Weaned! And baby tricks...

As of yesterday morning, Mark is weaned! Right on time, a week before his first birthday. I had started slowly cutting back the nursed meals one by one, but still nursed Mark in the early morning so he would keep sleeping. Well, he has been sleeping through the night now pretty consistently (he sometimes wakes up for a drink of water if it is really hot), so now in the morning rather than nursing him when he woke up at 6, I gave him some water from his sippy-cup, and then put him back to bed. He slept 'til 8! He seems to be doing fine with not being nursed, and he is loving his evening self-fed finger-foods meal (last one consisted of cut up cheese, pieces of an omlette, and slices of banana and some bread). Mark is VERY interested in feeding himself these days, and likes holding a spoon while we spoon-feed him, batting at the bowl, himself.

Ben and I compiled a list of words Mark uses consistently. He says: da! (dad), mama, gkeeh (kitty), mow (meow, and sounding frighteningly real), duh (duck), mhoooo (cow), mmmmh! (food or drink), hi! (very exhuberant, and with a wave), hey!, dis? (this, as in, i want this, accompanied by pointing), dat? (that, as in, what is that? and pointing), DAT! (that! as in, i want THAT, not something else! pointing vigorously ...often accompanied by shaking his head if we don't get what he wants)
He also has a few baby signs he does: waving hello, pointing, fish (lip smacking like a fish opening and closing mouth), give me (opening and closing up-turned palm), fly (pointing first, then making a shoo-ing hand motion - this one was his own invention!). When Mark does something he is proud of, he claps aplause to himself.

Mark claps pat-a-cake, and can cover and uncover his eyes for peek-a-boo. He also plays peek-a-boo from behind the couch or any other obstruction, by popping up and down, jack-in-the-box style.Hmm. What else? He can show you his toes if you ask him where his piggies are, and he'll pull up his shirt and point at his belly button if you ask him where his belly button is.

Let me see. Mark is continuing to improve his walking, he now initiates walking often, and can get up from sitting to standing and back down without holding onto anything. He takes about 10-15 steps consistently, 22 is his current record. He climbs climbs climbs on EVERYTHING (slight exhasperation there). He climbs onto the couch, and up over the back, down to the ground, thankfully feet first. He has also figured out that he can pull out drawers and use them as step ladders to get on top of dressers. And by swinging his leg over, he can get onto virtually anything even at his shoulder level. The little rascal! He loves hunting the kitty, and the kitty, oddly, seems to enjoy it, and plays along.

Ok, so now for the pictures I know you all want to see...
We had a BBQ with some friends, and Mark got to play in the grass. He loved it! He did get his hands on some toad stools, but thankfully we noticed on time...

He actually was crawling all over the place, at top speed, but it was near impossible to get pictures of that. So you get pictures of the few iterim times he spent sitting.
The grass above looks nice and green, doesn't it? Well, trust a boy to find the dirty spots... and the puppy, of course! Mark was fearless, which in this case was ok, because the pup is used to small kids.
Nope, that's not chocolate on his lips... it's mud. And that small pooch in his cheek? That's mud, inside!
Uh, oh, here he is going for more, and there is my hand in the right bottom corner to take the dirt away... mean old Momma.
Hmmm. Let's survey the damage. Mud-smeared face? Check. Sandy taste on tongue? Check. Dirty hands? Check. Yep, it's a boy.
Raaarrrr! And now Mark is out to catch the puppy with those grubby little hands!

Ok, time to get clean... at least for a few minutes!