13 Months

Dear Austin-

Cell phone picture from dada.  I see you were
quite busy!

Yesterday was a hectic day because I had to leave for Chicago again, but it was still a special day because you turned 13 months.  Doesn't it seem like we were just celebrating your 1st birthday yesterday?  Your first month as a 1 year old has been full of excitement and changes.  You continue to be curious and into everything.  We call you Destructo Austin for a reason.  You empty all drawers and cabinets, tear apart your play kitchen and mine, and empty the bookshelf, all in record time.  I leave you for 2 minutes and come back to what looks like a hurricane aftermath.  I guess this is God's way of teaching me not to be so anal about clutter around the house.  You love to hear yourself speak and your favorite place to babble is the carseat.  By far your favorite word is Ba Ba which makes sense because you love your milk. We just recently switched to all whole milk after a few weeks of mixing it with formula.  You definitely understand more and more things these days even though you can't speak very many words.  You respond to simple commands like "Where is your tongue" or "What book do you want to read".  We have been working on sharing toys with mommy and daddy and you are doing so awesome!  I know it must be hard to hand over your precious cell phone or remote, but you always do and then we give it right back.  We make a huge deal about it and you get so excited.  You have started experiencing some separation anxiety lately.  You are still very social with others, but you like to know that mommy and daddy are still nearby.  You sometimes cry when we say goodbye, but luckily you get over it pretty quickly.  Maybe this has something to do with mommy starting back to work, but hopefully not.  I like to tell myself it's just a toddler thing and this too shall pass.  I too have been growing a lot this month and I am learning how to be the best working mommy for you.  These past few weeks have been tough with all of the travel, and I look forward to getting into our normal routine once training is over in a few weeks.  Thank you for being so patient and loving through it all.  I love you more then you can imagine.

Love,

Mama