Lack of a camera for part of this stage made it extra difficult, so excuse all the low-quality phone pictures.

This has been such an awesome phase. Seriously. Michael is SO much fun... and SO exhausting. He wants to know what everything is, where everything is, how everything is done... you get the idea. He wants to know everything.

Michael can now say the word "out". We have to be careful how we use it, because he associates "out" with "outside".

While we still love to swing, we have a new fondness for our local playground's slide. It took him a couple times to get comfortable going down it without Mama, but we finally conquered it and can't get enough.

However, our FAVORITE thing to do outside is to play "football". Since Michael doesn't actually have a football, this is done with his plastic baseball... but he doesn't seem to mind.

Luna loves when we do this, too. She'll chase Michael around but never gets too rough with him. Michael has also discovered that if he runs up and grabs my legs, I will promptly fall over. (This is him "tackling" me.)

Along with "out" we now say:

- "Up!" This was a fun one the other morning at 5am. He started "gently patting" my face saying, "Up! Up! Up!" Don't worry, buddy. Mama got the message.

- "Bop." In Michael language, this is bath. He likes to take about two a day, and I don't mind one bit. They help relax him, entertain him, and keep him clean. He loves to splash, find his belly button, put his face in the water ever so quickly, and pour water over his head with whatever sort of cup he can find.

- "Hot!" This can be used to describe bath water, the Christmas tree lights, the heat (he'll stand over a vent and say it), the stove (yay for knowing not to touch it!), and whenever Mama lights a candle. He gets so excited. He practiced the "huh" sound for at least a couple of weeks before finally putting the word together. Way too adorable.

- "Nana," which means banana, of course.

- "Ap-pull"... yes, he does sound it out like that.

- A version of "doggy".

- A version of "All Done!"

We are currently working on the "m" sound for "moon" and "moo" (thanks to Goodnight Moon and Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type) and the "cuh" sound for "cow" and "kitty" (I'm assuming, that is).

He also "honks" for a duck, sniffs his nose for a dog, and hums for a cat's meow.

In sign language he still does "more", thought not as frequently as he used to. He also now does "thank you". I'm not sure if he quite understands, but the fact that he recognizes to do it when I ask him to means that *hopefully* he'll start to.

We can recognize elephants, doggies, kitties, zebras (yeah... I know), bears, moons, flowers, trees, leaves, cows, ducks... a lot of animals.

Oh! The most fun thing right now? Asking him:

"Michael, where's your nose?" (He'll make a sniffing noise and cover his nose.)

"Michael, where's your ear? Where's your other ear?"

"Michael, where's your eye? Where's your other eye?"

"Michael, where is your mouth?"

OK... you get the idea. He can also recognize hair and head (there is a distinction-- he'll pull his hair and pat his forehead), his arm, his legs, his hand. We're still working on feet, fingers, and toes. He will also find mama's teeth... he hasn't quite pointed his own out yet.

Yes, we're teething again. I believe he has at least three molars coming in... bringing our teeth-total to about nine at the moment. This has completely disrupted our sleep. Last night was the first night he went to bed after 7pm. It had been anywhere between six and seven before that.

Want to know what time we got up yesterday morning?

Before 4:30.

Yep. You read that right.

That was the earliest. Before that it was usually between five and six. Needless to say Mama has been taken naps a lot, too, these days.

I don't even want to talk about food. Michael has suddenly become a picky eater. All he wants is applesauce, cheese, fruit, yogurt... did I mention cheese? I have had to find some pretty creative ways to hide cheese in the fridge so he can't find it.

A couple nights ago I made homemade chicken nuggets (see recipe here) and green beans (which he loved at Thanksgiving).

No. Luck. The boy just wanted some cheese and grapes.

If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm thinking of making some invisible-veggie-muffins soon to get them in him. Anything green? It's squished (no more peas). Corn or carrots? He'll put it in his mouth, only to make a face and spit it right back out.

Oh, boy.

We do, however, still like hummus.

Thanksgiving this year was a bit overwhelming. Last year he pretty much just slept through. This year? Well... there were A LOT of people. Poor thing would warm up to one group only to have another filter in. He's very social, so he'd entertain... but after a while all he wanted was Mama. About four days in to our seven day trip he was ready to go home, and I couldn't blame him. He was SO overwhelmed.


Yes, that is his hand down my shirt. It's his "happy place" as Clark calls it. He has yet to attach himself to any of the loveys I try to throw at him, so in times of stress he attempts to get in to my shirt. Lovely, right? I don't mind so much when it's just us... but when we're out I have to admit I get a little embarrassed, especially since family and friends always like to point it out and laugh.

Christmas time is bringing out a whole new spirit in Michael. He LOVES our Christmas tree. (And helping Dada water it.)

Every morning we'll roll out of bed and he runs into the other room and waits for the lights to be turned on.

Way. Too. Adorable.

He also has a new obsession with Santa, which is funny since he didn't exactly warm up to the guy when he met him....

Thanks to Marmee and Papa, though, we are learning about the TRUE reason for the season. We got a beautiful Advent calendar as well as a new Veggie Tales video and The Donut Man (which mama, admittedly, squealed over).

When all else fails, we spend time turning the lights on and off, on and off. He's working on those words, too. According to Dr. Sears, if you let babies indulge in this they're less likely to be afraid of the dark because they know they can have the power to turn the light on and off... so when it's dark, they know it will come back. I don't know if this is proven, but I like the idea, so I don't mind standing next to a light switch saying, "On, off, on, off," over and over and over and over and over and over (you get the idea) and over again.

As you can see, there's a lot going on. I feel like I could continue to gush over my adorable child, but I imagine some of you have probably already stopped reading because we all know that every mother just wants to tell you all about her children.

Now I totally get it.

I was going to stop these posts, but a really close friend told me they're actually her favorite. Ummmm... if you love reading about my kid so much, I'm going to indulge you!

Don't forget to check out the Atkinson Drive and Exquisite Crafts giveaways! Only TWO MORE DAYS to enter!

And just to make you smile....