Happy New Year

I apologize for the lack of posting this past month. I think NaBloPoMo broke me...but also, so much has been happening that it's been difficult sometimes just to process it. Taking the time to put words to all of it was beyond me. So here is an update covering the past month or so:

1. My car should be home today! The cost increased almost to the point of being totaled, but by then they'd already done so much work that it wasn't worth their effort to stop in the middle. So yay! But while GEICO (not our insurance, but that of the guy who hit VNB) did GREAT the time that our blazer was side-swiped, this time they weren't so great. Like at all. They haven't contacted us since the day after the accident. They didn't tell us that _we_ had to arrange to move the car, they didn't tell us the adjustor's findings, and most importantly, they didn't tell us that our car was ready last Friday before they turned off the rental car. Enterprise finally called on Monday morning to let us know. But we got it all straightened out and should have my almost new again car this evening. :)
2. AJ is officially among the "walkers" now. A few days shy of him being 11 months old, he took a couple of steps at his dad's office holiday party. A little over a week later (with _both_ of us present) he took a few more. Since then, he's been gradually getting bolder and bolder. Now, he's off to the races. His longest stretch unaided was probably 10 ft. across half of my parents' family room (carpet) and well into their kitchen (vinyl).
3. He has now said the following words (not necessarily in this order, but really, I'm not crazy - he says all of them): Dada, Mama, AJ, Fish, Star, Peek-a-boo, Cat/Kitty, Woof, Choo-choo, Hey/Hi, Bye, Juice. (Keep in mind that "advanced" 12-mo-olds usually say 1-2 words other than Mama and Dada.)
4. He understands the following signs: hungry, finished, thirsty/juice, more, sleepy
5. He "says" the following signs: finished, more, sleepy (well, that last one might be cheating since the sign for sleepy very much resembles rubbing your eyes)
6. He "drives" anything with wheels _on_ its wheels (and I do mean _anything_ - stuffed trains, books about cars that have wheels on them, not to mention actual vehicles). VNB claims that he knows to do this without having been taught because he's a boy. I think it's because he's been playing with his daddy's trains so much lately.
7. By the end of his first Christmas (which really hasn't ended yet as VNB's mom and dad are coming up with the Jones portion this weekend), he had mostly learned to unwrap gifts. He still liked playing with the paper more than anything else and screamed when we made him move on to the next thing, but he had at least learned to rip the paper off. I wonder if he'll feel cheated someday when he's older and he learns that he got a new car seat for his first Christmas/birthday (well, primarily...he got other stuff too, even from us...what can I say? We're suckers.).
8. He dances to music whenever possible.
9. He points to things that he wants...and also points out eyes, mouths, and noses on other people.
10. He hugs people (including the 10-mo-old daughter of some friends of ours...she wasn't so sure what to make of it all).
11. He "pets" the kitty rather than just pulling her hair (and by "pet" I mean pounds on her with an open hand).
12. He turns pages in board books.
13. He has five teeth, including his two (top) front teeth (but he still can't say "sister susie sitting on a thistle" or whatever it is that Nat sings about).
14. He still chews on anything and everything he can get into his mouth, but he's also starting to just play with things, so we're hoping we see the light at the end of _that_ tunnel.
15. He sleeps most nights from about 8 until about 3 or 4 (very occasionally 5), then can be put back to sleep most mornings for a couple of hours at a time with the final wake up usually occurring between 7 and 8. What that means is that I'm MUCH happier. :)
16. He can actually sit still without restraint in order to watch his daddy's trains.

And right now he's screaming as he tries to get my attention by pulling my arm away from the computer because he needs a clean diaper and a nap. Pictures of some of the above to come...you know...someday...