New Year, New Griffin

Now that it's a new year and Griffin is a Big Timer One Year Old (!!!) he has changed a few things about his lifestyle and personality. He's a man who looks forward and doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on hardships of the past. In fact, Griffin remembers very little about the NICU and isn't even sure what he ate for dinner last night!

Changes in G'land:

#1. Crawling is SOOOOO last year! Griffin refuses to crawl now and thinks crawling is for babies who aren't one yet.

#2. Instead of immediately cramming random detritus into his mouth, he'll look at you and wait for your response. If you shake your head "NO," he'll lick it and throw it on the ground in disgust and scowl at it, as if to say, "Damn you, piece of wood, how did you get in my mouth?!" He treats the toilet and the hot water heater with similar disdain.

#3. He loves his blanket his Aunt Kimmie sent him. She researched blankies on the internet (Aunt Kimmie ain't playin') and found this place out of Canada that makes the Cadillac of blankets. One side is flannel, the other is satin and at varying corners of the blanket, your baby will find soft ears to rub, knots to chew on, and (are you sitting down?) a tag. Ahhh.... tags.

In the morning Griffin stands up in his bed and holds his blanket and waits for us to come get him. It's better than his old "lovey," my car keys.

#4. Whenever he pushes a ride-on car or toddler taxi, Griffin controls the vehicle very well, even backing up and rerouting once he hits an obstacle. He's gotten much better with his coordination and looking over his shoulder. He's also started "running," or flailing about while trotting and squealing.

#5. He is finally smarter than the cat. Griffin follows simple commands. Put the block on your head. Put the block on Jezebel's head. Put the block in your box. He thinks putting things on his head or the cat's is extremely amusing. Especially if it's sticky. Earlier this week, he picked up one of Jake's shoes and I told him to "bring the shoe to Daddy," which he immediately did and then returned, unprompted, to fetch the second shoe for Jake. Now that I mention it, Jezebel has been around since '95 and she ain't fetched shit.