Thirteen Months Old

He just turned one last month and he's already headed toward his two's.  Slow down little boy!  You're growing up too fast.  From the look of that precious face . . . .

you'd never know that he can already pitch a little fit like a two year old.  He's taught himself how to arch his back, fling his head, and throw a big one.  If you take something away from him that he's not supposed to have or if you put him in his car seat you just might see one of these fits.  But he's much too sweet to throw one for long.  Look at this precious little boy!

 Here he is at his brother's baseball game.  He's already been to several.  Sometimes he'll sit in our laps...

and at other times he'll go down to the fence. Sometimes he see daddy, who happens to be the coach.  He'll  say, "Dada."  That happens to be he favorite word.  He says it all day long.

Jason's cousin, Allison, made us matching shirts.  Colston and Rocco are on the same team together.  Allison and I have "Baseball Mom" shirts and Carlton and Maverick have "Colston's Brother" and "Rocco's Brother" shirts.  

Maverick experienced his first boat ride the first of April.  The four of us went out on Jason's Bumblebee.  He took it all in, and daddy even let him behind the wheel for a while.  It was a nice day but the wind made it a little chilly.  

One thing he likes to do is look in the mirror.  He will smile and pat the baby that he sees looking back at him.  He also loves to explore and open cabinets/drawers.  They say cleaning the house when you have kids is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreo's; I believe it!  I will finish putting the magnets back on the fridge that he tore down when I turn around and see that he's drug out pots and pans out of the pantry.  When I get those picked up I have to put the trash back in the can because he found it. Then, I have to go refold the clothes that he's unfolded on the couch.   It goes on and on. . . I love that sweet little mess! He's cut my computer off several times...and some of those times I've lost some data that I was working on.  He, of course, is oblivious to what he's doing.  He just thinks it's cool to watch the blue light go off and on. 

We used to barricade the living room so that he couldn't get out.  Now that he can crawl, stand, walk, climb, and anything else he so chooses, there's no containing him!  He just gets up on the couch and climbs over it so that he can get into the kitchen.  He's also learned how to turn over on his belly and slide off the tall bed.  Little man is so muscular and has such a tight grip.  There's not much slowing him down. He's even learned how to wiggle his way out of his high chair and stand up. Thankfully we've caught him before he toppled to the hard kitchen floor.   He still stays with nana and granddaddy on Tues and Thursday; he keeps them running!

My mom calls him "Little Moses" because he loves to carry anything that resembles a staff.  Canes, brooms, golf clubs, sticks, you name it.  He will hold it like a staff and walk with it in tow. 

On April 1st, we brushed his teeth for the first time. When I gave him the toothbrush he tried to brush his hair with it.  

With his daddy and granddaddy being cattleman, it is no wonder that his first animal sound was the mooing of a cow.  He even moos at Duke, our dog.  Granddaddy bought Maverick a little toy cow now that he can moo so well.  

If you leave some clothes on the floor, he will wrap it behind his neck like a scarf and walk around the room like that.  If he finds a brush, he will comb his hair.  The other day he found a Qtip and started to put it in his ear.  And he already knows what a remote it.  When he woke up the other morning, he went to the living room, picked up the remote, climbed up on the couch, and he pointed the remote to the TV like he was about to watch it.

Of course I have to brag on how smart he is.  He can point to mommy's nose, his belly, diaper, head, mouth, and eyes.  He's also learned to point.  And he's using the sign language we've taught him for eat, milk, and bye.  When wants to nurse he usually just pulls at my shirt and starts sticking his tongue back and forth.  He's growing healthy!  He measures over 24 pounds at his one year check up and was really tall for his age. He's already in a size 6 shoe; list lastest pair were some sandals made by TEVA.

Maverick is all boy.  He loves to run tractors across the floor.  And he loves to play rough.  He's learned how to tackle his brother down to the floor.  We're having to work on the hitting part.  If he smacks at you and you respond with an "Ow!" he just cackles.  The rougher you play the more he likes it.  He also likes to be tickled, and mommy and daddy know just where his tickle spots are!

Seven Years Old

Rocco now stands three feet and seven and a half inches tall.  He's moved up to a size 11 in shoes, 5 in shirts and 5/6 in pants (as long as they have adjustable waist).

 Rocco is certainly one strong boy.  He began planking with me when I was working out one night to Gilad.  His abs are like steel, and right after he turned seven we were at the park with the Cox boys when he -for the first time- traveled across the monkey bars all by himself.  He was so proud, and I was too!

