Big Boy Playtime

Dominic is almost 14 months old now, wow how time flies. He's walking all over the place and is just so proud of himself. He gets so excited to discover new things and places now that he's mobile. He's learning new things every day and it's so amazing to watch. When I ask him where something is, like his puppy, he walks right over to it and picks it up. It's incredible to me that he is understanding what things are now.

I'm proud to say he's officially off formula. He drinks whole milk with gusto, although it was a process to get there. We had to slowly ween him off it by giving him a bottle with a quarter milk and the rest formula. After a couple of days we moved to half and half. The day that he drank a bottle full of 100% milk was a proud moment.

He had this habit of walking around with the bottle hanging from him mouth, then he's trip and bang his mouth on it. We made a new rule that he can only drink his bottle when he's sitting in his chair. It took a few times of taking the bottle away when he got up, a few tantrums of frustration, a few times of picking him back up and putting him back in his chair...but in less than a week, he got it. Now when it's time for his milk (after dinner, around 6pm) he'll climb into his chair, all by himself, and gulp it down. If he decides he wants to take a break in the middle and play, he'll hand me his bottle, slide off his chair, play for a while and then climb back up and finish up. I'm just so proud of him for grasping what we're telling him and for listening to the rules.


Dom has really grown up so much over the past couple of months. He's a total chatterbox and it's the most adorable thing to hear. First thing in the morning he wakes up chatting away. He talks to himself, his bunny (stuffed animal that he sleeps with,) the cat, Rob and I. He just has so much to say. It's all baby talk, well for the most part. He has this cute little squeaky voice and says "what's this?" about a hundred times a day. Rob and I make sure to always engage him with return conversation and explain what it is he's pointing at. He will make the correct sounds when you ask him "what does a doggy say? what does a monkey say? what does a lion say? what does cookie monster say?" We'll ask him questions and he'll say "yea!" He'll give you high fives if you hold your hand up. He dances all day long and always claps after a song. He cruises the hallways of our home with glee, peeking into the bathrooms and bedrooms. Rob's office is off limits so he'll run down the hallway, giggling and clapping, and step into the office. He knows he's not supposed to be in there, so he'll cheer and clap some more and then runs out. Little rebel!


Today was Dominic's first class at Gymboree. I wanted to find a class or come kind of activity where he could play and learn and have some fun. I can only take him to the park so many times, so we were excited to check out a free class at Gymboree. From the moment we got there, Dom was so excited. He was walking up to the other kids, running around checking out the new scenery.
He made friends quickly and right off the bat was sharing the toys. It was so cute because he handed this little girl each ball, one at a time, until there were none left. We have been practising that at home so it was awesome to see him put it into action. Instead of him throwing stuff all the time, I ask him "please hand that to Mommy" and he hands it over. Seems he's got the hang of it:)


He couldn't wait to get started. He went straight for anything he could climb and had no problem shuffling his little legs and getting to the top. He did bonk his head a few times because he was so excited he was rushing and not always paying attention to putting his hands down.

Rob was able to come join us and it was so fun doing family play time. There was singing, dancing, jumping, climbing....it was basically heaven for Cub. At the end of the session, Rob surprised us by signing Dom up! Now we get to go to the class once a week! What a great Daddy!