1 year, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day!

Wow what a mouthful huh? But it is true. Elem Zane is officially 1 year, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day old. I thought it was kinda of cool and well deserving of a post. As if there is anything that is not deserving of a post in my mind. Okay so Elem has just recently-in the past 2 days- cut another tooth! The bottom right tooth, to the right of his already 2 middle bottom teeth-is breaking its way into the world. Make sense? And I think he is cutting the one on the left of the bottom two as well. But I just can't actually see that it has broken through yet. So hopefully, sometime this week, we will see those little suckers come on through and give my baby boy some relief. He actually cut all the teeth he has sooo long ago, like when he was 6 and 7 months old, and he has been stuck with those 6 forever it seems. So although I hate to see him in pain, I was ready for him to get a few more chompers!

He also is currently obsessed with feeding himself. With a utensil I mean. He is always happy to feed himself, but seriously with the addition of silverware, it is like a whole new world and Elem loves it! He can totally do it with a big spoon and a baby spoon, and a fork too, but he just gets a little excited and when he can finally scoop the food onto the fork, he loses most of it on the way up. So he is trying hard to actually get it into his mouth. I'm sure soon that will not be a problem at all. I do however love to see him -mouth open WIDE-looking at the food on the end of the spoon and then bite down and the look of "where is the dang food I just scooped up" comes across his face. hahaha.

He is getting a little rougher and tougher around the edges as well this week. Although he is a BIG time momma's boy, he also is a "temper tantrum thrower" when he does not get his way and he has recently been taking things away from kids at school, and even scratching them on the face! Today, I literally dropped him off in his room (which is like I just put him over this half door), I turn my head to say good morning to a few people, and before I know it I hear screaming. This little boy had grabbed Elem from behind and in retaliation he scratched the poor little guy right in the corner of his eye. So he had a whelp on his face and it wasnt even 8:05am! ha! I guess boys will be boys, it just always sucks to tell a parent, uhm hey your kid has ANOTHER scratch on their face and uhm, yes my child-who is smaller than yours-did it to him. Luckily, the parent is super cool and didn't mind. Geez I can only imagine the boyish rough housing to come. Elem Zane hopefully will get his act together and quit beating up on people.



Aside from his recent temper tantrums and aggressiveness, he has been a super happy baby. Finally, on a great schedule and sleeping just about thru the night every night. And on a good nap schedule during the day-which on all accounts leads to a happy baby! Which in all accounts leads to a happy mommy and daddy! He has also gotten to the point where he loves to run up to me and give me huge hugs on my legs. And he pats them from behind while he hugs me and I love it! It is so sweet and I just can not get enough of those big boy hugs. He is so loving and seriously no matter what I am doing, it melts my heart every time he gives me those hugs.

Last weekend he did do something quite funny which I will document just for laughing purposes later in life. Seth and I were sitting on the couch and Elem had just had a bath or something and Seth leaned over and was hugging me and kissed me; and Elem ran across the room and tugged on Seth's shorts and started saying "nah, nah, nah" which means NO, no, no! He just kept tugging till Seth stopped! It was sooo funny, that he did not want anybody, not even daddy, given mommy any lovin that he was not included in. And then we have of course made it a point to do stuff in front of him like give each other hugs where it is way overplayed and he does the same thing! Gives us something to laugh at and makes me feel loved. hahaha.

He is also running like a mad man every where he goes! It's like he very rarely has a walk in his step, but is always on some crazy mission. Good to know he has a plan and needs to get there fast I guess. We just bite our tongue and hold our breath every time he takes off, because he is still only 13 months old! And even though he has been walking for a long time, he still "eats it" often. Which usually means he hits the floor as well as something else along the way. And each time we pretend it is no big deal and hope all his teeth are still there and no harm has been done to his face! Gosh, It stresses me out, but hey, he has got to learn sometime!



Lastly, I would like to end on a complaint, which I rarely do! Due to my line of work, I am pretty much on point with what Elem should be doing at what age etc. And I try to ensure that he is exposed to things early and hopefully is always a step ahead of where he should be. I mean every mom wants there kid to be smart right???Now on top of that he is a big kid. He is most likely a little over 25 pounds and he is tall, so people naturally assume he is older than he really is, which is a good thing if you are referring to like his motor skills, and talking skills, alertness etc. But this lady at work the other day heard him crying for his bottle, and was like-"dang, when you gonna get him off of that" !! My initial reaction was, well I am trying-he doesnt really take one during the day at all, only at night time, and sometimes nap time. But then I was like, hold up, my baby has seriously just turned 1 year old and he is totally okay to be having a bottle!!!!! I mean he is big, there is nothing I can do for the fact that you think he looks like an 18 month old who I obviously know would not be taking a bottle during a day time nap. Okay whew! It just got to me and has pretty much set me on a mission to go ahead and get that baby off the bottle. However, he is slightly addicted, much like he was when I was breast feeding, so we will see how fast this journey to the land of cups and whole milk is! Wish us luck!