Random Brockiness

I realize that I really haven't had an update about Brock's development. I'm sure everyone is just dying to know. Brock is 12 months old.

Mobility
Brock is walking, but not very far. He walks along in a hilarious manner with his hands above his head. Then he loses his balance, falls and starts crawling without missing a beat. I'd say he started walking right around his first birthday. He was cruising very well before that.

Eating
We are trying to phase out the bottles. Eating is sort of hit-and-miss. Some days he stuffs his face with table foods and shuns baby foods. Others are the opposite. It's scary not having bottles to rely on. So far, if he wakes up too early, he still gets a bottle and goes back to sleep. He also gets a bottle before bed and sometimes one during the day if he seems to be having a bottle meltdown.

I think the key is not letting him get too hungry and feeding him frequently. But it sure is a lot more time consuming coming up with a balanced diet he is capable of eating, and the actual act of eating it can take a while. I sure do sweep the kitchen floor more in one day than I used to in a month. Wish I was kidding.

I don't know why this bottle thing is so hard for me. I wanted to feed him bottles till he was 18. Easy to pack his lunch that way! I guess it will be nice not washing all those Dr. Brown's parts, but I'm still not sure how to handle 5 a.m. hungry wake-ups.

I tried introducing a sippy (soft and hard spouts) at 9 months, but he wasn't ready and didn't get it. I tried again later and he managed to figure out the soft spouts, but he still doesn't get to tip the cup back. I have found the straw sippies are the best for us. I started with the Playtex trainer and he got it right away. I bought several of those. And lost several before learning to move the trash farther from his high chair. Now he gets milk in his straw sippy throughout the day as much as possible.

Talking
Brock is very vocal, but he's still not really saying any words that I'm aware of. He seems to say Daddy but not Mommy. And sometimes when I ask him a question he seems to say "yeah." But I'm really doubting it. And a few times after I say "no," he seems to say "no," too. Which reminds me to use more variety when I "scold" him. So he's not talking much, but he did get compliments on his nice handwriting on his birthday thank you cards, so I guess I can be proud of that.

Playing
Brocktopus would rather get into mischief and mess with anything but his toys. He got so many toys for his birthday, but naturally anything important or dangerous is much more interesting. Sometimes he just crawls around looking desperately for something to knock to the floor with a dash of naughtiness. He does enjoy his little pool and getting out the backyard, but it's sort of hard when he's not walking that well and he doesn't like crawling on the grass. Plus, I have to prevent him from eating rocks, hummingbird poops and old birthday cake he finds in the grass from when he sent his slice overboard.