My New Assistant is a Super Hero

Trevor's mom sent Grayson a ridiculously cute shirt that has a cape attached to it!!!  When he wore it for the first time, I had to take some pictures. 

That's right, he is a super hero in training!

Doing a little superman flying with daddy!

Grayson is mimicking us all the time, he has learned how to fold his arms when we say prayers.  I never realized how much Trevor and I fold our arms until Grayson started doing it every time we did.  I usually have to say 'Amen' and then he will unfold his arms.  It is pretty cute, he even folded his arms when he saw a woman across the restaurant folding her arms.  

He also has been paying attention when I do my yoga DVDs in the morning because he does an awesome downward dog!  He also tries to climb up my legs usually of course when I am doing a really difficult pose, which makes it that much harder.  He is just trying to help me get a better work out.  I was in an upward dog pose the other day and he came up and started patting me on the face.  It was really cute, but it made it difficult to keep the pose because I was laughing.

He is getting really good at walking now and he walks more then he crawls.  He continues to be very interested in helping me clean and doing what I do.  Now he really likes dusting.  I showed him how to do it and he is actually pretty good at it.  He ran around the house dusting everything, including my leg and the floor.  Now any time I get the duster out he is right next to me. 

He also likes to follow me when I'm vacuuming.  He isn't scared of it, but if I vacuum near him he moves away and usually follows behind me.  After he saw me cleaning his high chair after lunch one day, he pulled a paper towel out of the trash (another new fun trick that I am not very excited about) and started wiping his high chair.  I traded him for a clean rag and he liked that too.  I have had to dig a few things out of the trash, so today I put the trash can in a closet in the kitchen, hopefully that will be a deterrent.

Grayson also acts as my sous chef when I am cooking.  I was making a cake for my book group and he really wanted to help.  I pulled a chair up next to me so he could get a better look.  Some of the dry ingredients spilled out of the bowl when I was pouring it into the Kitchen Aid.  Grayson tried to eat it and I told him it wouldn't taste good, and when he started to put some in his mouth, I thought, this will teach him he shouldn't eat things when I tell him not to.  Down side, he really liked it.  He said, "mmmm" and started licking the counter.  It was hilarious!

He got flour all over his face!

Helping me load and unload the dishwasher (emphasis on UNload).  His favorite things are the silverware baskets.  Before I turn the dishwasher on I always have to search around the kitchen and living room to check for silverware.  

He loves to climb into the dishwasher and he was practicing his yoga in the dishwasher.  

Grayson's Twelve Month Stats

Grayson had his twelve month check up last Monday.  He is perfectly healthy and growing just like he should.  He was a champ, even when he got his shots.  He is such a little trooper.  Here are his stats:

Height:  30"  50th percentile

Weight:  23 lbs 12 oz  50th percentile

He is staying right in the middle for height and weight, but his head circumference is now in the 75th percentile.  He is growing the developing so much, it is awesome to watch the change.  He is very perceptive and mimics the things that we do.  He has four teeth now, two on top and two on bottom.  We have started brushing his teeth at night before he goes to bed and the second time I brushed his teeth I let him hold the toothbrush and he tried to brush my teeth.  He knew exactly what it was for.  Now every evening I give him a turn to brush his teeth and he does a good job doing the brushing motion and everything.  It is interesting to try and brush his teeth because he tries to like the toothbrush and he starts laughing when I brush his upper teeth.  

He is getting to be so big!  He has always loved my mugs, but now he has learned how to use the straw and he can actually drink out of them.  It is pretty cute, but now I have to fight him to get a drink out of my own mug.  Any time I get it out now he thinks that it is for him.

We got an ottoman for Christmas and keep some of Grayson's toys in there.  Grayson has really enjoyed having his toys in there.  He loves to climb inside and play with his toys.

Another big thing now, he is walking!!!  That's right we have a walker. It happened rather quickly actually.  When we came back from the break, he all of the sudden started showing interest in walking on his own.  I would look up and he would be standing in the middle of the floor trying to take a few more steps.  He liked to walk around holding one of my hands and would even push my hands away sometimes when I would try and  help him.  Within a week he showed a lot of progress and I see even more this week.  He is walking for longer periods of time and getting better with balancing.  Luckily, he is good about falling back onto his bottom so we haven't had any bad falls or bruises.  I love to see him walk, it is so cute!  He is very proud of himself too, every time he stands up, he has a huge grin on his face.

With his new walking skills, he has really been enjoying sweeping.  When I get the broom out to sweep the kitchen floor, he always wants to come help me.  

He even does a sweeping motion, he is pretty smart.  I'm sure all mothers think their mother is a genius, but i know mine is. :)

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.  We are so incredibly lucky.  

Grayson's First Birthday: Part 2

When we came back to Alabama, we had a small party with some friends from church.  Before the party, we had gotten a package from Trevor's parents and Grayson really loved playing in the box.  He got a fun Duplo set that he really liked.  Of course, they always like the packaging better!

We had the same theme for this party too, a Winter 'One'derland.  I made some snowman cupcakes and we had some blue candy and a hot chocolate bar.  I also tried a new recipe for a roasted corn dip, it was really good.  Our friends came over and the kiddos enjoyed playing with toys together and eating some food.  We sang him Happy Birthday, he didn't really know what was going on, but he was cute anyway.

I love the look on his face in this picture, I think he was trying to figure out what the candle was.

He did show a little more interest in the cupcake, he actual tried to pick it up.  I tried to help him with it, but he did not like that cupcake.  His face was classic!  He has tried other sweet things before, like pie and cookies, but apparently he does not like cake and frosting.

