Here's his normal monthly update, plus more special posts to come! (And some that I posted earlier this week.
6/1
Donovan has changed so much this month! He is now walking very steadily. It's just amazing how fast that happened. At 11 months he was trying to walk and walking easily with just one hand, and just a week later he'd wave all hands away because he could do it himself! Now he walks so well I hardly worry, which is a pretty impressive feat.
He's starting to learn to answer questions! I love it! He knows what ears are, and will touch his ears if you ask him. If you ask him about nose or mouth, he can touch your nose or mouth. I don't know why he wants to touch his own ears and other people's noses, but he is definitely getting the idea. He also knows hair, and will giggle and pat or pull your hair. You have to be careful with these lessons though cause he'll swipe your face with claws like a cat. Yeah, I'm still not good at keeping his nails trimmed.
His language has absolutely exploded this month as well. I'm making a list of words he'll say, just like we did with Serenity. It's awesome, I just love that he is starting to talk to us! It's so much fun to really know what he's thinking. His first clear word was definitely "ball", followed shortly by "roll." Now he does catch and throw. So his ball playing vocabulary is excellent. =) He also does "vroom" which is adorable. He has a word he says for milk, although it sounds more like miw'. He says it all the time when I'm offering him food though so we know what he means. I'll share the whole list soon, I'm still adding to it daily. =) The one I hear most often (besides ball) is sister! Sometimes just "ssssissss" but sometimes the whole word. They love each other. =)
He still snuggles and cuddles with me a lot, I am just so lucky. He also loves his Daddy so much, and wants him. I think at this age Serenity was at a mostly Mama stage, but Donovan has lots of things he just wants Daddy for. He's really smiley and friendly too. When we went to Cali everyone congratulated us on what a sweet baby we had. And in Cali too, everyone noticed what a happy smiley baby he is. His sweet smile just lights up his whole face. It's beautiful.
One of his favorite games is putting things in containers, especially balls. We have a big blue bucket that he likes to put balls in. We're big into bucketball right now. =) He also is starting to learn a little bit about animals and their sounds. They have a big stuffed lion in California named Harry, and Donovan loved him! He kept saying "Roar! Roar! Roar!" He was also impressed with the cat, although mostly he saw cat pictures and can say "cat!" He does both dog and woof, and today bird! I've heard him say tweet to a big crow as well, which was a surprise and so cute. =)
Here are some of Donovan's Favorite Activities: Bathtime (He goes absolutely nuts when we go in the bathroom. Baa! Baaaf! Not baa like a sheep, Baaaa like bath! He adores bathtime, in fact we've even started spelling it at times if we're not quite ready to put him in the tub yet.
Going Outside (He can say OUT! GO!)
Laughing (He has this adorable pretend laugh. When he hears other people laughing or talking, he'll join in and go "Ha ha ha ha ha." I've got to get it on tape, it's hilarious and infectious.
Swinging (He likes swinging. Not quite as hard core as his sister, he does occasionally want to get out of the swing, but he does love it =)