Baby Hulk??

1 year, 2 weeks

Sorry for the missed post last week. My mom had surgery and I was out most of the week taking care of her! In the meantime, however, I think Brock drank some sort of radioactive rage juice and is now Hulking out almost daily!!

I know they have 'terrible twos' but no one really talks about this stage. The tantrums are insane!! All of my research (aka google) says that this is normal. They are finally realizing they can be independent, but aren't quite there yet in terms of talking, walking, etc and communicating their needs clearly. Which all makes perfect sense, it just doesn't make it any easier when he's screaming as loud as he can because I just told him he couldn't have or do something. He totally rages out - fists clenched, shaking and just forcing the loudest scream he can manage. It's totally different than his normal cry, it's full of anger. Sadly, he got his mama's temper!

We think he's also going through a growth spurt right now because he's been more tired than normal. Which only makes the problem worse because tired baby + not getting what he wants = immediate meltdown. He is much more easily agitated when he's tired (hmmmm...sounds like me).

On top of all this fun stuff, he's got more teeth coming in. And the poor little guy has the worst diaper rash I've ever seen. He's not super fussy about it, but you can tell it's painful for him. We've had lots of naked baby time to try and air it out. But, the first of the top front teeth has broken through and the 2nd should be any minute now!

In happier news - he's standing on his own! He can't go from sitting to standing, but if you stand him up, he can stand by himself for a couple of minutes. You can tell he wants to take a step, but he just doesn't trust himself yet. If he's walking between furniture, sometimes he'll test himself and get himself to standing without holding on. I know walking is just around the corner and right now, we aren't pushing him at all. It will come, when he's ready. He can do it, he just needs to trust himself and have confidence.

He's also added more words and tricks:
- he picks up the phone (cell or house) and says 'hello'
- now not only every Sesame Street character, but also pretty much any book he sees is Elmo...LOL! Most of his little books at home are Elmo so now every book is Elmo
- he may not say bye bye when he leaves or when you leave, but he'll say it over and over and over after leaving and a lot of times in the car
- he's starting to repeat 'thank you' more and more

He also went to his first Royals game this week! He loved it! We were in my company's suite and he loved crawling around inside, but also loved being outside and watching all the people, the game and the big screen. Walking into the stadium, his eyes were just huge and he was just taking it all in, totally silent.