He is such a sweet boy, and he's still oh so smart!  The other day his teacher was out and he had Ms. Nancy Rogers for a sub.  She had the children line up in front of the room for a spelling bee.  It got down to just Rocco and Hannah.  He won by spelling the words fly, fast, and floor. 

He recently started telling jokes where word play is the punch line.  He gets most of his jokes off of the milk cartons at school.  Here are a few of them:

"Why are basketball players messy eaters?     Because they're always dribbling!"

"What did one plate say to another?     Food's on me tonight!"

"Why do fish not play basketball?       Because they are afraid of the net!"

"What is a boxer's favorite drink?     Punch!"

"How do you keep a bull from charging?     You take away his credit card!"

"Why are you under there?"  After I say, "Under wear?"  he just starts laughing because I said underwear.

Blue glue is still on his back teeth, but his front teeth have naturally aligned over his bottom ones.  Now that he's found his new bite, the under bite has been reversed.  That's one small step towards brackets this summer!

Since Rocco has decided to be a follower of Jesus, he's made some astounding statements.  The other evening he was sitting in the living room floor playing with his little football figures when out of the blue he stood up and said, "I"m going to go read my Bible."  Wow! Where did that come from?  I learned that the previous Wednesday nights Team Kid lesson was about having a quiet time. I followed him to his bedroom so that I could direct him to a book that might be easy for him to read. First John was my pick.  He wanted me to shut his door.  "God wants me to read His Word in private," he informed me.  Later he also told me that he did not need any distractions because he was trying to "read his Father's Word."  

And then another day he told me that he had asked God to forgive him for some sins he had done.  That is what it's all about!  I love the fact that Rocco is so sensitive to God's Word.   I continue to pray that both he and Maverick will grow up to be great men of God.    

Rocco has certain sayings that I hear him say every day, or at least once a week.  When something cool happens, he'll say, "What a play!"  When something ridiculous happens he will sarcastically reply, "Really?"  And he also calls Maverick his buddy boy.

The school counselor has taught the students at our school that spending time together is important. She's explained it in terms of buckets. The other day we were riding together on the golf cart and Rocco said, "Hey mommy, you're filling my bucket and I'm filling yours."

I'll close with a few sweet pictures of the boys that God has blessed us with. 

One Year Old

Maverick one year old this month!  He's a big boy, weighing in at about 26 pounds.  On the 26th, he got his first hair cut.  Gloria, a long time friend of ours, did the honors.  She also gave Rocco his first hair cut years ago.  Little man fussed at first, and then he let her do the task.  I guess it helped that he was sitting in his daddy's lap.  I took pictures while Carolyn and Rocco watched from the side.

Maverick really took off walking within the last month.  He went from using a cane, to an upside down mini golf club, to no assistance at all.  Within two weeks, he was walking!  By his first birthday he was a little pro at walking!

We celebrated his first birthday Sesame Street style!  The party was for family and held at our house on Saturday, March 23rd.  I decorated the garage and kitchen/living room. Angela, the nursery worker at our church, made the 3 hanging tissue characters.   Jennifer Taylor's mother-in-law did the cake.

 His present from us was a red Polaris Ranger that plays music and makes noise.  It's just the right size for him to push and ride on.

And here's our family at the party right before we sang Happy Birthday and Rocco blew out the candle for his brother.

 Little man dug into the cake just a little.  Then, he got upset that he was dirty.

Six Years Eleven Months

Rocco is almost seven years old. He weighs about 36 pounds and is 3 ft. 7 1/2 inches tall.  He's one tough dude.  Just look at him dressed up like a sheriff.  He loves to pretend, especially with his toy guns. 

He has a gun holster that he likes to carry around his waist.  Don't mess with this cowboy!

One of his best friends from school, Hunter, had a birthday party this month.  They enjoyed playing cowboys, even though it was supposed to be a baseball themed party.  They get together so well because they are both Georgia Dawg fans.  They've also been on the same tee ball team for the last couple of years.  

Rocco began writing about wild cats in January.  It took him about two months to complete his book.  I helped him illustrate it by copying pictures from the internet and gluing them into his pages.  I also bound it at school, so it could be published (just for our enjoyment).  He wrote the book with very little help from me.  I let him sound out many of the words that he didn't know how to spell.  I would pull up videos on National Geographic and read books to him about pumas, cougars, lions, cheetahs, jaguars, and any other wildcat you can think of.  The ending result was a well published book by my favorite six year old.  Below is a sample page.

Rocco is so into wildcats that when he comes to my room after school, he takes out my staple removers and pretends they are cheetahs with sharp teeth.

