Dear Sweetheart,

You turned 13 months old today! Wow — time is really flying these days! You are so smart and curious, and amaze us by learning new things every day. You are very much into “container play” these days, and you love moving blocks in and out of tupperware, pulling the (baby-proofed) contents of Mommy’s wallet out, and opening and closing drawers and cabinets. You also get a kick out of having us pretend-eat or -drink things; you’ll hold a sippy cup for us to drink, and make a particular clicking/smacking noise.

You really like looking at your photo album. Every afternoon we pull it out and point out all your family members, and you’ll occasionally give some of the photos kisses! We’re having some great weather, so you’re also enjoying getting to go the park almost every day. You could take or leave the swing, but love just walking around on the wood chips and leaves, making a pile of wood chips on the slide, and simply being outside. You also like following the bigger kids around, and vice versa!

We had an opportunity to give a talk for the adoption agency a few weeks ago, and upon walking into the room of about 20 adults, you headed straight for the center of the circle to show off! You are so confident! Every once in a while you get a bit shy or apprehensive of people you haven’t seen in a while, but warm up within a few minutes. And dogs or people with glasses are a shoo-in every time.

Mealtimes are a bit crazy these days. You’re not what we would call picky — you’ll happily eat cabbage, broccoli rabe, and raw spinach! — but are becoming very particular of how you eat. Every meal is a guessing game of whether you will want to feed yourself; want to be fed by us; throw everything on the floor; only want to eat something if it’s a large chunk instead of small bites; etc. We’re trying not to stress too much about it, and remind ourselves of the Division of Responsibility. And you’re still happily growing; at your 12 month checkup you were around 24 pounds and 31 inches!

You have been communicating with us for so long now, but are also starting to get the hang of words. You say “Mama,” for Mommy, but you also say it over and over when anyone leaves the room. “Dada” is Daddy, but you say it rarely — usually you call Todd “Mama” too. “Mmm” is “I’m hungry,” or “that tastes good.” “Na-na” or “Bah-bah” are also used around food. You have also said “Aama” a few times –we think this might be Grandma or Grandpa. You sniff when we ask what bunnies do, and can wave bye-bye, know that keys go in doors, and we think we recognize you starting to use the sign for “all done” (which will be especially helpful for mealtimes!).

We are very proud parents, but even if you did none of the above, we would still be over the moon about you, Baby Seth.

All our love,
Mommy and Daddy

Bathtime for Seth