking lots of notes and making mental checklists. Now, before I forget anything or lose one of these pieces of paper I have laying around with this valuable information chicken scratched on it, I will put it here to be forever remembered.

You turned 10 months old a few days after I left for Brazil. Obviously the big one for this month was that your were done breastfeeding. I left on my trip not really sure what would happen when I got, but GG gave you lots of love and said after a few days you were fine with just a bottle and by the time I came home, 9 days later, you showed no interest whatsoever. You were a little more clingy, for sure, but I would like to think that that was just cause you missed me so much, in general. And of course you had GG, Papa, and Daddy around for 9 days so lots of arms to carry you. While I was away, your top 2 side teeth came in, so when I got off the plane and it seemed you had that much more of a mouthful of teeth, of course it just made you look that much older to me. Plus, you were STANDING on your own. That was a big deal too, I remember seeing you standing there thinking you had grown a foot since I left. At 10 months old, you started clapping, walking while holding someone's hand, and really started to play and interact with your sister. You being able to stand up really brought you to her level, you could stand at your little tables and play together and it brought your play time to a whole new level. The best thing that happened at 10 months old, and really while I was away, was that you started sleeping through the night. I guess with nothing to wake up crying for it was pointless, so you just stopped waking altogether. You sleep from about 8 at night till 7 in the morning, and Mommy is a new woman now that I can finally have a full night's sleep again.

So I was home from Brazil for about 2 weeks and then we left on our summer and family vacation to Canada. You turned 11 months old while we were there. I had written down that you STILL liked to be carried everywhere, that you would eat pretty much anything (you have always been such a great eater) and that you loved to snuggle. I guess because you were no longer nursing but wanted to have you own way of physical touch with me, you have become my little snuggle buddy. Sometimes, during play, you will still just walk or crawl over to me and put your head in my lap or hold my leg or anything to get close to me. You will lay in bed with me and let me scratch your back, something you never used to do. I eat it up, I love how attached you are to me and lots of times, if I am in the room, I am the one you want. You are fine if I leave as well, you seen very confident and fine to be left, even with a stranger or sitter you don't know well. Maverick, you are a people person. You love everyone. Reminds me of someone else I know....:) At 11 months old, you learned how to give kisses, and you loved the attention you got when you did it so it was one of your big tricks for awhile. You won't do it as often now, I guess the novelty wore off, but in Canada you had these bid, open mouth slobbery kisses for anyone who asked you for one. At this stage you also learned how to tickle, and you loved to tickle us and your sister, you think you are a pretty funny guy when you do. You were creeping and walking along furniture most of the trip to Canada, and when we left BC and headed for Calgary for a few days it was there, days after you turned 11 months old, that you took your first steps and started walking. You had been trying and trying for awhile, and once you figured it out you were on the move, no looking back! You still like to be picked up form time to time, but walking has been hue in your independence, and of course making it ALL THE MORE fun for you and Tula to play. You can both push the shopping cart and the stroller now, you like to chase each other and wrestle, and you can play out in the playhouse with her. You are no two little kids running around together and although you will always be my baby boy, I love having the two of you older at this point and getting a break from the "baby stage". We never really got one between you and Tula, we never got to put away baby gear or get comfortable sleeping through the night, there just wasn't the time between you. This month, right before your first birthday, Mommy went crazy and put away all the baby toys, sold your walker, washed up the highchair with the tray and put it away. Now you sit at the table with us in a restaurant highchair and Tula sits at a chair with a boosted and we have meals, the four of us together, at the same table. It is wonderful, and of course you like being in on the action too. I LOVE having a de-cluttered house and getting rid of all these large plastic primary colored things. Slowly but surely, this place is looking more like a home then a daycare everyday.

