12 months!

Elias turned 12 months old on May 15th. I can safely say it has been the fastest year of my life!

Here's some current info. on this little guy:

*He has started to stand in one place without holding on to anything for short periods of time. He's taken a few steps to me but nothing consistent as of yet.

*He finally has 2 teeth on the bottom...and about 4 on the top look ready to pop through at any moment.

*He loves to wave 'hello' and 'goodbye'.

*He has a pretty close word approximation for 'cracker'. This was also Malik's first word. What does that say about the pattern of our days around here?

*He's finally sleeping better at night. He nurses around 7:30, goes to sleep by 8:00 and has (mostly) been sleeping until about 5:45 the next morning. He'll nurse again and often sleep for about another hour. Today he slept through until 7:00...I could get used to that!

*He is a monkey (per stories from my mother, I think he gets this from me.) I often find him standing on the ottoman in our living room, on the little table in our kitchen and on the little tables at the library. He's quite proud of himself, although has no idea how to get down from his perch.

He's such a happy little guy (even strangers comment on that) and a true joy to us. We're looking forward to see what this next year brings for Elias James!