Today We Are One

 
I say “we” because I am one, too.  One year a mama.  Or, more recently it’s just “mom”.  If he just wants my attention, or an acknowledgement, it’s “mom”.  At which point I turn to him and say “baby” and he smiles and laughs.

 

Today is a big day.  It feels like I should receive an award.  I made it through the first year.  This first year was full of so much!  It feels as though this last month has been a race to get as much new stuff in before he turned one.  Like for instance, learning to climb out of his playpen on Tuesday.  That was fun.  Scarred the living daylights out of me.  I had my back to him slightly and all the sudden I hear this BIG thud.  He cried and I comforted.  I had hoped he wouldn’t try again, yesterday I had to tell him no when he slung his arms over the side to do it once more.  That’s my little monkey.  One more time proving he is so like his mom.

I don’t doubt that I spoil him a little, who could help but do the same with baby blues like that look at you all the time.  More often than not he comes over to me, arms reached up with those blues pleading with me to just hold him.  It’s harder to escape him now that he can walk…and is starting to run.  He still trips over his feet on occasion, but he took to walking so well and hasn’t looked back.  I especially love when he starts to walk in circles, it’s so funny and he gets a good laugh out of it.  We were watching a cartoon the other day, Backyardagins, and they were singing and dancing and walking in circles and of course he had to copy and do the same thing.  This boy is so smart.  We don’t have a lot of words yet, I think that’s because he has put so much energy into walking.  He’s been bound and determined to do it since he was born, I'm convinced.

 

Every week we have a new favorite toy, these past few it’s been this.  He loves to pick it up and carry it over to whoever might play.  We open the doors and he shuts them.  His favorite is the orange panda in the middle.  He always goes for him first.  I’m trying to teach him how to open the doors himself, but somehow that just wouldn’t be as fun.  While he is having fun with different toys, his favorite toy is still shoes.  He loved to push them around when he crawled, and now he loves to pick them up and carry them around…and try and give them to everyone.   Something else that’s new and fun for him is to follow me around when I vacuum.  Not sure why.  But he likes the vacuum.  If I have to put it down for a second, he comes over and grabs the hose and starts vacuuming on his own.  When I try and vacuum with the standard upright, he gets upset and wants me to hold him.  But the canister vac he likes. 

  
He’s slowly outgrowing his clothes in length, but not girth…my skinny boy.  He’s still so tiny, and I think it’s quite cute to see him walking around still so little.  He is starting to get more hair, but it’s still so thin and wispy and he still looks quite bald.  Again, like his mom.  Let’s just hope he’s not bald until 3 like I was.

He loves to wave now.  He waves hello and goodbye and does it without prompting.  Of course if you ask him to wave, he will.  He’s so talented, holding his bottle with one hand and waving with the other.  It’s funny how we never used a bottle until this last month.  It’s just easier for me to hand it off to him and avoid spills.  It’s especially nice in the car.  Speaking of, he has a big boy seat now.  And faces forward.  We’ve only ridden in it a few times, but he seems to really enjoy being able to see out as we drive.  He was so quiet in the back after coming back from the grocery store the other day, I thought for sure he was asleep.  He wasn’t.  He was just watching very intently. 

  

 

 
Bonk!   He bonks his head, usually with his forefinger extended when he hears that word.  He thinks it’s very funny.  First thing he does when he sees Nana (grandma Sheila) is to bonk his head, without prompting.  We’re not sure why he associates that with Nana, but he does.  He will do it with a few others, too.  But mostly for Nana.  Speaking of Nana, she is in Arizona with GG (great grandma LaDonna) at the moment.  We had some very sad news on Monday.  Uncle Ray had passed away.  He was Brice’s Great-Great-Uncle and those two really got on well.  I’m so glad we had our unexpected trip to visit a few weeks ago.  

He has to show me EVERYTHING.  I have to take it from him and look at it and oh and ahh over it…and then he wants it back.  I no longer wonder why he says oohhh so much.  I think I say it a lot.  Everything he sees solicits an oh from him.  He can say oh so many different ways, they all convey so many different messages.

There are so many things he does, everyday it’s something new, and I don’t want to forget any of them.  I’m sure as soon as I publish this, I will think of a dozen more things he does.  So, I will probably be adding to this post so that I don’t forget them.  In a way, this is how I can go back and figure out where to put things in his baby book.  This is a better baby book than the actual baby book.  There are services that will print your blog and put it into a book, I definitely think I need to do that.  Happy Birthday, baby boy!