Dancing. . .

Here's just a cute little video of JJ "dancing" in his high chair. . .

Catching up. . .

Daddy's home!

Stealing the birthday presents, but at least he's sharing them with another guest!

First girlfriend of the day, the birthday girl!

Second girlfriend of the day, he sat and watched her play in the sand for a VERY long time!

Third girlfriend of the day, she insisted on pushing him in the swing even though she wasn't even at the same party!

Pre-zoo outfit with new slippers : )

My favorite, meerkats!

We've had a pretty busy few days. Brian got home Saturday morning and we went to a friend's daughter's first birthday party that afternoon. JJ had a very good time running around the park and playing with the other kids. He would mostly just watch them and follow them around, but I guess that's his current version of playing with them. He tried stealing a few of the birthday presents, but luckily didn't get any into our car : )

Brian was on duty on Sunday so we brought him dinner on the ship. JJ seemed to think it was pretty fun sitting in his camping chair again for dinner. This was the first time we've brought him on the ship since he started walking. It took about 10 minutes of him walking around for Brian to determine that the ship is not a safe place for children wanting to walk and not listen! He tried turning off a few very important pieces of military equipment which I thought was pretty funny. We didn't end up staying very long, but it was still really fun to be there and see JJ try and mess with national security.

Yesterday, Brian and I both took the day off from work to spend some time together as a family. We went to the zoo and had a very nice day. The weather has been very nice lately so it was good to spend the whole day outside : ) We hadn't been to the zoo in awhile, so it was fun watching JJ actually notice all the animals now. I think he will enjoy it as much as we do.

JJ's been doing what I assume to be a very typical baby/child behavior lately. . . when he's done eating, he starts to throw all the rest of the food from his high chair onto the ground. It really bugs me and I always tell him to stop, but he seems to think it's funny. I end up taking everything away and make him sit while we finish dinner. Tonight, we were all enjoying a nice dinner when he started to do this. We took his tray away like usual and he sat and played while we finished. After we all finished, we let him down and about 1 minute later, I noticed he was eating the food off the floor! It turns out that maybe he's not throwing it on the ground just to bug me, but maybe he's just saving it for later!

Dad da. . .

Using the "phone" appropriately!

"Helping" me cook dinner!

Brian's gone this week and JJ has not been happy about it. All I hear all night after I pick him up is his sad little hopefully voice going "Dad da"? When I knock on the door to pick him up after work, I hear him through the door, "Dad da"? Then when I bring him home, he'll point at the door, "Dad da"? Then when I look at pictures of Brian with him, "Dad da"!!! He's been breaking my heart every day with his little hopeful voice, and then today he made me laugh. We had a music station playing on TV and Janet Jackson came on and JJ looked at the TV all excited, "DAD DA" he proclaimed!!! Not sure about the similarities, but JJ seemed pretty sure that it was him! Brian comes home on Saturday and JJ has been counting down the days. He can't wait : )

13 Months, yesterday. . .

Notice the hair!

As you can see from the above photos, JJ's current favorite activity is standing on my/his chair! He thinks it's sooo funny to climb up and down. It's really cute and he hasn't fallen yet, but I'm sure that's in our near future.

So JJ is now 13 months old, amazing! In the past month he has "sprouted" two new teeth, not learned how to sleep better (last night he was awake from 12 am until 3 am), started walking faster, become more opinionated, become more vocal, and had his first hunger strike. He refused to have pretty much anything but milk for two days this week, but luckily he's over that now and proved it with tonight's dinner which was - a peach, an avocado, a quesadilla, a cup of peas, and a yogurt! He came back strong!

Camping!

JJ's favorite thing. . . watching videos of himself!

"Helping" put up the tent.

Yes, there was a rock in his mouth!

Mmmm, dirt

Mmmm, more dirt

We went camping this last Sunday through Tuesday with Michael, Krista and Tristan. We were planning to go to Lake Lopez, which is up in the mountains, but with over 100 degree weather we instead decided to head to the the beach. We stayed at Pismo Beach and it was really nice.

It was our first time camping together as a family and was pretty busy with JJ walking all over the campground. JJ decided that he needed to "clean" all the rocks at the camp ground. He put every rock he could find into his mouth. Gross! He didn't seem to be eating them, was just sucking on them, but thankfully he didn't choke on any of them. He also ate LOTS of dirt! We all had a really good time and JJ loved being able to run around outside all day and chase Tristan around. Tristan and JJ got along very well and Tristan always "traded" toys with JJ when he wanted his toy!

Since we were camping, JJ didn't really want to sleep since he just wanted to play all the time. We hung out at the beach on Monday and then headed up to Cambria. On the drive to Cambria, we asked Tristan to be quiet so that JJ could sleep, but instead Tristan took a nap and JJ spent the whole time "talking"!

While I was working on this post, JJ was literally walking around in circles the whole time in the living room. He thinks it's really funny to go back and forth to the same place! He is also working on walking backwards. He'll take a few steps back and then laugh and sit down! I tried to get a video, but of course he stopped when the camera came out. It's really fun to watch him try new things.

Opinions. . .

I want dinner!!!

First time through a drive through car wash!

We didn't really do anything of note this weekend, just ran a bunch of errands, went out to eat a few times, cleaned our bedroom, got a new bookshelf, which JJ enjoyed getting in the way while Brian tried to put it together. One random thing. . . we went to Ihop on Saturday for brunch for the first time in a long time. If you haven't been there in awhile, be prepared for the fact that they now list the calories on the menu! Brian and I decided it is the worst idea ever! Not sure if it's just a California thing, but it definitely changed what we ordered. Also, the manager was walking around handing out Go-Gurt to kids. We let JJ have one and it was like kiddy crack!!! He was screaming when we would take it away and he couldn't get enough! It was the last time he'll be eating that!

JJ has always liked his books. Ever since he was "little" he would just sit and look at them and it is the only thing that will now keep him still for awhile. We really enjoy reading to him at night and used to be able to pick out what we would read. He has now taken over! I know, you're probably thinking I'm becoming one of those over-exaggerating mothers, but I'm not joking! The other night when I was putting him to bed, I decided to read Goodnight Moon. I was about 2 pages into it, when he shoved it aside, squirmed down off my lap, and walked over to the side of the chair where we keep his "nighttime books." He picked up Time for Bed, looked at it, then threw it down on the ground. He then picked up Can you Cuddle like a Koala? looked at it, smiled, then crawled up into my lap where he made me read it to him 3 times! I'm not joking, he really did this! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's already becoming opinionated, but I think we have a long road ahead.