Rocco continues to love football.  If a game is ever on TV, he's either watching it or running through the house with his helmet on and pretending he's actually playing.  He jumps over Maverick's toys and runs into the couch pretending like the obstacles are other players.  Sometimes he'll ask me to announce the Bulldogs so that he can run down the hall and make his grand appearance.  He's convinced that when he grows up he is going to be a receiver for the team.

Jason is such a good dad - in the morning when he fixes Rocco's toaster streudel he will put the icing on the pastry to look like a football field.  One morning I just glumped it in one big pile.  With disgust, Rocco asked me, "What's that supposed to be, mom?"  Guess I don't do breakfast as well as daddy does.

Rocco had his first experience at the orthodontist this month.  Although he will probably need braces later, it was determined that for now he will just have some "blue glue" on his teeth.  This will keep his adult teeth from grinding and wearing down since his bite isn't just right yet.  Maybe in the summer he will get a few brackets on.  He needs to quit grinding, though, because I've already taken him three times to get glue. He keeps wearing it down.

And as always Rocco continues to be an excellent big brother.  He's actually come to Maverick's rescue several times.  Like the other day when I saw the baby put something into his mouth.  "Rocco, check his mouth. Quick!" I told him.  Sure enough, Rocco pulled out a quarter out of Maverick's mouth.  He didn't waste any time. Praise the Lord he didn't choke!  Another time he also pulled a tiny football out of Maverick's mouth.  One time the door was open going down to the basement, and Rocco closed it so that the baby wouldn't fall down the long staircase into the basement.  I now know why I had Rocco first.  What would I do without his help in watching Maverick?

11 Months Old

 Almost one year old...and where has the time gone?  I've been so blessed to just be part time at work this year.  It's allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom and be able to nurse Maverick his first full year.  We have the best time together during the day.  He's such a fast learner.  He can sign "eat" but when you ask him if he wants milk he'll start to lick his lips. 

Our little boy still loves music.  He knows where the CD player/radio is. He'll go over to it, even if it is not on, and will begin bouncing.  I often play an old Kindermusick CD that belonged to Rocco.  Maverick will just bounce and dance to every tune.  He knows what it means to pat, clap, dance, bounce, and shake.  He has several musical instruments of his own that he uses.  Maracas, shakers, jingle bells, several drums, and even a xylophone are all in the living room floor.  He even knows how to use the mallets and drum sticks. ( At church he'll often bounce to the hymns. )

A third tooth finally came through this month.  It was the large top tooth on his left.  The bottom two teeth continue to shine through!

When we open the garage door, the cat often tries to come into the garage.  Jason makes a hissing sound to scare him off.  Now Maverick has picked up on this and he hisses at any animal or anything that even resembles an animal.  The other day he began hissing at my snowmen which are on top of our kitchen cabinets. 

He is a busy little boy.  And no matter how many toys we have in the floor, he will manage to find the newest ones and explore them.  He's very familiar with some of his old favorites, like the air machine that pops balls into the air. 

He likes to drop little things into that hole though, and I'm scared he's eventually going to get his little arm stuck in it.  He likes to put balls, blocks, or just any small object into other boxes or holes.  You can rest assured we have all of our electrical outlets protected.  He is mesmerized at tiny places that his little fingers can fit into.

"No, no, no!" is something that Maverick hears several times a day.  Whether he is trying to get to our video game wires or standing on top of his play table, this little boy always seems to find a way to get into something that he shouldn't be getting into!  He's my sweet mess!

This month he finally began to blow kisses.  It's the sweetest thing to see him put his hand up to his mouth (and sometimes even his ear) and watch him pat his mouth as he sends you kisses.  He also likes to wave bye-bye now.

Maverick has a head full of curly, dark blonde hair.  I just love all of his waves.  He actually needs a hair cut, but I'm trying to hold off until he is at least one.  During his naps he sweats a lot. When he wakes up his curls are in ringlets. 

He started to take a few steps this month.  In fact, he took 3 before falling in front of his granddaddy and me.  The other day he took nine steps to his Grandnana Helen.  He's watched his granddaddy use a cane, and now he uses one, too.

 He's actually turned Rocco's kid golf club upside down and used it as his walking stick.  Pretty ingenious if you ask me!

Maverick LOVES his brother.  He just squeals with delight at times when he sees him.  He especially likes to love all over him in the morning and wake him up.  ROCCO is one word that he definitely understands!

Six Years Ten Months Old

 This Spiderman is one outstanding super hero!  At any given moment you might see him run through the house or fight off some nasty pirates with his sword to protect his baby brother.  He's been the lead guard lately who defends his mom.  Sometimes he puts on his Batman pajamas and Batman underwear; this way he can be a super hero through and through.  Rocco is all about adventure and imagination.  When bad guys are all around, Rocco is there to protect!

