13 months old

Lincoln is now 13 months old and getting steadier on his feet every day.  He usually tries to take a couple steps between toys/furniture/people now instead of automatically dropping to his hands and knees.  He loves pushing wheeled things around--especially Emily's pink baby doll stroller.  While it's not very masculine-looking, it is helping him improve his balance and control.  He must be observing Emily, too, because one day I found him pushing it around with his bib as the passenger. :o)

With more time spent outdoors these days, Lincoln has decided he really doesn't like the feel of grass, cement, rocks or the wet, slippery deck on his knees.  At times he resorts to a funny bear crawl (see video).  I'm hoping that encourages and speeds up the walking progress.  We also got out the bubble-blowing mower he got for his birthday from Grandpa & Grandma Lorenzen.  Both Lincoln & Emily love it, although Lincoln can't quite push it fast enough to make the bubbles blow out.

Lincoln's top two teeth are FINALLY, FINALLY starting to poke through.  It has seriously been three months of false alarms, drool and Tylenol waiting for those suckers to make an appearance.  They still have a ways to go before they become useful yet.  After the first one broke through the gums Lincoln's appetite soared.  This was encouraging since I still don't think he has broken 20 lbs.  After his 1-year check-up and finger prick his hemoglobin levels came back low.  I'm sure this is because of an iron deficiency in his diet since I stopped spoon-feeding him iron-fortified baby cereal at 9 months and he has never really cared that much for Cheerios or other iron-fortified dry cereals.  Since I really want to avoid resorting to iron supplement drops if I can at all help it, I'm trying to increase the iron in his diet.  I bought another box of baby cereal and have been adding it to yogurt.  Lincoln is still against being spoon-fed, so now he is practicing feeding himself with a spoon!  I have been pretty impressed by how well he has done.  Some days are better than others.  It also brings mealtimes to a whole new level of messy.  That baby cereal is nasty, sticky, grimy stuff that sticks like glue when it dries.  Whether by handfuls or spoonfuls, Lincoln still seems to be quite ambidextrous when it comes to eating.

I'm not sure if it's related to teething, night after night of thunderstorms, a topsy-turvy schedule from traveling or a combination of all of the above, but Lincoln's sleeping habits have been all over the place lately.  I'm wondering if he's starting to transition from two naps to one nap a day.  Emily did at this age.  I'm having mixed feelings about it, so I'm not sure whether to experiment or push it.

Lincoln has also become a lot chattier and more vocal the last few days.  There is still not enough meaning assigned to his babbling to declare a first word, but it's getting close!