After cake, we opened presents.  He had fun playing with his new toys!  He was so happy to have so many people over, he ended up staying up way past his bed time, but he was very hyper the whole evening.  He would do his 'laps' going up and down the hallway from our bedroom to the living room and back again as fast as he could.  When I put him to bed, he fell asleep very quickly.

The next day, he was having fun pointing at things with the blue candy canes that were left over from his party.  I didn't think anything of it until he went into his room and he was quite for a while.  I went to check on him and some how, he had managed to take off the wrapper and he was eating the candy cane.  His hands and face were very blue.  It was hilarious.

Grayson's First Birthday: Part 1

We celebrated Grayson's birthday before we went back home.  It was so much fun to be able to celebrate with family, Grayson really loves playing with his cousins.  We opened presents which Grayson is getting very good at.  He would pull out the tissue paper and hand it to my niece sitting next to us.  It was really cute.  He loved all of his lovely presents, we are lucky to have such kind family.

I just loved this face he made, it was hilarious!

We did a Winter 'One'derland theme for the party.  I made him a birthday cake in the shape of a one with penguins and snowmen on top.  I made a separate little igloo cake just for him to eat.  It was fun to make!  I will admit, when we were singing 'Happy Birthday' I got a little emotional.  I am so happy to have this little man in our lives.  He is a true joy!

Grayson really didn't care about his cake.  It was funny to watch though.  

He did poke it a couple times, but when I put his hand in the icing, he gave me a funny look and held his hand out so I would clean it.

After birthday cake, the kids all went outside to play.  

Grayson really likes pine cones and sticks when ever he can find them.

All the kids made pictures and we hung them up on display.  The best part, my two awesome nephews drew scenes from Hoth from "The Empire Strikes Back."  

The next day, I guess the birthday boy was pretty worn out and ended up falling asleep in my lap.

In Which My Father Becomes a Sage

It has been years since all of us have been together to celebrate my father's birthday.  My oldest sister Dawn, had a great idea that all of the sisters should take my dad out for dinner for his birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  The diner we went to has really delicious desserts, so we got some to go and ate them when we got home.  

The next day, we had a dinner with just us and my parents.  My dad requested my mom's homemade spaghetti and pumpkin pie for dessert.  We had a good time and a delicious meal.

Grayson helped the birthday boy open his presents.

Singing happy birthday to the birthday boy.

He had just a little bit of whipped cream with his pie.

New Year's Eve

We had a lot of fun on New Year's Eve  My parents were so incredibly nice and babysat for us so we could have a fun evening.  We started things out by going to a really good Mexican restaurant.  Then we went to see The Hobbit, which was absolutely amazing!  

After getting out of the movie, we went downtown.  There were over 200 Christmas trees decorated by various local businesses.  It was really pretty.

It is hard to see, but we took a picture of Huntsville's own ball waiting for the countdown.  

The Museum of Art set up an outdoor ice skating rink, so we had to go ice skating for a bit.  It was incredibly busy and not a very large rink, so we only skated for about half an hour.  After Trevor got kicked in the ankle by a girl falling over and a guy used me to balance as he was falling (almost knocked me over too) we decided to call it a night.

We watched the ball drop from the steps of the Museum of Art and we had a really great time.  There was a fireworks show at midnight and it was awesome.  

For New Year's Day, my sisters and their kids came over for lunch.  We hung out and had a good time. 

The Explorations of Master Grayson

Grayson is a very curious fellow, always has been.  He is getting more adventurous and wants to know about everything!  One of his favorite things is to have someone walk around with him and tell him what the things are he is pointing at.  He is very good at pointing!  It makes me laugh, but whenever I get him up from a nap or even first thing in the morning, he immediately starts pointing at things and either 'telling' me where he wants to go or 'asking' what things are.  Trevor and I joke sometimes that he sounds like a little alien.  It really does sound like he is legitimately talking, but it's just a foreign language and we can't understand it.  

My parents have a beautiful backyard and Grayson especially loved every chance he could get to play outside.  We had quite a few really warm days while we were there, so he was able to play outside.  It never fails, he'll play on the patio for a while and then he always has to head straight for the water feature.

I can't wait to take him to the pool this summer because he absolutely loves the water.  

Grayson got a 'big boy' car seat while we were in Alabama.  It was his birthday present from my very generous parents.  He has really liked it!  My parents were babysitting for us one evening and it was the day they had picked up the car seat.  My mom got some great pictures of Grayson exploring his new car seat and of course, the rather large box it came in.

Grandpa had to show him what to do, he was a pretty quick learner.

The coolest thing was he would climb in and out of the car seat by himself.  He would sit in it for a while and survey his realm.  He really loved it!

For dinner, my parents shared their rolls and he apparently chowed down on it!

I put him in a bag my mom had and I was carrying him around the house with me.  I don't know how he felt about it.

He escaped that bag as soon as possible.

When he was exploring my parents' bedroom, he found a picture of himself and he was rather excited to see himself.  It was pretty cute.

My parents have these cute stuffed animals in their bedroom too and he loved playing with them.  Whenever he gets a hold of a stuffed animal, he usually gets a big smile and then he buries his face in them.

Grayson tried coloring for the first time and he really liked it.

He is very good now at letting us know what he wants.

This is how he asks to be picked up.  He climbs up your paint legs and then starts patting your legs until you pick him up.  It is pretty irresistible.

My mom gave him a ride on one of her chairs and this is the face he had on pretty much the whole time.  Once again, the Moore genes are coming out.

He absolutely loved the Christmas tree!  My parents were smart and got all non breakable ornaments so he wouldn't do too much damage.  We even got him to take a few steps toward the tree when the ornaments were out of his reach.  He is getting close to walking!

I went to find him one day and this is what I found.  He had climbed in the closet and had started pulling toys out to get what he wanted.  He has really been getting into playing with blocks.