I'm Blake

I am 14 months old now and my mom thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on what I'm up to these days.  I am a great little brother!  I love playing in Tate's room and trying out all his puzzles and reading his books.  I get really curious about his CD player and love dancing (rocking back and forth) to his music.  I try to be respectful of Tate's space and toys and trade toys when he wants something back.  I can't talk really well yet so I kinda yell when I'm talking to him if I get frustrated because he takes something from me or knocks me over.  That happens a lot and my mom kinda thinks it is funny to listen to Tate yell and then me try and copy that noise.  Tate doesn't think my copycat game is very funny though.

Speaking of talking, most people probably can't understand what I say.  I really do have a lot to say though!  I like to talk and talk and if you listen closely you will hear the words ma-ma, no, uh-oh, apple, up, ba-ba, da-da, tickle-tickle, and a whole lot of other things that sound like jabbering.

I am a great crawler.  Lately, I've taken it up a notch and can move in fifth gear and speed out of your sight super fast.  Like the time when my mom was switching the laundry in the pantry for only a couple minutes and when she came out looking for me she found me up the stairs, through the baby gate and playing in the loft.  She obviously didn't know that I could climb stairs that easy either!  My mom's gotta stop underestimating me.

I do crawl mainly to get around.  I am also really good at pulling myself up and walking around from one piece of furniture to another.  I can stand up by myself and sometimes take a couple steps to my mom or dad before just timbering over like a tree.  I'm just taking my time getting really steady before I take off walking.

My favorite things to do are jump in my bed.  It seriously makes me so happy!  I had been getting really good air and almost like jumping and piking my legs.  It is kind of our routine to eat breakfast and then mom puts me in bed to jump while she gets me dressed.  Well, one day we had done just that and not even a minute after she put me in my crib I got such a great jump.  I propelled myself out of the crib, and landed flat on my back as my mom turned around in shock.  Don't worry though.  I'm a tough little guy, and I only cried a little and then got back in and started jumping again.  Before putting me back in, my mom lowered the crib to what she thought was already on the lowest level.  I'm pretty laid-back and don't give my mom a hard time about those things (she's still learning:)).

I still like my binky and chewing on my little blue blanket.  I'm  kind of like a doggy with a chew toy.  I love to be outside breathing in the fresh air.  Especially since the weather has been so rainy.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  One day last week it was actually nice outside.  Tate and mom were doing some sidewalk chalk and mom put me in my stroller to watch.  We were finishing up and mom was getting some baby wipes out of the van while I was still in the driveway in the stroller.  So, just a minute later my mom looks up to her horror she sees the stroller jumping the curb and headed down the hill right for a fire hydrant.  She said she's never run so fast in her life.  I guess envisioning your one-year old crashing and flying out of stroller is good motivation to move fast!  She caught me right in the nick of time. I just had a big smile on my face when I saw her.  When she got back up the hill to our house Tate said "that was scary!"  Mom agreed.  My mom was saying how usually you only get three strikes and then you're out.  She's still waiting to get pulled outta the game.