12 Months Old!!!

9/22/12

William, I cannot believe that you are a whole year old!! What a blessing it has been to watch you grow this past year. This month's pictures were the hardest ever!! :) You did NOT want to sit still. We would sit you in the chair, and you would slide right out! We tried putting you in the big chair in your room, since it rocks and you love to rock, but you were just too busy trying to get to your toys!!

We went to the doctor for your 12 month checkup on Monday the 24th. You are 30 inches tall (55%) and weigh 19 lbs. 14.5 oz (11%). You are still our slender little guy. The doctor wasn't concerned about your weigh at all, she said you are gaining proportionately between appointments. You have never been a big eater; we used to have to beg you to finish a bottle even as a newborn. You met all of the milestones, and she was impressed that you turn pages in a book and take things out of things and put them back in. She said those are usually 15-18 month old abilities. You were cleared to eat peanut butter and shellfish. I have been so nervous about you trying these because of allergies. You had 4 shots, since we decided to have your flu shot at the same time as the others. You were a champ once again, and once they were over no one would have known you had any shots! It is not lost on us how healthy you have been this past year. We have only had one sick visit in an entire year, and that was for a rash. What a blessing!!

Your schedule has changed a little bit this month, since you are officially off of bottles! You had your last bottle on Friday, September 7th. I called the nurse that morning and asked her when you could switch to whole milk, since we were almost out of formula. She said we could go ahead since you weren't acting very interested anymore in the bottle. We tried some milk at lunch, and you LOVED it. You were used to the cold temperature because we always get your water for bottles out of the refrigerator door. But I am so happy that you loved the taste! You had milk that one time, and never looked back for a bottle! We didn't even finish out our formula, haha!! Thank goodness for an easy transition!

You wake up around 7-8. You come downstairs and have yogurt and pancakes or strawberry, blueberry waffles, toast, etc. You LOVE breakfast. It is your favorite meal. Your doctor said typically the favorite food groups at your age are carbs, fruit, and dairy. That is definitely true. You aren't crazy about fruit or veggies in their whole form yet. I guess it is a texture thing, because you will eat it in baby food form. You haven't had baby food in a while though, so we try and get creative! You play downstairs for a little while before going down for your nap. You usually sleep about two hours. Lunch is getting easier. You usually have some turkey or ham and a fruit and some cheese, or a quesadilla, or a grilled cheese, mac and cheese, etc. Sometimes you will stay have a baby food at lunch just to get some veggies or fruit in. You go back down for a nap around 2-2:30. This past week, you haven't been as interested in your afternoon nap. Uh oh! Hope it's not going away!! Depending on when you went to sleep, you sleep about 2 hours. Lately we have had to wake you up from your nap around 4:30 so that you don't sleep so late and not want to go to sleep at night so late! You wake up around 4:30 and have some milk and a snack. We have dinner usually by 6:30. You typically just eat when we eat. We found out this week that the Japanese food at Fujisan is a hit, especially the noodles! You have a bath (which you love to crawl and pull up in) around 7:30 or 8, and then we read to you and you are in your crib by 8:30. You are flexible enough that if we are late getting home at night, you don't freak out.

 You are starting to follow directions on small tasks. When we get you up from a nap, we tell you to drop your paci back in the crib. You lean over and throw it back down. It is so funny. We can also tell you to put your cars back in the racetrack, and you will!

You have so many favorite toys. Conner gave you a racetrack when we went to EC this month and you are obsessed with it. You will put anything on that racetrack to watch it spin, including yourself. You still love your dog Scout. You are now really into your walking toys since you can walk with them. You love going for walks in your wagon. You just talk and hang on for dear life the whole time! 

You love to put your cars in the race track and watch them spin. You also know how to start it spinning, by pulling on the red lever. We never really showed you any of this, you just picked it up one day, haha! You now play with your toys in the tub, you love pulling toys out of the basket in there and putting them back. At bathtime, you pick up each toy from the outside of the tub and put them in the tub, like you know they belong in there for you to play with, ha!

You have a ton of teeth!!! 4 of them came in all at once! You have three on the bottom, and 4 on the top. Dr. Willey also discovered that you have a molar on your right top side coming in! We didn't even know! I can't believe how well you handle teeth coming in.

You have so many fun tricks that we love! You wave bye bye and when people you know come up to you, you just throw one hand up like an old man does lol! You still love to clap and blow kisses. I think sometimes if you think you are in "trouble", you will start blowing kisses to get back on my good side. Smart boy!! You still enjoy peek-a-boo. You have now figured out that if you bend down on the other side of the coffee table and then pop up, we yell PEEK-A-BOO! You love that!!

You also learned to take food out of a bag this month. You look like such a big boy. We were sitting together and I was holding your bag of yogurt melts, and you reached right in and got them and put them in your mouth. 

You are so close to walking! You can crawl as fast as lightning,  I swear. You will walk with us holding your hands or even just one hand and you cruise around everything. You love to walk with your walking toys also. You just haven't quite gotten up the nerve to let go and go for it! You are standing alone for a long time now, and can play with toys while standing without holding on to anything.

You are starting to realize when you shouldn't do something. It doesn't stop you, however. The other day, I was working on the sofa and you popped your head up over the coffee table and spied the remote and looked at me with this devilish grin and slowly reached for the remote. You so knew you weren't supposed to have it! I try hard not to laugh!

On that same note, we have had several tantrums when you are told "no". You lay flat down on your stomach and put your arms and legs straight out and just sob for about 5 seconds. You like to look up and see if we are watching you or acting concerned. You get over it pretty quickly though. Whew, this is just the beginning!!!

You "speak" here and there. You love to say DaDa and Yum! You will sometimes say RyRy for Riley, ba for ball, MaMa (UGH say it more!!!), and thank you when we hand you something. Of course it isn't THANK YOU, but we try!! ;)

You still love to give an open mouth, messy kiss. You also will "love" someone if we say, "Love Mama", "Love Nana", etc. You lean in and kiss and make this little mmmm noise. It is SO sweet. Anytime there is something soft like a pillow or your stuffed animals, you jump right down on top of them and love them. It is hilarious!

We made a trip to Elizabeth City this month! You saw Conner and stayed with your Grandma and Grandpa while Nana, Hannah and I went to a wedding. You also saw Papa. Randi came and visited us for a lunch date! You saw Molly several times. Yall play so well together now, we love it! 

You have discovered how much you love opening and shutting doors. I can't even go in the pantry without you following me into the kitchen and shutting the door with me still in there! You love opening the cabinets too, oh my goodness! 

You still wear a size 4 diaper. You are fitting great in 12 month clothes, and some 18 months clothes work too! Your shoe size is 4.

You had a second haircut this month, on the 13th! You did great again!

We had your first birthday party on Sunday, the 23rd. It was the Very Hungry Caterpillar themed, and I had so much fun planning it! You had so many close friends and family come out and celebrate your little special life. You are a lucky little boy! 

William, I know I say it every month, but we just love you to pieces. I could never have imagined having a sweeter boy! I can hardly believe this first year of your life is over! We made it through one whole year!! You are an answer to a prayer. I pray that you always will come to us with any problem, big or small and that we will always have a close relationship. We love you, love you, love you!! 

"First we had each other, then we had you. Now we have everything."