Drew is (almost) ONE!

Drew will be ONE next week! I maybe shouldn't be saying this on our blog, but we are actually celebrating his (and my) birthday by going to Disney World!  It was a good hotel deal that I couldn't pass up, even though we have to sit through a 2-hour timeshare presentation one day (although who knows....maybe they'll let us leave if the kids get annoying and disruptive enough!).

I never posted an 11-month update for Drew....I made some notes, but never transferred them to the blog. So here is his 11/12 month update (it is quite long but there's a lot I want to remember for myself!).  First, some pictures (most of the standing pictures were taken while he's walking):

• The BIGGEST news is that, for the past ten days, he's been letting go and taking steps on his own, without me setting him in front of me and encouraging him!  Now he does it at least once or twice every ten minutes while he's playing. It's so fun to see the excited/fearful/proud look on his face when he's standing there, arms out in front of him, taking tiny wavering steps forward. He still uses crawling as his main form of transportation, but he's walking more and more every day.
• I took him to the doctor on Monday for a diarrhea bug he has (picked it up from Grant, and my.....it has been bad. He was so fussy and inconsolable for a couple of days), and he weighed 22 lbs, 2 oz. We'll have to see at his official checkup where that falls in terms of percentages (although I'm guessing it's about average.....he's losing his baby chub pretty fast now!).
• He loves opening containers and putting things inside, then taking them back out again. He's going to be my organized one (Grant never did this, from what I can remember).
• He is attracted to anything plugged into the wall. So much for "baby-proofed" outlet covers....he pulls them right out, even the clear plastic ones (which are far better than those cream-colored ones.....what a complete joke!).
• He has an opinion and lets me know it! My goodness....he can already throw fits (which consist of crying and going limp for about 5 seconds). Usually this happens when I take him away from something he wants (the stairs, refrigerator, the treehouse fort in the backyard....he climbs up the ladder or slide to reach it). He's even hit me in the face a few times when he's not happy (at which point I immediately put him down on the floor and say "no hitting!").
• Pushing kitchen chairs across the floor is a great thrill to him, and he loves his Fisher Price doorway. That was probably the best $20 I ever spent!! I bought it at a resale shop and Grant loved it too!
• He's excited when he sees certain things on tv, like Little Einsteins and commercials with kitty cats. He's learned to "pat pat" on his lap when Rocket is about to blast off on Little Einsteins. He immediately starts patting when we first turn the show on.
• He has learned to back himself down off couches and stairs. He's got a good method, and finally I'm not freaking out every time he comes close to the edge of the couch (the stairs are a different story)!
• Now he has four teeth on top, and three on bottom (the 3rd just poked through, and the 4th is coming soon).
• It always looks like he has something in his mouth. Sometimes he does (today he ate a few pieces of stray cat food on the porch....yuck), but other times he's just chewing on his tongue in a weird way. When I ask him to say "aaahh" he does it. And if I ask, "what do you have in your mouth?" he'll also say "aaahhh" to prove that it's empty. By the way, it's always neat to me when my kids have started following commands....proof that they understand a lot of what I say!
  
• But....although he understands a lot, he doesn't say much. Not even mama. His only real words are (still) dada and kitty. He can say those on command. But I am not worried this time.....Grant was a late talker and he's absolutely fine now.
  
• He is a pesky little brother! Today he was sitting in the back of the double stroller (usually he's in front, being bothered by Grant). He kept standing up and grabbing Grant's hair! And he always wants to do what Grant's doing (coloring, play-doh, all those things that he's just not old enough to do!). I feel so bad for him because he just doesn't understand why Grant can do things that he can't.....

There are so many other things but that's enough for now.  I love my little guy so much.....I can't say that this year has been easy (especially the past seven or eight months).  And unfortunately, I remember so much less of Drew's first year than I do of Grant's.  With Grant, I could look back at a random picture and often could tell you what month it was, how old he was, etc.  I could even sometimes remember other things we did that day, before or after I took the picture.   But with Drew, I'll look back at pictures and not even remember taking them, period!  So sad for the second born kids! 

It's a completely different experience the second time around.  Grant was my little buddy, and it was simple enough to adjust our day to his nap schedule.  In a lot of ways, I could still do a lot of things I wanted to do (at least when he was a baby and didn't hate shopping yet!).  He was portable and it was easy to just go somewhere on the spur of the moment.  He took 30-min naps, which was frustrating in a way.  But it allowed us to leave the house and stay out for three or four hours, and I'd just drive around or sit in the car reading while he slept.

With your second, you just simply don't have as many choices as to how you spend your time, and when (and where) to go out.  It's logistically harder bringing twice as much stuff, getting two kids in and out of the car every place you stop, etc.  But also, now you have two nap schedules to consider, and you have to go places that are friendly to babies AND two-year-olds.  Trips to the mall usually have to be super fast.  Grocery stores aren't bad, because at least Grant gets cookies (which tend to occupy him for a while).  But running into the post office is treacherous.....it's those small errands that only take a few minutes that are the hardest.....it takes longer to get both kids out of their carseats (and back in) than it does to do what you need to do inside!  Scrapbook stores with both of them......not even an option!!

But of course it's worth it.....every day we do fun things that completely make up for the hard parts.  There's always something silly that the boys have done that I tell Dean about at night.  And it's the most amazing thing to see your kids interacting with each other and laughing at each other.  Now Grant is really enjoying Drew.....he gets super annoyed with him, but he thinks he's so funny too.  And he claps his hands and says "good job, Drew!" when Drew takes steps.  They're going to be good wrestling buddies and great friends.  Probably when I'm writing Drew's two-year update, they'll be such good buddies that neither of them will care to play with me or Dean anymore!!  :)