Elmo!!!!

I really don't understand how kids are born loving Elmo -Cort has liked him since the first time he saw him. I used to think that parents must force things like Elmo on their kids but we certainly didn't and it's certainly one of Cort's favorite things. Now that he officially loves Elmo and there seems to be no turning back - we broke down and he now has several Elmo things - most of which he got for Christmas.
This morning Cort very deliberately collected three of his Elmo things together to enjoy.

Learning

Cort seems to learn more and more every day. The other day he started putting his "screws" through the "wood" all by himself and then would twist them.



This morning he kept helping me stack blocks- which he usually just knocks down and then he would turn them over and start nesting them. He went back and forth for quite a while. He's so serious as he manipulats things like that. So cute.




*** Cort walked all the way down the hall pulling his wooden frog toy yesterday. Won't do it again this morning but we'll take what we can get. *****

For the Longest time..

I haven't listed to Billy Joel for the longest time but I did when I was younger. On Saturday we got offered free tickets to the Billy Joel Concert by our good friends Kelley and Tommy. It was very last minute and we scrambled to find a baby sitter - much thanks to our great friend, Dori, for so willingly watching Cort for us while we went to the concert. We had a great time - the words to the songs came flooding back to me - and best part - We were on the 2nd Row!!!!!! Not just the normal 2nd row -the 2nd row where you can almost touch the stage. Kelley even touched his hand - I'm not tall enough to even try. :) Great fun! Thanks to Tommy's uncle for being friends with the sound guy!!

Valentines

Our valentines day was good but not exactly as planned. Cort and I ran a few errands in the morning and ended up having lunch and spending the afternoon with our good friends Logan and Walker. Unexpected visit so no camera for pictures. Little Walker gave Cort a Valentines balloon. Yea for balloons. Cort got a balloon out of the unexpected visit and some fun play time with Walker - I got a spicy meat loaf and chocolate covered strawberries.........
Chris and I had plans to go to dinner because our dear friends Kelly and John called a few weeks ago and said they would like to keep Cort for us on Valentines. How sweet is that? Well, Kelly hasn't been feeling well and got diagnosed yesterday with Bronchitis. We took a rain check and had Valentines dinner at home....Logan's valentines dinner. I was at her house when we found out Kel was sick so she sent me home with half of the valentines dinner she was cooking for her husband. Do I have good friends or what? Chris picked up some asparagus and wine. I made twice baked potatoes, steamed asparagus and we had an instant valentines meal thrown together last minute. We had a good time just hanging out and look forward to going out on a random night with the rain check!!
Some Valentines pics:

Cort Enjoying his Chocolate covered strawberry:


Cort Opening his presents and cards that people sent:






Our night at home:

Growing Up

Cort thinks that just because he is growing up it requires that he get up on everything.
No need to pull his toys off the shelf, just join them up on the shelf.





Just another recent picture.. eating a banana like a big boy.

13 months old

13 months. So wierd to be past the year mark!! This month has brought lots of new changes for Cort. He becomes more and more independent each day. That independence brings such new and exciting discoveries for him as well as some much determined stubbornness!! He is such a sponge - just soaking up new things as they come. The joy he displays as he encounters new things is contagious.


Cort started taking steps!! Yea. He isn't walking around yet but takes steps from person to person or object to object. He still prefers crawling to get somewhere fast. He is not very easily bribed. He only walks when he so chooses.
He finally started being more independent with this sippy cup. He transitioned very well to milk and in fact seems to much prefer it. He is eating much better now and I think he has put on a decent amount of weight.
His love for his blanky is ever increasing. I think we def. have a blanket boy on our hands.
Cort's vocabulary is also ever increasing. He's quite the talkative little guy. Here is a list of current words(blue ones are the newest ones):

cat
hot
uh-oh
up
dada
truck
balloon(boon)
ball
shoe
sock
duck/quack
dog
moo
meow(owwww)
baa
cracker(craca)
car(cah)
bird(bir)
cheese(ch, ch)
eieiei( singing old macdonald- if we're counting songs)

Some words he'll say for weeks and then stop saying but I guess he'll come back around to them. Haven't heard dog, meow, or truck in a while.

Getting 13 mos. pictures proved to be difficul with this wiggle worm!!!

Happy Birthday Grammie

I love you!

Snow

Last Thursday we woke up to big snowflakes and a white yard. Chris stayed home and did work from here so we had a nice family day. Thankfully, we rushed Cort out quickly to see the snow because it quickly turned to freezing rain and we didn't get to play in it.

Teeth Brusher, Heart Breaker

This is our nightly ritual after taking a bath. It is very important to Cort that it be done while sitting in the sink. Cort loves brushing his teeth. It breaks his heart when you take the toothbrush away!!!

Cousins

Just In....

CORT TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS!!!! Last night, he took 4 steps and then today he has taken a series of 2-4 steps several times. Yea. We don' t have it on camera( still or video) but will when it becomes a little more easy to catch. Yea!!!!!!

Baby Love

Cort and Sophie sitting in a tree.... they'll hate us for all the pics we have of them when they are older( less discrete ones, not posted:))










(Sophie borrowing Cort's jammies - there will be none of that when they are older :))

Don't tell Sophie but I think sometimes Cort has eyes for an older woman....

A girl with drumsticks.... after Cort's own heart!!!