It's amazing how much growth babies go through in the first year - from little squirmy infants to walking, almost talking toddlers in twelve months. Ethan grows in such big spurts that some days it seems like we can see him change (except that they grow in their sleep, and we don't watch him sleep...). He also seems to alternate between big physical growth spurts and big mental developments. As first time parents we are really enjoying watching and learning how the brain develops.
Ethan doesn't seem to be in a big growth spurt right now, but in the last week several people have mentioned to me that Ethan is starting to look like a little chunky monkey. It looks like he is storing up some energy getting ready to grow long again soon.
In the meantime until he starts his next big growth spurt we are noticing large jumps in his cognitive development. Over the last two weeks E has started to give objects back to me, like when he takes my hat off my head he hands it back to me, and has figured out that I have a mouth, eyes, and nose just like he does. It is very cute when he touches his mouth and touches mine.
He loves to dance and clap to music. He now turns on the musical toys when he wants to dance, dances and claps to the music, then restarts the toy once it stops so he can keep dancing. We can see he's making big jumps in his reasoning abilities.
His memory is also getting longer. He knows and responds to more words that we can count and it is easier and easier to teach him new ones. He remembers his favorite songs, books and of course his favorite foods.
He is getting better at communicating his emotions verbally rather than just crying (which is fantastic!). He still cries, but usually only when he is tired or ready to get out of his Ergo or Chariott. My favorite change is that now when he's hungry he pulls at my leg and gets very expressive in his babbling rather than just sitting and wailing.
Malley has become Ethan's best buddy. As soon as he wakes up from his nap he starts looking around for her and either she's following him or he's following her all day long.
I think Malley might even be taking my place in Ethan's eyes in some ways... Before I would ask Ethan to give me a kiss and he'd open his mouth and give me a big slobbery one. Now the only person he'll give kisses to are the dog. Ouch.
The sun is making a come back here in the north in a big way. We gain 5 minutes a day right now and best of all, the sun rises higher in the sky and feels warmer. The other day I was warmed by the sun for the first time since Hawaii and it felt WONDERFUL. The sun sets around 5:30 now, with day light until about 6:15ish. Here are two views of the sunset from our front windows, into the trees and then looking over the houses at the Alaskan Range.
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