overjoyed: November 2012

Hey, remember that time when I was a TERRIBLE blogger? Yikes. Well if anyone is still reading this thing (hi Mom!), I'm going to attempt to pull it together and get better at posting more frequently. No really, this time it will be different. Stop laughing.

Anyway, let's start with this: HUDSON HAS TEETH! I REPEAT, MY SON IS NO LONGER TOOTHLESS! Point to your tooth, Hudson!

I was tickling him in our bed one morning and as he was laughing, I saw something in his mouth. Sure enough, there they were - two top molars, one on each side. Yes, that's right. At sixteen months old, my son finally got his first teeth, and they were molars! I could hardly believe it. Still no sign of the front teeth, but I'm assuming they'll come in eventually.

Other developments in the past couple months:

No more nursing. He weaned right before he was 16 months. It was bittersweet. How funny that something so difficult and agonizing for us at the start became something I didn't want to end. I'm so grateful I had the support and encouragement to stick with it as long as we did. Have to find other ways to get my cuddles in now with my busy boy!

He's become quite the little picky eater. I am trying to stay optimistic since most experts seem to say this is just standard toddler behavior. I'm a terribly picky eater myself, and I always prayed my children wouldn't inherit this trait! I just keep offering things and hope that eventually he'll start trying and eating them. Every once in a while he'll surprise me: he won't touch any other kind of pasta but he just loves lasagna! And in the past week he tried and decided he approved of ketchup. I think there's hope!

His little vocabulary is growing slowly. It's funny (and sometimes frustrating) because most of the time these days, he's definitely saying something, but the jibberish is indecipherable. We have words for ball, balloon, butterfly, airplane, baby, and a handful more. He also recognizes all the grandparents and family by name and tries really hard to say them too! When we went to visit my sister in Chicago last month, he started calling her "Tee Tee" (for Auntie). It was ridiculously precious.

He loves running, kicking and throwing a ball, climbing and balancing, sweeping and cleaning (whose kid is this?!), playing with the iPhone, watching Blues Clues, and - despite continued guitar lessons from Daddy - drumming. After church a couple weeks ago, we let him get on the big drums. He was a natural.

Yes indeed, we've been having lots of fun and here are some pictures to prove it! (PS, our beloved Cardinals almost made it to the World Series this year, hence the wardrobe selections in most of these photos. Gotta represent!)