Notes from the Nelsens: Ryan- 13 Months!

I know I've mentioned this a few times on here, but these monthly posts are my baby book for Ryan. Yes, I could type them in an email or just keep an actual baby book, but I feel like I have this organized system with all of his pictures and memories in one place- which happens to be this space- so that's how I'm gonna keep it going. I say that to say this is not my way of sharing, "Look at what my kid is doing!" or in other cases my way of making you feel better about what yours is doing that mine isn't yet. ;) So while most of the posts I share on here are for other people to read, these are mainly intended for us and our families who delight in all these silly details. :)

That being said, read on if you like, or come back next week for my Favorite Finds post of Monday, Goals post on Tuesday, and some updates on what we've been up to lately.

Ryan is 13 months today! This month has been full of steps, babbles, and tons of fun. He "talks" constantly at home and points at things as he babbles as if he's communicating a completely clear conversation with me. It is the cutest!

Yesterday morning, we actually had our first "conversation" and Matt and I about died laughing after it happened. He and Ryan were sitting at the table eating breakfast while I was getting a few more things for Ryan's tray. So I figured I would ask him what he was wanting:

Me: "Ryan" (pause)

Ryan: "Yes!"

Me: "Would you rather have more strawberries or a waffle?"

Ryan: "Waff!"

Hahahah. He has never responded to me calling his name. I almost always start a question to him with his name without really thinking about it, but this was the first time he quickly responded as if he was answering me calling his name. And it was also the first time he ever said "waffle" so the whole thing was quite hilarious to us. I said to Matt, "I'm pretty sure that was just our first conversation." Such a sweet little memory!

He's also picked up on Matt's routine of leaving in the morning to go to work, so now whenever Matt walks out of the bedroom in his work clothes (Ryan is usually in his seat eating breakfast... side note- the boy eats for a full 30-45 minutes most mornings- he loves meal time), Ryan right away says, "Bye BYE, Bye BYE" always with the emphasis on the second "bye." Matt and I laugh that it sounds like Ryan's rushing him out the door, but it is neat to us that he's picking up on the routine.

We've also noticed him becoming quite the little parrot this month. He will try to repeat just about anything we say. And if it's too complicated for him, he'll stare at us for a minute and then respond with a string of gibberish and usually some pointing. Oh the pointing. It's pretty great.

Here are a few other highlights and things we are loving these days:

