12 Months!

Well, as most people know, James is 1 year old! He is such a joy to be around, even if the whining phase has started. He is such a funny character and has such a lovable personality.

Everyone that meets him always asks, "Is he always this happy?" or "Does he always smile and laugh this much?". He still loves to cuddle with you when he wakes up and when he is tired or sad. He loves walking, and he has the bruises to show it! He NEVER crawls anymore, and he learned early to stand up on his own without leaning onto things.

James has learned to throw his food when he is all done eating. He will do the sign language for "all done" and then will continue by throwing his food off of his tray- that silly guy! In Texas he would feed the dog Einstein.

His FAVORITE thing to do is put things away- he loves picking up objects, whether they be his toys, shoes, leaves, ANYTHING and putting into to something- the trash, a random box, under the couch, in my purse, in his toy box, etc.

He is such a BIG helper when it comes to cleaning toys away, but thanks to him I have lost my iPod several times just to find it tucked away in a secret corner.

He loves eating by himself. He has started using a spoon and usually will eat about 5-7 spoonfuls and then plays with the rest of it (usually it is either yogurt or applesauce). He doesn't like plain chicken, but likes chicken nuggets. He doesn't like sweets (like cake, donuts, cookies, etc.) as much as he likes green beans.

He has digressed a little bit when it comes to talking- he used to say Mama, Dada, Ba (ball), baba (bottle) and a few other words but now it is mostly "Ugh" while pointing to an object, with an occasional "mama" when he is crying. He does use a little bit of sign language which helps out a lot- he knows milk, drink, eat, more, all done and shakes his head yes or no to almost any question we ask him. It is the cutest thing to see him shake his head yes because his entire body shakes.

At the doctors appointment he weighed in at 23 lbs. 10 oz. He head circum. was off of the charts (about the 120%), but the Mauger side has always had big heads, so that isn't a surprise. Overall though he is in the 67% for boys his age, which we are happy about.

He sleeps from about 9 pm - 7 am, and then takes two naps, one from 10-12, and then other one usually from 3-4.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES going outside. Whenever I ask him if he would like to go outside, he shakes his head Yes and gets a HUGE smile on his face. I then tell him to bring me his shoes, and one at a time, he gets his shoes from the basket and lets me put them on him.

He loves to explore everything, so we always have to keep the bathroom and bedroom doors closed. We had to put a lock on our oven, our cabinet under the sink, our pantry, and our entertainment center. He is allowed to explore the other kitchen cabinets that have his bowls in them, pots and pans, tupperware, etc.

He is such a good listener- if we ask him to go get something or to go find someone, he listens.