13 Months

Ethan is finally past the first year...he's moving on..fast.
He's super clumsy. He trips on everything and often looses his footing when he tries to run for too long. I don't remember that with Dom...Dom definitely excels in the footing department. I remember as soon as he started walking at 9 months, he was practically running. His hair looks like a little old man's...and I LOVE IT. I love his tiny curls...and don't want to cut it. I'm hoping that Spencer will not cut it (one day) while I"m running errands, because I really do love that boy's hair.
He's also whinier than Dom. He is my girl...haha. He likes to be a bit dramatic, especially when I say "no". He likes to just drop to the floor and just cry...and cry. But he gets over it pretty fast...he's pretty easy to distract with some other toy. His favorite thing right now is opening the crayon box, opening baby books, and climbing on ANYTHING that he can- the train table, the glider, the window seat, the kid table in the toy room...seriously, anything. I have a baby gate on the third step, so he climbs all three steps ,and I constantly see him roll back and fall...he finally stopped crying and just shakes it off (after like the billionth time).

Found a pile to jump in 

BUT...Ethan so much better when it comes to grabbing things. He's already picking up food with a fork, pointing at things, pincer grasp, turning pages....and communicates 1,000 times better than Dom ever did at this age The only words he actually says are HI and BYE (with a hand wave). He actually uses a few sign language words (more, all done), but mostly he just uses his OWN language. I'ts so weird...I can totally know what he's saying.."I'm done" ,"I need something to drink" ,"I''m hungry"..."I'm tired".
His eczema has really flared up this month. It was bad his 2nd month, and then it literally disappeared with me using CeraVe. But this month, not even that would help. I had to go refill his steroid rx to make it go away...it was so bad. I'm not sure what caused it. But now I know, that January is a bad month for him- I need to be better prepared next time. 

Cruisin'

He eats like a horse..I'm not sure why he's not huge. He wears 12 mo clothing, but could probably wear 18mo too...Let's face it...there's not much different between the two. I like this age because they don't grow as much anymore. He eats twice as much as Dominic at least 3 times a day...and still snacks. He also sleeps SO much better. He can go to bed from 8 pm to 7 am waking only once for 4 oz of milk(and sometimes not at all)...totally doable. He also takes about a 2 hr nap during the day. Sometimes it's a full 2 hour nap, sometimes it's split between 2 one hour naps. His brother still has sleeping issues...I think he's just one of those people who just needs like 5 hours of sleep and he's good to go. Although, recently, he's been a little teenager...sometimes neither one will get up until 8:30am...it's quite nice...unless it's time to go to school, then we have to hurry because Dom goes in at 9 am lol. Sometime Dom and I stay up very late watching DIY network...or Scrubs on Netflix....he's turning into quite the night owl.

He really loves this box

They fight over it

He LOVES his big brother. Dominic will sit on him and push him...and Ethan will never leave his side. Sometimes, they do play nice. Ethan loves it when Dom gets the giggle attacks. Ethan is not really a giggly baby...he smiles a lot, but it's hard to make him giggle...but his older brother is such a silly man. He gets giggle attacks quite often....and Ethan loves it EVERY time. It makes him very happy to see his older brother happy. The only time he is not near Dominic is when he is taking a nap or sleeping in the toy room. Eventually, I will put them together- I'm just afraid with Ethan being such a light sleeper and Dom being such a heavy sleeper (but wakes up constantly) that it may not work out...and I like my sleep right now.

Falling asleep while reading

Ethan and Dominic love holding hands while in the car. Dominic will always reach out for his hand, and most of the time Ethan will give it to him, otherwise Dom will get very sad.
When Dominic gets time out (in his room)...Ethan will sit by his bedroom door and just wait for him to come out....it's quite tender. And when Dom is throwing tantrums on the floor, Ethan will sit next to him and pat his head.

See? they do play together

It's so funny...I thought that Dominic was never going to get used to having a sibling...and once Ethan joined us, Dominic just took his older brother role so seriously. I like how things turned out. I'm so glad they like each other, and enjoy each other's company, especially now that Ethan is actually likable and playable. But I'm glad Dom sees Ethan as a partner to play with and not a nuisance...most of the time.

Really loves his milk

This is my favorite stage...past the first year. The first year is horrendous, I don't know why people like it. Baby does nothing but be in the way. You can't get anything done and you can't just let him cry. You have to be completely selfless for a whole year....that's so hard for me. I give up everything for a whole year...or at least until they walk. I wait on them hand and foot. Now, it's different, Ethan is so much more independent- he can find his cup, he can feed himself, he can entertain himself and he has Dominic to follow around. I finally have windows of time to do things- vacuum, wash dishes, iron clothes, clean bathrooms and sinks. It's great...

Dom often requests that they have matching PJs.

What a cute kid...I think we will keep him.