Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Joe

Joe is 14 months old now, and I still haven't done his first birthday post.

Joe is all boy. He loves balls. He loves to throw them and is now trying to figure out how to kick them. He will even play a version of catch with you, in which you roll the ball to him and he throws it back to you. He has decent aim, too.

He is starting to eat real food now. At one, he only ate baby food and some dry cereal. We had tried table food a number of times, but he wasn't interested. He just spit it out. A couple of weeks ago, I read about a study that said that babies who were fed green veggies at every meal ate a much larger variety of food than those that weren't. So I started feeding Joe green veggies twice a day. I don't know if it was the veggies or just natural maturation, but Joe has gotten much more adventurous lately. He now eats toast, pizza, bananas, apples (sometimes), crackers, diced peaches, fresh peaches, and oranges. He has on occasion eaten pot roast, cheese, and rice.

Joe loves his Mama. He is very attached to me and doesn't want anyone else to hold him if I am around. He will sometimes let Gaa and Daddy hold him in front of me, but that is not typical. He is very shy of strangers. When my brother recently came to visit, Joe refused to look at him at first, instead gluing himself to my Mom with his head turned away from my brother. Even after he would look at Owen, he mostly only glared or glowered at him. He is getting slightly more adventurous, though, and recently engaged with another mom at the playground. I was so proud of him.

Joe dances to music. He will rock his head back and forth when I sing to him, if seated, and bob precariously up and down, if standing. He will also turn in a somewhat drunken circle with one hand out, which is beyond adorable.

He can sign 'bye-bye', 'more', 'all done' and 'water'. He uses the sign for 'more' mostly to request objects. He will sign 'more' and then point to whatever he wants with an open hand. His most common request is for tissues. He begs for tissues and napkins. When you give them to him, he will tear a strip or a corner off of them, ball/roll the little piece up, and then rub it under his nose.

One of Joe's favorite activities is throwing things down the stairs. He loves to take books off the shelves in my room and throw them down the stairs.

Joseph says 'bye', 'ball', 'Mama', 'wawa' (water), 'bow-wow' and 'ba-oo' (balloon). He is starting to make approximations of 'up', 'alligator', 'elephant', and 'monkey'. He can point to his ear and eye on command.

Joe continues to be a very wobbly walker, and continues to hit his head multiple times a day. I don't know if this is all due to lack of skill, or if it is partly the result of Joe's complete lack of caution. Today, my mother dubbed him 'Danger Boy', which is a pretty accurate description of him. I often joke that Joe will find the most dangerous thing in the room and go right for it.

He has started climbing and likes to climb on the stools in the bathrooms and the ottoman in our family room. He can crawl up the stairs, but not yet walk up them, and he slides down the stairs on his belly. He will sometimes turn around half way across the room, or down the hall, from the stairs, and then crawl backwards rather haphazardly to the top of the steps.

Joe assists in dressing, attempting to pull shirts over his head, and pushing his arms through the arm holes. He does not assist in diaper changing. He fights that with all his might, turning over, squirming and pushing the diaper away from his body.

Joe is an extremely happy baby, about 98% of the time. However, when he is not happy, get out of his way. He screams louder when he is angry and is more stubborn than any other baby I have ever met. When he doesn't get what he wants, he screams so loud and hard it makes your ears hurt. If you try block him from something, he will do everything he can to get to that thing. At times, I have mini panic attacks about what he will be like at two or three years old. I guess he just has really strong emotions, because when he is happy he is absolutely adorable. His smile lights up the room, and he has the most contagious giggle.

He is our baby (for now), and we love him.

2 comments:

Pier said...

How about an Isla update now that she is 3 1/2?

Anonymous said...

Mary, this is a WONDERFUL update on your delightful son! Thank you so much for not only bringing him to our family but sharing him so vividly here. You're not only a great mother, but a great writer. thank you! And give Joe a fist bump from Auntie Di!