13 Months Old!

Over the past month Oliver has:

1. Learned to put himself to sleep at bedtime and prior to both naps. Most of the time he doesn't cry. He also greatly increased the length of time he sleeps at night as now he often sleeps from 8pm to 7am and occasionally sleeps all the way until 7:30am! The earliest he gets up these days is 6:30am. His morning nap lasts on average 30 minutes, and his afternoon nap lasts on average 60 minutes. He sometimes takes a third nap in his car seat or the stroller. Today he only had one nap due to the soccer game, and it was about 45 minutes long. I do miss the good old days when he used to nap for an average of 4 hours a day.

2. Gained 1 pound, as he now weighs a little more than 20 pounds (8th percentile). A couple of weeks ago we switched his car seat around so that he is now facing forward. I also am just about to switch him to size 4 diapers. His favorite foods are pretzels, oatmeal, any pasta, pizza, animal crackers, hot dogs, Froot Loops, and yogurt. Having him sit beside me is a great diet plan because he ends up eating a lot of the food off of my plate!

3. Started wearing shoes. If I put sandals on him, he tends to take them off (like just about every baby does). He was wanting to stand and cruise more when we were outside, which is why I started having him wear shoes. He also has begun to stand a little without holding on to anything, and if he's holding on to something he can push around (such as a small chair when he's on the wood floor), he will walk around the room while holding on to something.

4. Learned to climb up the stairs. He still needs to learn how to go backwards down the stairs, but it was at the playground that I first saw him climb a few steps, and he's since climbed our flight of stairs at home as well.

5. Started crying when I leave him in the church nursery. Thankfully he doesn't cry for very long, but it tugs on my heart strings to walk out of the nursery while he's crying for me.

6. Learned to roll the ball back and forth. If you roll it to him, he will roll it back to you. He does this when sitting on the floor and also did it in the swimming pool. I think he's more advanced with this than his siblings were at this age.