Random Cub Update. :)

**A picture, for Pam! :)

Cubbie is sleeping soundly in his nap, so I figured I'd take this time to give some updates on his life. Little fella. He's so stinkin' cute.

He's already 14 months old!

He is everywhere, all the time, walking at quite a clip these days. He's become quite a pro at putting his toys away (once he learned to "throw" a ball, we harnessed his newfound skill and handed him toys and pointed to his toy baskets and Voila! They get put away!) and his newest words are "ball", "book", and what I think might be "bible". He has a small children's bible that he likes for us to read to him, so I think that's where he's getting it. He still has a voracious appetite and prefers fruit and veggies over anything else. He used to love bread and chicken, but now he'll choose oranges, tomatoes, pineapple, grapes, apricots, apples, peas, and green beans instead. I always order a fruit cup for him at Chick-fil-A with his nuggets, and I usually have to end up feeding the nuggets to him at the end of the meal after he devours the fruit cup on his own!

To keep him loving healthy food, I try to buy fresh fruit and frozen veggies every week. Our grocery store's produce section has a great selection of small packages full of chopped fresh fruit, so I usually grab some containers of pineapple and melon (it's cheaper than buying a huge fruit tray, plus I don't have to hack into a pineapple every week!). Since he doesn't love chomping through fruit yet, I find that dried fruit is a great substitute. I'm a tad leery of canned peaches and such, since some of them are in a sugary syrup, and since he loves fresh or dried stuff just as much, I tend to go that route instead. Frozen broccoli and green beans are great because they are easy to prepare and he loves them. My next venture is frozen berries. He loves all kinds of berries, so frozen should be fun for him to eat, too.

I like that he has a huge appetite, but I want to keep him on the path of loving healthy food so he'll learn to fill his tummy with the right kind of food.

He drinks out of a straw like a pro, but hates the straw cups, so we're a sippy cup-only family. He loves the hard top sippies which is great, since they are the most leak-proof. And as of yesterday I implemented a "sippy cup in the kitchen only" rule, as his sippy cups seem to grow legs these days and disappear in his nursery. Yeah. Finding a sippy cup a few days later, wedged under the glider? GROSS. GAH.

Since he is learning to talk, I use complete sentences and lots of "please"s and "thank you"s when I speak to him. We don't use nicknames for things (for example, his sippy cup is his "sippy" or "cup", not his "sippy wippy cuppy wuppy!") just to keep it simple (I'm sure he'll come up with his own nicknames someday, anyway). Don't get me wrong--I still have majorly bad baby voice when I pinch those delicious thighs or kiss his chubby cheeks, but for basic commands and communication, I speak to him the way I would like him to learn to speak to me. He can make the "p" sound for "please" and can say "thank you" (it sounds like "cane koo"). Ah, baby jibberish. So hilarious. I've taught him to rub his chest for "please" since he can't say the word yet. We're getting into the "I grunt and whine when I want it" stage and I'm doing my best to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible!!

I thought that the walking stage that blends very soon with the toddler stage would be intimidating, but oh my goodness, I love it!! It's so fun to see Cub's little blonde head toddling throughout the house. He loves hide-n-seek and this whole new world of games is so fun. I was worried that once he learned to walk, it would mean he would take off away from me, but a good friend of mine advised me that as soon as Cub learned to crawl, I should practice calling his name (and motioning for him) and having him come to me. He mastered it very well on all-fours, which has paid off, now that he's walking!!

He tests limits every once and a while, but for the most part, he's still very compliant and obedient. A firstborn boy. He's still content to play with one toy for a long time and he rarely begs for my attention (unless he's teething or not feeling well). Of course, I still love to GIVE him lots of attention. :) He's yummy and wonderful. His facial expressions are becoming more and more varied and he's definitely becoming a people-pleaser.

He's sleeping 11-12 hours a night with usually one 2-3 hour nap during the day. He goes down for sleepy time extremely well (those painful early weeks of crying it out paid off) and even if he doesn't immediately fall asleep when he goes down, he'll lay in his crib and babble and coo instead of cry. Which is, of course, all kinds of adorable and it takes EVERYTHING IN ME to not run in there and start playing with him!

There. I think that just about covers everything!

A random Cub update. :)

Have a lovely day!