My Angelo Is A Toddler!

Angelo's 1st birthday party. He had a sugar free cupcake!

It’s official…Angelo is 1 and now considered a toddler. I can’t effing believe it! My little guy is just tremendous in every way. Though I’m very happy about my son’s achievements, I can’t help but feel very sad today. My best friend Dawn had a son a year ago today. He passed away a month later. I’m so proud of how she has been able to carry on through her grief.

Earlier in the month I traveled to Michigan to visit everyone and went to Bradly’s grave. I told Dawn how proud I was of her and I couldn’t understand how she has been able to be around Angelo this whole time. We were pregnant together. We planned to raise our kids as the best of friends. I can’t believe it’s been a year already. Bradly, we love you. Happy Birthday, dear angel.

Now on to the Bubs…

Angelo is walking really well, yay! The only time he stumbles is when he tries to run and/or is outside and doesn’t see a step. We’re always right there, hovering just in case. He’s throwing his toy balls everywhere and still making a huge mess in the living room when he’s pulling stuff out of our drawers, LOL. Angelo is not interested in holding our hands, he just wants to walk everywhere…especially outside. He just loves that!

We took him off formula and he’s drinking whole milk now. He’s done with baby food as well. This kid will eat ANYTHING, I swear to God. He has four teeth, but I can tell there are a few more coming in and I think they’ll be in all at the same time. He’s obsessed with pasta. He’ll take it in every form and with every flavor. That’s the Italian in him I suppose.

Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten him away from his bottle completely yet. He only takes the sippy cup in small doses. He throws a fit if his liquids aren’t in his ba ba. It’s awful! I only give him stuff in his bottle twice a day and we’re hoping he’ll be done soon.

Angelo says “Mama” all the time. He used to say “Dada”, but now he could care less, LOL. Dave says I sabotaged him this whole year. Bubbas also says “OH, Hi, Up” and babbles like crazy. He knows who everyone is. When I say, “Angelo, where’s Dada?” he looks at Dave’s chair and if he isn’t there, starts looking around the room. When I say, “Angelo, come see Mama”, he drops everything, holds his arms out and starts running over to me to give me a hug.

He still has some separation anxiety with me, but only me. If I leave him alone with Dave and the girls, he’s fine until he notices I’m there, but behind the baby gate. He’s been throwing fits lately too when he’s tired, wants his bottle or gets something taken away from him. He literally throws himself around the living room and that scares the living shit out of me. I worry that he’ll throw himself onto something sharp and really hurt himself.

The Bubs has a strange nap schedule. Most of the time he takes his nap from 10am-12:30pm and an afternoon nap that lasts about an hour and a half. Lately he’s been having trouble going down for both naps and he’s been skipping one a day. My schedule is changing due to the girls going back to school and I’ve been thinking about taking Angelo to daycare for a couple of hours, 3 times a week. It’s my step-daughter’s friend’s mom and she watches babies in her home, which makes me feel better. I want Angelo to get social with kids his own age and this would be perfect, I’m just waiting to find out if she can fit us in.

We took Angelo to the doctor not too long ago. He’s 23 pounds and 31 inches long. He’s only gained 1 pound and 1 inch since his 9 month appointment. I swear he’s much bigger than that, LOL!

Anyway, he’s doing just fine and we’re so very proud of him. There’s a lot of other little things to add, but I just don’t have enough time.