Balls and Books

About 2 months ago, Dawson discovered a "bahl." A ball is still one of his favorite things. He crawls at a dead sprint toward a ball, grasps it firmly and then holds it over his head with a celabratory "bahl"! He then throws it, chases it, picks it up and proceeds to throw it again - a solo game of catch.
Dawson's other favorite activity is to read. He is constantly sitting down with a book and turning through the pages. Sometimes he'll point stuff out on pages, like a "bahl," which is anything that is round or the balls on the Baby's first Hawkeye Book.
Now, we never taught Dawson to like balls - that's all original to him. We have however, been reading to him since day one. So I'm proud to say his reading is a learned behavior.
If Dawson likes to play ball and read all the while he's growing up, we're sure going to have a lot in common.

Balloons

As you can see from these pictures, Dawson had a lot of balloons for his 1st Birthday. Thy floated around the house for several weeks after the party. And he just discovered a sick looking balloon behind his crib three days ago.
I didn't get any pictures or video of the incident I'm about to describe, so I'm blogging it to hep us remember.
One morning, not long after waking, I was playing with Dawson in his room when he decided to go after some stray balloons. He was able to hold one and shake it around while the other kept bouncing just above his head. Eventually, the 'free' balloon built up enough static that it stuck to the back of Dawson's head. As Dawson kept twirling around, looking for the balloon, it would detach momentarily and then come to rest again just above the back of his head. As the balloon settled back down on his back, Dawson would giggle/squeal in joy, twirl around - generally having the time of his life. I've seen Dawson do a lot of heart-meltingly adorable things, but that might be an all-time favorite memory.

Attempts at Chatter

Dawson's vocabulary is slowly growing. Here are some words that he uses that we can distinguish from the other Chinese-like babble that we hear. :)


Mama (mama or mom)
Dada (dada or dah)
Bye (bah with a wave)
Bird (buh)
Ball (Bah - repetitively)
Yum (Mmmmm)
Quack (Kack kack)
Hi (hi)
Eye (ah)

March Videos

12 months old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY DAWSON!

Cupcake #1 at Aunt Casey's house.

Cupcake #2 with Aunt Megan at Papa and Marla's.

Opening presents with Miss Briana at Grandma Kim's.

Sitting in the wagon from Papa, Marla, and Paige.

Birthday balloons in his crib!

Seuss Birthday party cake!

Little Dawsie has just turned one. Here's a good description of his actions these days:

- Loves playing with his ball and has a big proud smile as he states, "bahl." His other two vocabulary words are "dah" and "mah."
- Enjoys putting objects into open spaces, containers or drawers and taking them back out.
- Tosses toys and household items down the stairs, chases after them then hauls them back up.
- Is responsible for objects in the basement being found in the upstairs bedroom.
- LOVES his blocks.
- Cuddles his stuffed cow pillow while going to sleep.
- Is OBSESSED with opening any type of cabinet door.
- Finds great amusement in pulling out the pans from under the stove and the tupperware from out of the cabinet.
- Loves most vegetables but hates most fruit.
- Takes great pride in draining his sippy cup.
- Goes crazy at the sound of running water. Splashes around in the bath and is not happy when taken out of the tub. He LOVES baths.
- Still takes two naps per day.
- Gives tight hugs right before bedtime.
- Kisses things he loves, such as stuffed animals, books and mommys and daddys.
- "Dances" to music by shaking his bottom.

Brushing the teeth

With Dawson turning one, we had another doctor's appointment. The main reason for the trip was the shots, and they were the worst so far. The pain shocked him so much that it took his breathe away. It's not pleasant to watch your son's tongue silently throb in with the intensity of the cries that can't yet come out. But let's move on...

What wasn't quite so bad but still not that pleasant was Dawson's first experience with brushing his teeth. The doctor said it's time to get him into that habit. Here are some pictures from this first tooth brushing. As you can see, he didn't really enjoy it. Coincidentally, we haven't remembered to brush his teeth since.

Some more videos