Life with Michael

This post is mainly for me, so if you don't want to know EVERYTHING about Michael, then you can skip down to the other posts. I have been feeling the need to blog about all of the things Michael has been doing lately. He has so much personality and is changing almost daily. So, I want to get all of this written (or typed) down before I forget it all.

Michael is such a babbler. He cracks me up when we are out running errands or shopping. If another shopper or the sales person says something to him, he will babble something in reply, and it ALWAYS takes the person by surprise. Because it really does seem like he is answering them. It's so funny! Yesterday, Mom, Michael, and I were at the outlets. We were getting him his 1st birthday outfit at the Gymboree outlet, and the lady behind the counter looks at Michael and says, "Is it going to be your first birthday?" And he looked right back at her and started babbling like he was telling her that he was going to be one and giving her all the details of his first birthday party. It was so cute! He wakes up babbling. We can usually leave him in his crib after he wakes up in the morning for an extra 30+ minutes before he starts to make more yelling noises like, "Daddy! Mommy! Come get me!" And I love it when he babbles in the car. Especially when it is just him and me. I feel like he's saying, "Hey Mommy, you still up there?"

Michael also loves to play with anything that isn't supposed to be a toy. His favorites this week are cups, empty water bottles, the computer chair in the office that spins, my parent's plantation blinds, any electronic device he can get to quicker than us, the wheels on his stroller, the lids to my mom's Tupperware, and the rocking chair in my parents' bedroom. He also currently loves to crawl back and forth over anyone's stretched out legs. He also loves to get into things, like the cookbook shelf in the kitchen and any cabinets. He loves to play with doors, especially the door on the dryer. He is also fond of big paperback mystery books. He could literally sit for five minutes and manipulate the book. He turns it this way and that way and likes to try to turn the pages. He also likes to stand up and look directly at himself in the full length mirror.

Do you know what is better than one Michael? TWO Michaels!!

Anyone out there ever watch SNL? Because when Michael plays with the mirror, it reminds me of the Jimmy Fallon skit where he plays Keith Richards' reflection. Anyone know which skit I'm talking about? Anywho, it makes me laugh.

Caught red-handed trying to sneak into the cabinets!

He does play with some of his toys still. He loves anything round such as balls and the wheels on his wooden train or his push cars. He will usually turn his train or push cars over on their sides and just spin the wheels. He also likes this Fisher Price stacker toy that can come apart and the pieces can make all different size balls. He also enjoys playing with push toys that he can walk behind.
We don't often get a lot of big belly laughs out of Michael, and the things that make him laugh seem to change almost daily. One day he will think a certain noise and goofy face are funny, and the next day he will look at you like you're an idiot if you do the same thing you did the day before that had him in hysterics. He does really enjoy peek-a-boo, and he laughs if you spin him around really quickly while holding him. Here is a video of Kenneth "scaring" Michael while he was in the bathtub.

Yes, Kenneth kind of sounds like a duck "quacking" at the beginning. I'm not sure why because he was saying, "Boo!" And, I got to this little game a little late with the video camera...Michael was over it pretty quickly!

When he gets tired, he will just lay his head down wherever he is...it's really cute because if he's in the middle of crawling somewhere, then his little booty sticks up in the air when he puts his head down. He also does this when he wakes up a little early from a nap. Kenneth or I will go to get him, and he'll be sitting up but will immediately put his head back down (face first) into the mattress. The only time it isn't cute is when he decides to do it on the tile floor.

Michael and Murphy definitely know who each other are, and I don't think their feelings for each other are mutual. Michael LOVES Murphy, and I think Murphy looks at Michael as the thing that took all his attention away. The one thing they both enjoy is going for LONG walks with Murphy on the leash and Michael in the stroller. That is the only quality time Murphy enjoys with Michael. Other than that, Murphy acts rather annoyed by his little brother. I know one day they will be good buddies, but for now Murphy tries to steer clear of Michael.

Michael likes to help me control Murphy on our walks.

Michael will eat pretty much ANYTHING we put in front of him. His latest favorite is Craisins. He LOVES them! It's the food that finally got him to start to sign "more," which is the cutest thing ever. I'd been working on signing "more" for about a week, and then I gave him a couple of cut up Craisins, asked him if he wanted more, did the sign for more, and he did it back. Precious! Now he will do it for his other finger foods, too.

The one thing Michael has not started to do and that we've been practicing with him is holding his own bottle/sippy cup. The child WILL NOT do it consistently! If we do get him to actually hold it, he will usually play with it. He's starting to get better with it, but it's kind of been a battle. When we give him a sippy cup, we don't hold it for him at all, so he ends up grabbing the sippy part with his mouth and then just lets the cup hang from his mouth. Oh well. He'll learn eventually, right?

That is all I can think of for now. I know there is tons more that he is doing that I can't think of at the moment. I will be starting to do more posts like this as I try desperately to hold on to my quickly changing baby boy! We're 2 weeks away from having a one year old! What?! More to come...