Our One-Year-Old Maison

Ok, little buddy. You are 1 year old. 1 YEAR OLD! My breath catches when I think about how fast you are growing up.

First your specs. 22 lbs, 5 ounces. 29.5 inches tall. Doc says you're average in height and weight. Your noggin is pretty big, and you use it as a weapon whenever you can. You have eight teeth now and your molars are on their way.

You're not walking yet, but you climb, climb, climb. On anything that leads to something higher. You can move fast on your hands and knees. I love hearing your hands slap, slap, slap, on the floor as you "run" to me.

Everyday you take more unassisted steps, but you're not walking yet. Unlike your sister, you're taking it little by little. You step away from what you're holding onto without thinking and take a few steps, then you realize what you've done and drop to the floor to crawl instead. The first time you took steps on your own was on your birthday in front of everyone. It was only 3, then 3, then 2, but it was exciting. I think our gasps and applause scared you a little bit. And you didn't do it again for a couple of weeks.

I have me a momma's boy on my hands. You have only recently started to go willingly into certain other people's arms, sometimes. Gma, GG, Daddy and Jen are the only people I can think of right now. If I walk past you, you throw a fit. If I set you down without distracting you, you throw a fit. You throw lots of fits.
And you have started hitting. Which is really nice. I'm sure you're learning it from your sister, as she is still not very nice to you. Although, we did have a nice little playtime on the swingset the other day, where she pushed you nicely on the swing, and held onto you on the slide.

Bedtime with you is easy. Bath, pj's, bottle, bed. I rock and cuddle you for a few minutes while you play with my hair. And you usually go right to sleep once in your crib. But you still wake up once or twice most nights, and it makes me very tired. Doc says it's probably your teeth getting you up, which is what I figured. Your sister never slept when she was cutting teeth either. I seem to get about a week in between teeth. Tonight's already been rough and it's only ten o'clock.

Sleeping with you is dangerous, which is why it never happens. You headbutt, pull my hair, scratch and pull at my face, bug daddy, and squirm, squirm, squirm. The only time it's even possible is if you have one side of the bed all to yourself.

Meal times can be tough, unless I'm feeding you bananas or avocados. You're pretty picky and sometimes won't even try something new. I don't know how you know that you won't like it. It seems to be a texture thing. If I put whatever it is in your mouth, you'll open your mouth, stick your tongue out and let the food just roll back out. And if you are eating, when you're done, you immediately wack the spoon out of my hand, or start flinging your food off you tray.

You are still the smiliest baby I've ever seen. And you have the best smile and laugh. All it takes is a little tickle to get you laughing (you are so, so, so ticklish). One time daddy was throwing cheese on your tray and you laughed so hard food was falling out of your mouth and you could barely catch your breath. And you're quite the little cuddler. Mostly when you're tired or waking up, but you give hugs on command anytime.


By the way, that's dirt on your face. You decided it didn't taste all that great, but I'm sure you'll try it again.

Hang in there little buddy, soon you'll be walking and talking and some of your major frustrations will go away. New ones will probably replace them, but we'll just cross our fingers and hope for the best. I love and hate to see you growing up, my sweet, cuddly, dramatic, super cute little man.