Look Who's Talking: 12 Months Old!

Sorry for the delay, but we finally have Forest’s 12 month guest post up on the blog! Between vacation, birthday partying, visitors, cutting canines and overcoming the evil that is Daylight Savings Time, we are understandably running a bit behind schedule. As we were winding down on Sunday, I sat down with Forest and asked him a little bit about how his likes and dislikes have evolved as he hit the 1 year mark. Here he is to give you the scoop.  

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Hiya friends. My mom is right, we have been some kind of busy over here in California. We are still sort of recuperating from all the hoopla, so I’ll cut right to the chase. Here is where I stand on the current likes and dislikes topic. 

Dislikes: 

1) Fruit (with the exception of bananas and the occasional grape). 

The only good thing about fruit is that I can usually squash it in between my fingers and get juice all over my high chair tray. 

The Great Strawberry Massacre of 2014.

So  guess I should clarify: as a toy, fruit is ok by me. But as a food? No thanks. I’m more of a veggie man, ya know? And in case you were wondering, for the purposes of this blog post, Tomatoes are on Team Vegetable. Yum.   

2) Wearing shoes. 

My mom and dad were totally stuffing walking down my throat and then when I finally started to get comfortable on my feet they started strapping these shoes on me that totally trip me up. 

I’ve got enough problems without having a pair of bricks tied to my feet. I usually use my stroller and car rides in order to free my toes from their imprisonment but my mom just reapplies them as soon as we get to our destination. 

However, I have succeeded in sneakily throwing one overboard from my stroller, never to be seen again. Little victories. One shoe at a time.   

3) Teething. 

It took a whole excruciating month for 2 molars to crack through my gum line, and as soon as they were through with their reign of terror, the canines started making their march through my mouth. It’s relentless, I’m telling you. But misery loves company so at least my mom is there for snuggles at 4 AM. 

4) Daylight Savings Time. Seriously, who was the genius who came up with this plan? I had a hard enough time sleeping til 7 as it was, now I got to make it a whole ‘nother hour in my crib? Ain’t nobody got time for that.   

5) Sleeping in my pack n play. Look, I’m already pretty skeptical of naps, but if you expect me to sleep away the afternoon on a uncomfortable mattress a ½ inch thick, you are out of your mind.  Unless perhaps you intentionally wear me out by letting me run on a beach for an hour prior to naptime. Then I’d sleep just about anywhere, but still, if I have to nap I’d prefer to rest my cozy crib with my hand-dyed Belgian linen bedding, thankyouverymuch. 

After 5 very long days (and nights) on vacation, I think my parents definitely got the memo loud and clear that I am not a fan of the pack n play.  Here are a few things of which I am a fan. 

Likes: 

1) Pushing buttons and flippin’ switches. 

This month I learned how to turn lights on and off and also how to press the button that closes the garage door. Now it is my role in the family to carry out these actions any time we enter a new room or the garage and I take these tasks very seriously.   

2) Pushing things in general. 

Along with my duties as official light turner on-er/off-er , I hope to be put in charge of moving all furniture in the house. I’ve managed to turn several household items into walkers such as the dog food container, bar stools, shoe racks, wheely-suitcases, etc.  

My creativity and passion for pushing knows no bounds. For instance, when my parents and grandparents took me to a pumpkin patch and tried to push me in the wagon I was like ‘hold up!’ Why be pulled in a wagon when you can push the wagon? Duh. 

 3) Pointing.   

Why didn’t y’all tell me about pointing earlier? It’s a fabulous way to communicate my demands until my vocal abilities are up to snuff. For instance, say I’m at dinner and I want a sip of water, I just point to my sippy cup and voila, my mom hands me my water. Just like magic. And say I want my mom to look at a bird at the park, all I have to do is point and we’re sharing a nice little moment bird-watching. 

Pointing is the best. It’s so good that I have given up all other and gestures in favor of it. For instance, now when I want to tell you goodbye, I may just point at you instead of waving. 

4)Spaghetti.  Let’s all just stand up and give a slow clap for whomever invented spaghetti, shall we? 

5) The Beach.  

My first encounter with water was in my little bucket bath tub. When I was a newborn it was pretty much the only thing that made me happy. Then came my whale tub and I had a blast splashing around at bathtime. 

And then my love of water grew when I was put into the big tub and introduced to swimming pools. 

Imagine my euphoria when I discovered an endless ocean of water called The Pacific. 

My family just took a little vacay up to the northern coast of California and I was in heaven running on the beach towards the surf. 

It was so much fun that I didn’t even care that the water was freezing cold on my toes. I’m a native Scotsman afterall and my people swim in the much colder North Sea all the time. 

My parents and grandparents are taking me to a different ocean called the Gulf of Mexico for Christmas and I just can’t wait! 

6) Walking. 

I started taking a few steps here and there about a month ago. At first my mom was super excited but I was like ‘whatevs, it’s alright’ but still preferred crawling.  But after a few weeks my walking skills greatly improved and it’s just such an efficient way to burn energy. 

I love to just walk in circles around the kitchen island or follow behind my stroller at the park.  

7) Cake. 

Seriously Mom, why have you been holding out on me? This stuff is phenomenal. You call fruit a dessert? Woman, please. 

Ok guys, that’s my spiel this month. I’ll be back when I’m 13 months to keep you updated. Take care!