Thirteen Months!

Dear Vinny,

Today you are thirteen months old! You have grown a lot and learned new things.

You've admired Daddy and Uncle Johnny's ability to make a popping sound using their finger and pulling it out of their mouth from the side of their cheek. You have tried to imitate this, by pulling your finger out of your mouth from behind your teeth. It is adorable to watch you do this.

This weekend, I accidentally taught you to jut your jaw forward and expose your lower teeth. I made that face to you as a silly face, and you imitated it. When I do it, it looks like a grimace, but when you do it, it's really cute.

This actually helped you learn to eat. Daddy had to jut your jaw like that, and then bite off a piece of banana. You ate most of a banana like that, with Daddy holding it and sticking it into your mouth far enough that you could bite a chunk of it off.

You've been eating wheat products for a week or so now, and you seem to be doing just fine with them. We first introduced you to bread by feeding you a soft piece from the inside of a biscuit. You absolutely loved it! As your Aunt Laura said when I told her about it, what a great introduction to bread. Biscuits are delicious.

Then, Daddy gave you some pretzel sticks, which you really enjoyed. When we next went to the grocery store, I picked out some Melba toast for you, and Daddy got you some thicker honey-wheat pretzel twists that were lower in sodium. We also picked out some goldfish crackers for you. You liked all of those, especially the goldfish. They have now become a staple in your diet.

Tonight, we went out to eat. We ordered you a baked sweet potato, and you ate the whole thing. We hadn't brought along any of your spoons, and they gave us a soup spoon that was way too big to fit in your mouth, so I had to use my finger to feed it to you. You also drank some water from my glass.

You are becoming more and more mobile. Just the other day, you were sitting on the bed while I changed my clothes, and you stood straight up without pulling up on anything. I was very impressed that you were able to do that! You'll be walking in no time.

Thanks for being such a sweet little boy!

Love,
Mommy