Boy genius

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; my little tyke is keeping me pretty busy nowadays. Taylor is zooming around the house getting into everything now, and has also mastered the art of pulling himself to a stand while holding on to the sofa, safety gate, bathtub, or whatever else he can get his little paws on. It's hard to keep track of him, and it seems like no matter how careful I am he gets into something that he shouldn't. As much as I complain about it though, this is really a fun age. It's amazing to see Taylor exploring the world and trying to figure out how it works.

He also has started rough-housing with Sean more, and they both love it. They have little games they play together - most of which I can't watch because I'm so worried that Taylor will get hurt. Daddy's are definitely a lot more rough when it comes to play, but Tay laughs and squeals with delight, so he obviously enjoys it as much as Sean does. Here are a couple favorites of theirs:

Taylor is certainly starting to develop his own little personality, and I wonder sometimes what is going through that little brain of his. For example, he loves getting into our cds, and a few days ago he pulled out a cd case we have of a Mozart compilation. The case holds the disc, but is also a small book about the life of Mozart. Taylor was FASCINATED. He sat on the living room floor for almost half an hour looking at the pictures of Mozart, turning the pages with his pudgy little fingers, and talking to himself. It still cracks me up thinking about it; but hey who knows, maybe I have a child prodigy on my hands!

Being a mom is such an exhausting adventure and my son never ceases to amaze me with what he knows and the new things he learns every day. I just finished putting together his first birthday party invitations and can't believe that he's almost a year old. Not to sound cliche, but it seems like only yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. Now he's practically a toddler and I'm wondering where on earth the time went. I'm sure I'll have to get used to it though; every mom I know says, "Enjoy this phase, because before you know it you'll have a bratty teenager on your hands." It's hard sometimes to take the bad with the good, but I try to remember every day to really take it all in and enjoy watching my baby grow.

Curious quail

I peeked out our front door Sunday morning to see if my five (yes, five) Sunday papers had been delivered and was pleasantly surprised to see 2 quail on our doorstep, eying the pile of papers sitting on our doormat. They wandered around for several minutes, strutting and clicking at each other. Taylor loved them and was mad when we finally pulled him away from the front door. I'm not sure what they were doing there, but I assume they were trying to steal one of my papers and read up on the weekly news.

My secret indulgence

I am completely addicted to goldfish crackers.

I bought them thinking that they could be a new fun finger food for Taylor, but all he wants to do is throw them across the room or grind them into the carpet. The other day I was picking up after him and figured I'd eat the remains of his crackers rather than just throw them out (I mean come on, there are starving children in Africa, right?). So I ate a handful of those little orange fishes and the addiction began. I swear they put something in these tiny little things that just make you want to eat more and more and more.

Luckily they're pretty Weight Watchers friendly (3 points for 55 crackers), so let the indulgence begin!

Spring has sprung!

When Sean and I first looked at the house we're renting it was early April and the edges of the yard where covered with beautiful tulips and daffodils. Unfortunately they all died before we moved in, so I didn't get to enjoy them last season. The tulips are budding now, but we haven't seen any bloom until today when a small patch of them finally opened up. Don't they look so happy to see the sunshine? I took Taylor outside to see them and he kept petting them and cooing at them. I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of the tulips bloom as the season progresses. I love spring!

Movin' and Groovin'

It's so amazing to me that just over a week ago I was fretting about Taylor not crawling yet, and now he's all over the place! As soon as he really got the moves mastered he wanted to see everything - what's hiding in the entertainment center, what's plugged into the outlets all around the living room, what's under mommy and daddy's bed, and what cat food tastes like. The discoveries are endless! Needless to say, Sean and I have been taking many more precautions when it comes to baby-proofing and keeping our curious little monkey out of danger. We have all our outlets covered, we installed a gate to keep Tay out of the kitchen (and away from cat food and the liter box), and we're much better at keeping things (food, wires, shoes) off the floor and out of reach. It has been a bit of a two-edged sword for me in that I now have a lot more time to do things around the house since Taylor can keep himself busy, but I'm also constantly having to check in on him to make sure he's staying out of trouble. He's just such a big boy and I love to watch him grow and learn new things every day.

Some other notable accomplishments of Mr. T:
- If you ask him where his tongue is he'll proudly stick it out at you.
- If I'm holding him and say "Where's mommy's nose?" he will poke my nose.
- He can officially splash so hard in the bath that he almost drowns himself AND mommy.
- He loves reading books and will hold up a book and point to me if he wants me to read it to him.

I'm getting really excited for his first birthday and have already started working on the invitations. It's kind of bittersweet that the first year of his little life has almost come to an end, but I look forward so much to watching him continue to grow and learn new things.

The cat says...

So Taylor's first official word (after the typical "mama" and "dada") was kitty - pronounced "kiki." Taylor absolutely adores our cat, although I don't think I can say the feelings are mutual. She will put up with him, but only for a few minutes. Right now we're trying to teach him to pet her gently instead of yanking her fur out so that she doesn't bite or scratch him. He loves the feel of her fur and thinks everything she does is funny. We've been trying to teach him what different animals say, and so far the only one that has stuck is "meow." Now he'll point to the cat and say "kiki meow meow!" It's so cute, and I'm surprised he's able to put the two words together like that at such a young age. Now all we have to do is ask him what a kitty says and he immediately perks up and says, "Meow! Meow!" He's such a smart little booger..

And of course I had to shoot a video of him, so here you go:

Gettin' jiggy with it

As I posted a couple of months ago, Sean took me to see Riverdance as an early Valentine's Day present. I've followed the Riverdance troupe since I was a little girl and have always loved the style and beauty of Irish dance. Well, thanks to some inspiration from my Aunt Dani and some MAJOR support and encouragement from Sean and my mom, I started Irish dance classes! I know some people think I'm a bit crazy for doing it, but it's so much fun! My first class was last night at the Shelley School of Irish Dance in Cedar Hills (just northeast of Pleasant Grove). Tina Shelley is a great person and an amazing teacher, and I was happy and surprised to see 2 other adults in the class of mostly small children. In only an hour we'd already learned the 2 basic steps in Irish dance (step-two-three and side sevens) and have started learning our first dance - the Beginners Reel. I haven't had so much fun in a long time, and it was a KILLER workout. By the end of the night my thighs and calves were pretty sore, and I was happy I was able to exercise without really meaning to, if that makes any sense. I'm really looking forward to continuing lessons and advancing in Irish dance, and I'm so proud of myself for actually doing something just for me.

My baby can CRAWL!!

My mom came to visit today and got to see Taylor take his first crawl. She put down some Cheerios a few feet away from him and he must have wanted them bad because he got right up on hands and knees and went for it! I was so proud of him and it was so fun to see him finally moving around.

Of course I had to take some videos of his new trick:

Have a fun April Fools' Day!

I don't have much to blog about, so I thought I'd post this just for fun...

The Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes Of All Time

Have a fun day everyone!