month 12 (and kind of 11)

I completely skipped posting anything for month 11. July was just too overwhelming and busy. Oh well, right? And while this post is late, these pictures were taken the day before his birthday, so score on timeliness. 

:: First things first, the 12-month doctor stats: 22 lbs 4 oz (64th percentile), 31.5 inches long (95th percentile), and 19.5-inch head circumference (99th percentile). I love it when the nurses print out those charts. (And Asher put up a bigger fight when the doctor checked his ears than when the nurse gave him his vaccinations. Go figure.)
:: This kid is all. over. the. place. He's a speedy crawler and has started cruising around the furniture. His knees are a little roughed up from all his crawling and falling.

:: He had his first official beach day in July, and I think he liked it. At his bath that night I found plenty of sand hiding in that chubby bum.
:: He thinks doors are pretty cool. He opens and closes and opens and closes and opens and then closes for real. So then you open it for him.

:: The refrigerator is a tantalizing pull for the boy. No matter where he is, if he can see you opening the fridge, he crawls as fast as he can but he's never fast enough to catch me before I close it.
:: Like I talked about in this post, Asher is weaned and eating all solid food. Unfortunately he's started exhibiting some picky tastes. I think I've generated some bad karma for myself in this matter.

:: He has this hilarious growl that he'll pull out every once in a while. I love it.
:: Asher has showed some signs of entering the tantrum phase. If something rubs him the wrong way he collapses on the ground and cries. If he's especially mad at you he'll arch and cling and twist. Heavens.
:: He loves to practice standing, though it comes in phases. I think he's too impatient to be persistent in his practice, so he just crawls around most of the time. When he feels like it, though, he stands, and you can tell he thinks it makes him the coolest.

:: He's been teething some molars for going on two months. Two months. We're over it.
:: Asher had his second official haircut, which was frankly an anxious endeavor for all involved. But it has to happen, because that fuzzy, cowlicky hair will get out of control if we're not careful.

:: He loves that quilt that my sister Emily made him. He buries his face into the soft side any chance he gets.
:: My favorite thing from these two months is Mama and Dada. He says them intentionally now. He doesn't say mama as often when it's just us, and usually pulls it out only when he's upset. Dada comes out, though, when he's excited and having fun. I see how this is playing out.
:: He babbles a lot, though. Sometimes I wish I could understand what all those intentional sounds are supposed to mean. It's just the cutest.

:: When he takes his bath he'll play this game where he dips his face into the water really fast. It's like he's daring himself to do it, and he looks so proud when he follows through. (No worries, we're there watching him 100-percent of the time.)
:: He also loves the pool. We bought an inflatable Batmobile, and it's the cutest. But really, Asher prefers to be in the water so he can dip his face.

:: Asher loves flipping through books. Sometimes I catch him sitting on his bedroom floor flipping pages. I'm sure you know that I love this on so many levels.
:: We're friends. All of us--Josh, Asher, and me. We love having this kid around and can hardly believe how big he is. Sometimes I want to fight it, but mostly I just want to savor it.

:: These are good days.