leaps and bounds

We're coming up on the little man's first birthday. I can't help but take a trip down memory lane to his many accomplishments over the year....

Around the end of October, Cory started sleeping through the night. At only almost three months old he would sleep for 9-11 hours at a time. Truly my child. Around the same time he found his hands and smiled for the first time. Chris could get him to smile so easily. When Cory smiled his eyes would crinkle up just like mine. I still remember that big toothless grin. He also started laughing. The best sound in the world.

While my dad was visiting us Cory rolled over on October 22nd, 2009. By the end of November he had found his feet and was rolling like a champ.

January 14th, 2010. While my mom was visiting us, Cory had his first solid foods. He was more than ready for it. He couldn't get enough of that simple cereal. He was such a good eater, right from the start.

February 2010. One of Cory's favorite toys is a Leap Frog learning drum that lights up and plays music. He started sitting up on his own. He was still a little off balanced sometimes, but he was getting it.

April 12th, 2010. After he ate dinner, we were playing in the living room and he clapped. Out of no where! He thought it was the best thing ever and did it all the time since then. I always knew that one day I would walk in to wake Cory up in the morning and he would be sitting up. That happened on April 19th, 2010.

One of my favorite moments was on April 20th, 2010. Chris and I were playing a video game and Cory was playing in his play pen. I did the cartoon double take because when I looked over, he was standing, holding onto the side, smiling at us.

May 7th, 2010. None of Cory's toys were ever far from his reach, so he never had motivation to crawl. When my friend, Beth Horjus, sent Cory a snail toy that rolled and played music, we used it to tempt Cory to move. And he did. He crawled after it.

May 26th, 2010. We all spent a long time at the Toyota dealership trying to get Chris a new car since his was a death trap. I always have a play blanket when we go places so we had that out and Cory was playing. While we were waiting, Cory just stood up without holding onto anything. Chris and I were shocked, to say the least. Cory got very good at that over the next month.

June 22nd, 2010. The best birthday present ever! Cory had been taking one or two steps for a little over a week, but on this day, he stood up and walked across the living room. He was off! Now he walked everywhere. He had mastered cruising and was now unstoppable!

July 2nd, 2010. Yesterday, Cory waved bye. We had been working on it for a few days. I would wave hi and bye to him while he ate and he would sometimes wave back. He is getting good at mimicking. He plays peek-a-boo by covering his eyes with his hands. He pretends to sneeze cause he thinks it's funny and knows that he'll get a fun reaction out of us.

I'm just amazed at how quickly he has gone from my tiny baby to a toddler with his own personality. While he grows up too fast, I'll keep track of his many adventures. I'm sure some of them will come back to haunt him when he graduates high school. :D