Moooooooooooooo

We made the switch to whole milk! I gave him some yesterday morning with breakfast as a test. He drank it (or at least as much as he will ever drink from a sippy) and didn't even blink. He had a little more with lunch and dinner. Caleb still prefers water and I'm ok with that. We've tried diluted juice a few times and he just spits it out and glares at me. Before bedtime last night we gave him what will probably be his last bottle ever (sniff!). We've got a tiny bit of formula left and from here on out it's milk and sippys all the way. He did ok this morning - drank about 2oz of milk before tottering off to find more interesting things. I'm a little concerned about his overall fluid intake though. His morning and night bottles were about 80% of his daily fluid intake and by replacing those with the sippy we'll need to watch and make sure he's getting enough to drink during the day. He still thinks sippy are more for throwing than for drinking. Hopefully once he realizes that he has no other option that will change.

On a very exciting note, he's now signing "done" and "more". That will help with the drinking b/c it's easier to know when he wants it. He's made the "milk" sign a couple of times but it's not nearly as consistent as the others. He'll sign "more" when he wants more food at meals and yesterday made the "more" sign when he and Juan were playing peek-a-boo. Juan stopped and Caleb wanted to keep on playing! For the things he can't sign his method of communication is clapping. When I do something he likes he'll clap for me. When he doesn't like it he screams. Very effective. I feel a bit like a trained monkey working for claps but it's worth knowing that I can communicate with the child. At least to some degree.

Birthday party preparations are in full swing. Abuelita and Abuelito arrive on Thursday followed by Tia Adriana and Tia Lil on Friday. Nana and Poppy will come in on either Friday night or Saturday morning. Our little guy is growing up so fast and I'm excited to celebrate this huge milestone with our family and friends. There's one last major 1 yr accomplishment to look forward to and it's the one I'm most excited about (although not paying for formula is a close second). We can turn the car seat around! Finally! Caleb hit the 20 lb mark way back at 6m but we have to keep him rear-facing until his birthday. I can't wait to be able to SEE him and get him in and out easier - and with significantly fewer bumps to my head and his on the door frame.

We have an exciting week in store with the tubes, family and party. Stay tuned!