Peek-a-boo!
I stick my tongue out at you!
A happy, goofy little guy
So, what is Matt up to at the age of 13 months?
He is very comfortable with walking and has picked up a little speed, although thankfully he's not yet running. He still has a bit of a wide-legged stance as he toddles around, as if he just got off of a horse, which is normal for his age. And he still shuffles his feet as he walks, although he's getting better at going around things on the floor rather than dribbling them all with him. In other words, his gait is still pretty amusing to watch.
Even though he's not really speaking much that's recognizably English, Matt's very expressive and often pretty good at communicating what he wants. He just added "Mama" to his vocabulary within the past couple of days. He also signs "more" (although, like many little kids, he primarily uses it to mean "I want something, probably food") and "all done," and he's working on "milk" (he signs it correctly but usually means "food / drink" in general rather than just "milk"). He waves "goodbye" consistently and every once in a while "hello," too. His new favorite thing is to hold his hands out and shrug while making quizzical noises, imitating the exaggerated gestures I have made when asking him questions. He's getting kind of cheeky with it: he has been known to nab something like a phone, throw it, and then seem to ask something akin to "Where did it go?" or "How did it get over there?" Oh boy...
Matt just finished up a massive growth spurt. That's the reason we were out shoe shopping for him last Saturday: his main pair of shoes barely fit on Saturday even though he had worn them comfortably just a couple of days before. He currently wears toddler size 6 wide, although we'll see how long that lasts. And his 18-month clothes are a little closer to being retired. The 18-month onesies are just about done, but fortunately his cute shirts have a little more life in them. He's finally growing into the length of the pants; that always seems to be just about the last thing he does.
Matt still eats pretty well, with the occasional bouts of pickiness. He feeds himself with a spoon, even if he still needs to refine his technique; will dunk something into a dip, although if you don't watch him he's quick on the double-dipping; and has had a successful try at feeding himself with a fork. He also sometimes tries to feed people the leftovers of whatever he's eating, every once in a while after he's sampled it himself. He does like to pretend to give people a drink from his play coffee pot, too.
Matt is definitely a busy little guy during his play, and he always insists on some reading time, too. He keeps me on my toes for sure!