You got lots of fun new "boy" toys for your first birthday and of course you loved them all. I know I have said this before but you are SUCH A BOY. I have noticed the difference for months in the way boy babies and girl babies are and I really didn't think it could be so obvious but it is. You love to watch and inspect how and thing functions. You will twist your head at all angles when I am loading you into your carseat to see the chains move as the garage door is going up. You will ohhh and your new thing at 12 months old is "pointing" and it's usually at anything like a motorbike, boat or truck. You take your new cars and love to drive them across the tile floor...I don't get it. You love the new digger you got for you birthday, you have figured out how to operate it and when you cannot figure it out you get so mad you scream. Yes, at this stage I am really starting to see a new side of you and you have quite the temper, Mister. If I give you a cup of milk and that's not what you wanted you will get so mad you will try and hit it out of my hand. If tula takes a toy from you you will scream till you get it back. Oh yes, you are not talking yet but you have figured out ways of letting us know what you like and what you don't, and you are very clear on that. You love to climb, I have alreday found you up on the couch by yourself and on top of your play table downstairs. Your favorite place to be right now is up on my bed, you love to crawl around on it and bury your face in our pillows, or hold onto the headboard and jump on the bed. This month I actually feel like I can walk away from you up there, for a short period of time. You seem to understand edges and ledges and won't go near them, as if you know you could fall off. Sometimes you and Tula will be playing up there and you still get way to close for comfort. But no falls yet, thank God.

Now that you are one, you love to copy your sister. Yesterday we were driving and she stared clapping so so did you, you thought it was so funny you were doing what she was. Oh yeah, just after your first birthday we turned your carseat around so you are now forward facing. We also took the bumper pads off your bed last month as well. You love being forward facing in the car and being able to see Mommy and Daddy, and of course the TV when we turn it on. We let you and Tula watch the tv in the Tahoe for the first time on our way to Disneyland last week and you guys basically stared at it for 2.5 hours, non stop. You thought it was the coolest thing ever to be driving and watching tv, and of course it helped we had your monster trucks on:)

A big change with you being one that Mommy wasn't quite ready for was you decided you were going to start napping only once a day. Tula was almost a year and a half when this happened so I thought I had a little more time but it's actually been a much easier transition than I thought it would be. The first week was tough because you wouldn't go down at 9 anymore but you couldn't stay awake till Tula's afternoon nap. I am used to you going for your morning nap and Tula and me usually doing our thing downstairs and then you get up, we have a couple hours and then you BOTH go down at around 2 and Mommy gets some alone/me time. When you went to one nap a day, you wanted to go down around 11 and then sleep for 2 or 3 hours and get up just as Tula was going for her nap. Not cool. That time in the afternoon that is kid free is not negotiable for me right now. It is what allows me to clear my head and regroup, so after a week or two of training you, essentially, by just keeping you up, you seem to be much better with it. Still, if we go in the car or something in the morning you might have a quick nap, but usually you go down at 1 and sleep till about 4, and Tula goes down at 2 and sleeps till about the same time. Afternoon naptime makes for one happy Mommy! And you not sleeping as much has actually made life a little easier, we are not so stuck to the house, especially in the mornings, and we can get out and about a little more. Plus, I love that by the time you get to go for you afternoon nap, you are so exhausted that you usually just fall asleep in my arms as I rock you. At nighttime you have a bit of bottle and just want your crib, you seem to prefer to fall asleep on your own, but naptime you just crash, and I get a couple minute hold a sleeping baby that wakes up to be a bigger boy after every time he sleeps. It is a very special time for me, and I cherish those minutes every day.

Well, I think I am all caught up Maver. Mommy and Daddy love having another toddler in the house. The other day we went to the pool and for a walk and giggled together as we walked ahead and looked back at you and your sister toddling behind us. It just feels like we have two big kids right now, and it is so different for us. We love you at every stage of course, but one year old is such a fun one. You are so independent, yet still innocent enough to not be too defiant or difficult. You are always making us all laugh, including Tula. Oh...with that said, you guys fight now more than ever over toys and playtime. You are best buddies 98 percent of the time but when you aren't look out . She is still the bossy big sister trying to tell you "no" or push you, but you are really starting to figure ways to let her have it or just ignoring her. The fights are few and far between, most of the time you play together perfectly. You guys seem to have such a strong connection and you are often laughing together, even when an adult isn't around. Music to my ears.

Mommy loves you Maverick John. Happy 10, 11 and 12 months all in one!