Insert Hallelujah chorus here:

I have really been working hard with Bear on putting away toys before he pulls more out, and helping mommy at the end of play time to clean up. He did FABULOUS all day long. I was getting so tired of always being one mess behind him, as I was cleaning up one, he was in the next room making a new one. I have better things to do with my day for crying out loud. So we have been learning that when you take something off the shelf, you put it back. You don't just drop it and run off for the next item. Tonight right before bed, we did our reading time and I was sitting on the couch and asked him to get me a book. He said "boot" and went and got one. When we were done, I said, "go put it away." Now normally I would have to walk with him while we held the book together, but tonight he grabbed the book, ran to he basket, dropped it in, grabbed another one, said "mow," and ran back. He did it 4 more times too! And of course would clap for himself when he put one away. He is so cute. And when I told him that it was the last one and it was time for bed, he looked at the books and said "bye-bye."
Tonight we were talking to my momma(who by the way has eaten at In-n-Out twice now) and was about to hang up when he said, "bye-bye na-na!" It was so sweet. He hasn't really put words together like that before. He is not just copying us anymore, he is recognizing things and saying them on his own. We were looking at the fridge that is covered in pictures of him and he said "bay-bay!" (baby) And he loves Belle. He will sit and look at that cat and smile even though he can't get close to her and say "Belle." It comes out more of a "w" instead of a "ll" but hey, he is only 13 months. We went to Wal-mart today and saw some rubber duckies and I gave him one to play with. So for the rest of the time, every person we saw he held up his duckie and told them "dut." He can't say his k's yet, so everything that ends with a k comes out sounding like a t. Doot(Duke), dut(duck), and tat(cat). Also in his vocabulary are water(wada), sit, stay(tay), down, no-no, and cheeeeeeessssse. That is how he says it. With a big smile on his face. The kid loves cheese!
He now tells me thank you when he hands me something he shouldn't have. Today he found some dog food and I asked him to hand it to me, and as he was handing it over he said "dank-doo" I guess because I normally thank you when he hands me something. He just cracks me up.