 He's convinced that he is going to be the next quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs.  Then, again he may just be a receiver. H'e so good he can play offense or defense.  Any position.  You name it.

In the way of television, Rocco has really started to like the Disney sitcoms.  He watches Jessie, Dog With a Blog, Austin and Ally, and Good Luck Charlie.

Rocco is not just an excellent speller, but he is a tremendous writer.  He's working on a book at home titled "Wild Cats."  He would watch National Geographic videos online, listen to me read a book about wild cats, and then add to his book.   He even wrote on his pages on his day off from school.  When he's at school, he gets to attend a special extra class where he is learning about poetry and publishing books.

On January 6th, Rocco was baptized.  This was a special event for so many reasons.

First of all, Rocco accepted Jesus as his Savior back in December.  Once he acted on his faith and prayed to Jesus for forgiveness of his sins, he wanted to get baptized to show others that he belonged to Christ.  Rocco was one of 10 who was baptized on this day.  Since Jason is the pastor where we attend church, Rocco was baptized by his daddy!

The ten individuals were the first to be submersed in the baptism pool in our brand new sanctuary.  On this special day, we dedicated our building to the Lord, baptized 10 people, and dedicated 13 children (Maverick was one of them). Here's our family portrait that was taken that day.

Rocco is a deep thinker.  One day he asked me if he would be a kid in heaven and if time passed in heaven. Would he get older?

The other day he cracked me up with something he said.  Out of the blue in the car he said, "Mom, I'm glad I wasn't born in 1978 because I don't want to be in those wars back then."  In his mind 1978 is forever ago, and I guess when he thinks of ancient wars 1978 is as good of a date as 1800.  I laughed and told him that I was two years old in 1978. It wasn't that long ago!

10 Months Old

At ten months old, Maverick is above the 97th percentile for his height. He measured over 31 inches long, and his head circumference is 49 cm.  He is a big boy, but he is lean for his height.  His weight is slightly less than 23 pounds.  He continues to nurse and eat stage 2 Gerber fruits and vegetables.  His favorite seems to be the rice cereal that we mix with breast milk.  He tried chicken noodle soup broth and really liked it.  Gerber Puffs are a new treat that he's experienced recently.  They're small enough for his little fingers and soft enough for his new teeth and gums to chew.  This month we also introduced Gerber baby cookies.  He turns them into pure mush between his fingers and it just drools out of his mouth.  Rocco has informed me that he can't watch his brother when he does this because it is just too gross.  I think it's rather sweet.

And just look at those 2 teeth.  They're shining through really well, and we predict new ones will be coming in soon.

He cruises really well now when he is holding onto the couch.  And he's standing for longer lengths of thime without holding on.  He will slowly squat back down without just falling over all the time when we let go of his hands.

Maverick loves to be read to, especially when I sing the book to him.  At the sound of any music or rhythm he will start bouncing.  The other day David began playing the guitar at our church.  Maverick was bouncing to the beat.  That baby's got rhythm.  I keep saying that he's going to be my drummer.  He's really good at patting, and he loves his toy drum.

What a sweet mess our boy can get into!  His new thing is seeing how many Kleenex tissues he can pull out of the box before we come running with, "No, Maverick."

Throughout the day he just jabbers away.  He will go down the roll call.  Mama, dada, nana, baba...He can say, "Bye."  He knows ball and can say it, too.  He doesn't wave as much as he used to .  We are currently working on blowing kisses.  He's not there yet.

He knows how to use a brush now.  It's cute watching him try to fix his hair.

One thing Maverick loves is the large canvas portrait of himself that hangs above his changing.  "Where's the baby?" I'll ask him.  He is a squirmy worm when we change him.  He will roll over, get up, and try to grab his picture.  I'll point out his mouth, eyes, and nose on the canvas.  Then, I'll go for Maverick's belly and tickle him.  He loves it.  Peek-a-Boo is still another one of his favorites, too.  He will also play pat-a-cake with his hands open now instead of closed.  Of course we are holding his hands to help h im.

I'm still so blessed to be working just part time at the school.  I only teach Tues and Thurs from 8 - 3:30 and Fri 8 - 11:30.  This allows me to be at home with Maverick. Nana and Granddaddy watch him on Tuesday and Thursday.  They have to put up barricades in the living room just to contain him.  Jason watches him Friday morning.

And he's ten months now but this was his first time he ever slept in his crib. Nana laid him down for a two hour nap while I was gone one day.  When she told me he was in his bed I couldn't believe it.  I told her to take a picture, and she did.  Just look at that sweet little miracle.