I know it’s not realistic to keep up with monthly Beckett
posts, but he is changing so fast I want to try document things as best I can.
One of the biggest changes lately is that Beckett is
starting to talk. At his first birthday
he was definitely saying dada and mama and it sounded like he was trying to say
CeeCee (Kolby’s mom). Later he started saying a very
clear hi and bye, fish (“ish”), socks (“sssssaaaah”), yes (“ess”) and
simplified versions of diaper, hat, and
outside. He then added Poppa (Kolby’s dad), Pops (my dad) and a really cute version of Tucker. Now he's added even more words: book, dog, night-night, Brad, help, yeah, ball, puppet, banana, and boo (Kolby taught him to boo). And tonight he said his first sentence. Kolby's dad was over and in the middle of dinner Beckett said "Hi, Poppa!" as clear as day.
He has picked up some new signs, like dog, help, book, bath, thank you, swim, swing and bike. It's funny, we never planned on using baby sign language but Beckett loves learning them and using them and it's pretty cool so we're just going with it. He even invented his own signs
for hat, glasses and phone. And this sweet couple
at church have this bit with him where they beat their chest like a gorilla and
he does it back to them, and we realized last week that he now uses pounding
his chest as a sign for “Chip and Sherry” which his hilarious. He understands so much, it’s always
surprising me. I can ask him to go
certain places (the play room, to his high chair) and he’ll go and I can ask
him to do certain things (bring me this or that, give that toy to a friend) and
he’ll do it. You know, unless he doesn't want to :). He also makes this precious motor sound when he plays with his cars and airplane. Little boys are so much fun!
He also is starting to show some signs of independence,
wanting to brush his own hair and teeth, use a spoon, and try to put his own
shoes on.
Speaking of independence, he took his first steps! It happened the day before he turned 14 months old. Kolby and I were playing with him on the floor and were helping him walk to each other to get a hug. We'd done this the day before and he was so close to taking a few steps on his own so we tried it again and sure enough he took 4-5 steps all by himself, several times. It was so exciting! The previous few days we'd noticed that he started to prefer being on his feet than on the floor, and over the couple weeks before that he'd really shown that he was enjoying walking (with
help) and pushing a walker toy all around the house, and he'd stood on his own for a couple
seconds at a time and would even bend down for a toy and stand back up. Although he's now taken his firsts steps, I'm in no hurry for him to turn into a full-out walker. I feel like he’s my little baby as long as
he’s crawling but that he’ll become a toddler once he switches to walking. I’m not ready for that yet.
I can say that Beckett has officially had his first
obsession. Hats. Oh my word this kid is OBSESSED with
hats. It started at Christmas seeing Kolby's grandfather wearing a hat and then watching Tucker wearing hats and getting to play with them, then he started gradually increasing his
interest and now we are all out in a hat phase right now. He LOVES wearing hats. He puts them on himself, usually sideways,
and stacks more than one on at a time if he has any extras. He enjoys taking them on and off and on and
off (of himself and other people) but also just likes wearing them in
general—around the house, in the car, playing with toys, running errands, etc. If he doesn’t have a hat he asks for one
literally every five seconds, sometimes more.
He goes to sleep asking for a hat and wakes up asking for it again. It is nuts.
And his radar for spotting people with hats is insane. We were visiting a preschool program the
other day and he said hat and pointed at his head (typical) and I was about to
tell him that no, there isn’t a hat when I saw this small picture in the corner
of the receptionist’s desk with a guy with a hat on. I could go on and on about his hat obsession
because it is seriously all-encompassing, but you get the idea. The mental image I have in my head of Beckett
at this stage is him pointing at his head and saying, “Haah? Haah?” over and over again.
He’s such a healthy kid and for that I’m so grateful. There’s been a lot going around this winter
but so far he’s avoided getting sick. Other than pink eye last fall he’s yet to
be sick a single day of his life. He had a couple coughs that sounded like croup last week but it never turned into anything. So it seems like his immune system is strong. Praise
the Lord. ***Update: Well, I jinxed it. In the few days it took me to add pictures to this post Beckett came down with a stomach bug and has had a 104 degree fever for two days. And poor Kolby is laying on the couch right now and is clearly coming down with it. Should be a fun night ahead!***
Some pictures...
At our city's Christmas village
Meeting Santa. He really wanted to ask for his two front teeth but got sidetracked and just pointed at something shiny in the room. Rookie mistake.
We asked for the one year old special at the tree lot, having the guy cut off all the bottom branches. Didn't keep this guy from dreaming of the perfect place for his ornaments.
Spaghetti face (his two front teeth finally poked through a few weeks after Christmas)
First family bike ride
Taking Dada's boots for a spin
Those cheeks...
Why just one hat when you can wear two?
Sporting his favorite hat around town
Did I mention he likes hats?
Messy eater
Headed out to visit Mother's Day Out programs for the fall (for the days that I work). Who wouldn't want this precious face in their class?
Beckett and I started swim lessons, with my friend Laura and her son Declan. He's a total babe at the pool.
Cheering on the Baylor Bears with Grams and Grandpops (he's mastered the sic 'em!)
He went through a phase where he'd smile with his nose all scrunched up. We called it his stinker face. Thankfully his pure smile is back now!
Speaking of stinker, he figured out how to help himself to snacks
And lastly, his first steps!
