bottle-less baby with a new bad habit...

It's been exactly 1 week since Lucas has had a bottle. It sorta marks the end of infanthood. Last Wednesday I had dinner with some teacher friends who have a little girl who was born last St. Patty's Day. We got talking and Lisa mentioned that she took bottles away when Lindsey turned 1, because she decided if she didn't do it then, it would only get harder. So, I guess she inspired me to take away Lucas's nighttime bottle. It actually went pretty well too, and he didn't seem to miss it too much. I will certainly miss gazing into his eyes as he intently drinks and gazes back into mine though. Now, if he would just start to toddle, I could officially call him a toddler...

Now for the "bad habit" Lucas picked up today. He learned a new sign, that's not really a sign. *SIGH* I'm honestly getting a little tired of waiting for Lucas to say a real word. His sound repertoire has expanded to: mmmm, aaaah, mamama, bababa, dadada, and some guttural sounds. That's great and all, but I want a word. So, today I was trying to get him to expand upon "mmmmm" and say "milk" (for which he already knows the sign). So, I was pointing to my mouth to draw attention to my lips and how I was forming the word. Instead of attempting to say "milk" he pointed to his mouth (of course). Go figure. He won't sign any of the other 50 some odd signs I present to him in a day, like all done, down, ball, and numerous animal signs. Instead he picked up a gesture that was not intended as a sign. AAAAAAHH!

Here are some Lucas updates:

Lucas's (confirmed) receptive spoken language has expanded to: Lucas, meow, milk, cracker, no, Mommy, light, grape, book, and knock, knock, knock. I'm sure he understands more that that, but those are the words that he points to or shows excitement for when I say them. He has also been doing this really cute sign for "what?" that we got a great picture of! He signs it several times a day when he's confused or wants to express that he doesn't know something. It's great... I love it!

Lucas is still not walking, but continues to make strides all the time. He's cruising more easily, can sometimes walk with a one-handed assist, and stood for about 3 seconds on his own the other day. I'd really like for him to be walking by summer, and if he's not walking by the end of August when I return to work, I will be very, very upset. We'll just leave it at that for now.

I just love to watch Lucas play. He likes to play knock, knock. If he wants a box open, and I say "knock, knock, knock" he'll pound three times for me to open it. He has also begun to reverse into your lap with a toy or a book in his hand. Sometimes he will drag a big toy the whole way across the room. Too cute for words!

Lastly, I read this post from Jazzie and Tahlia's mom tonight and was inspired to do a little picture creating myself. Click here to create your own masterpieces!