The way he says "YES!" in a high-pitched squeaky voice when we ask if he wants to do something (particularly EAT... he loves to eat). :) And as we're lowering him in the high chair, he will often times repeat the word "yes" over and over again which is just hilarious. I'm pretty sure food is his love language.
I've noticed recently that he whispers his gibberish when we move into a room where the lights are off. I guess he has picked up on me using a softer voice when we're heading to bed or early in the morning when it's usually darker?! Who knows, but it is pretty stinking cute. :)
The way he recently started saying "WOP" for "walk"
How he discovered that he can open Tally's treat cabinet and feed him a treat all by himself- and while Matt and I usually break his bones into at least 5 different pieces, Ryan just gives him an entire bone.
The way he says, "Dat!" (that) or "Dis!" (this) and points to what he wants to eat or play with- I guess I've been saying that to him without even realizing it- "You want this? Are you pointing to that?"
The way he gets so excited about nursing still. I had planned to ween him around a year, but that will not be happening as of yet since it seems to be such a highlight in his day. I'm talking he starts clapping when it's time to nurse. Little love.
The way he focuses so hard when he's stacking one "bock" (block) on top of another or trying to fit the smaller ones inside the larger ones. He usually gets two blocks on top of each other and almost always knocks them over accidentally when he's trying to stack the third. So much concentration to make that goal happen. The other day he managed to get four on top of each other when Matt and I were playing with him in the living room and he sat back and look at us with this face that said, "You see that? I did that." Sweet love!
How he seemingly out of nowhere starting walking on August 19th. He had taken a maximum of two steps at various times as he moved toward something, but on this day, he stood himself up and just started walking toward me. The best part was that we were at Barnes and Noble for storytime with a friend of ours who was in the middle of asking me if Ryan had started walking yet. And as I was telling her, "No, not really... he seems to be pretty content with crawling for now..." he started walking toward me. Ha! It was like he heard me and wanted to say, "Mom, I can do this actually, I just don't feel like it all the time." Since then he's really hit or miss on whether he'll walk instead crawl. He is a MUCH faster crawler, which is certainly his preference, so I don't think I'd really say he is walking yet, but he'll show you he can when he's in the mood. ;)
When he does feel like walking, sometimes he'll grab my hand or finger and start pulling me in the direction he wants to go. Or if I'm sitting on the floor with him he'll come take my finger and lift it up in the air like, "Come on mom, hope up- I want to go this way." :)
He started playing peek-a-boo by covering his ears instead of his eyes. hahah, I'm not sure why exactly, but it's pretty hilarious.
The way he says "hi" to random people when we're in the grocery store and occasionally will say "bye bye" when I feel like he's trying to communicate he's done with us talking to someone. HA!
He loves, loves, loves to dance and will bounce backwards on his bottom if a song comes on and he's sitting on the floor, or will start waving his hands in the air and turning his head side to side if we're in the car. Melts my heart every time.
Earlier this month, Matt and I were giving him a bath and letting him play when he suddenly started "backing it up" in the tub. So Matt and I proceeded to start rapping a song we made up on the spot "back, back, back it up, back it up" over and over as Ryan scooted all around the tub. At one point, he took the toothbrush he had in his hand and threw it down in the tub so that he could "snap" his fingers to the beat. And we died. I'm not sure what was funnier- Ryan's awkward dance moves, or me and Matt rapping to keep the moves coming. And now I'm thinking this should go on next month's confessions post.
He's quite aware of things that are "yut" (yuck) on the floor or on the ground outside when we're playing. That doesn't keep him from then putting them in his mouth, but at least we're making progress on identifying the "yut" things?!
He started saying "Nah-na" (Nonna) and "Gigi" this month for my mom and sister and just the other night said, "Mimi" too! Our parents and my sister were excited about that! Now we just need to work on Aunt KK (Matt's sister)- that's a tricky one!
He started calling himself "RyRy" and will point to himself (sometimes) when he says it. We've never even called him RyRy so it's so cute that that's what he calls himself!
I put a few of his foam letters in the bath tub with him recently (A, B, C and 1, 2, 3 and R) and when we're playing I'll stick the "R" on the tub and say "R is for Ryan!" ...so now he'll pick up any of the letters or numbers and say, "RyRy, RyRy, RyRy." Hahah, sweet love!
He has started this shy but happy reaction when he gets excited to see someone and turns both of his hands in, knocks his wrists together, and tilts his head down with a big cheesy grin.
When Matt gets home from work, Ryan crawls over to him, gets up in his arms, and immediately points back to our bedroom and says, "Ba Ba Ba" for "bed." They have started this little routine of flipping over on the bed and rolling around in the "storm" of the sheets and Ryan just cackles away as the sheets and comforter knock him over. Tally usually lays on the end of the bed while they do it with a big grin on his face. It's a small moment that I'm loving in this stage and want to freeze in my memory.

Here are some pictures from the past month!

First Atlanta Aquarium Trip

His new favorite place to hang :)

My cleaning helper... of sorts

Play hard, sleep hard

Swinging at Mimi's!

Ryan's first batch of banana bread!

First haircut

Playing outside and climbing the steps

Meal time!!!

Drinking his milk and watching a little show before nap- when did he get so big?!

Cooking in the kitchen with his buddy Reynolds :)

and going for a ride in the red car- he somehow got the best end of this little caravan!

First birthday party!

Two buddies at the park

Snuggles with Mimi at the pool

He loves to look at his books before he falls asleep, and this day he didn't leave much space for himself!

Partners in crime ;)

Yeah, so this happened. He was seconds ahead of me crawling into the kitchen, yet somehow got all the way up before I got there. So I took a picture (of course) and decided he won't be getting anymore head starts into the kitchen. :)