Happy, happy birthday to our handsome little guy! You are such a sweet, cuddly, funny boy with such personality. You are growing every day, though you seem so "petite" to us. You spend your days in size 4 diapers (5's at night) and size 12-18M clothes. You have 8 teeth, with very swollen gums showing us that several molars are on the way soon. Your speech has really taken off over the past 2 weeks or so. You are babbling constantly, with a few actual words thrown in there every so often. You are such an active guy! You move non-stop, climbing in/on/around/through whatever is in front of you. You just love to climb. Mommy caught you standing on the seat of your sister's tricycle just last week! When we can get you to stop moving, cuddling up with a book is a family favorite activity. Here are a few more of your favorites (and not-so-favorites) in this last month of your first year:
Favorites
Elmo - "Melmo", as you call him, is your new buddy! You just light up when he comes on TV or you see him in a book. We have started watching a lot more Sesame Street, as your sister often suggests it because she knows you like it.
Being mischievous - You are already a button-pusher, and you think it's so funny! You are constantly testing the waters around here, doing things you know you're not supposed to do (yes, you're smart enough to know already) and looking back with a smirk to see if we've noticed. If you see us coming towards you to stop whatever it is you're doing, you start doing it faster. Hear us coming to get you off the stairs? You climb faster, giggling the whole way up. See us coming to get you away from the bathroom? You get in there as fast as you can with a giant smile on your face.
The garbage can - Why do you adore the trash can so much? You think it's so fun to pull trash out of the can and to put your toys in it. To you, there are lots of things that look fun and tasty in there. Like the Montgomery Inn rib bones that Daddy threw away after lunch one day and you proceeded to pull out and gnaw on before Mommy caught you. Buddy, that's a pretty gross habit!
Fruit - Your diet is currently about 60% fruits & veggies, 25% dairy, & 15% meat and grains. Your preference certainly seems to be fruit! You almost always eat your fruit before the rest of your food. Your top 3 faves include strawberries, watermelon, & mandarin oranges, with several others close behind.
Forks - You will eat almost anything off of a fork! If we are having trouble getting you to finish your meal, all we have to do is give you a fork. You understand how to use it, you just don't quite have the motor skills to do it yourself. If we help you stab the food with it, you think it's so fun to put it in your mouth!
Not-so-favorites
The stroller - If the stroller isn't moving, you're trying to climb out of it! You will only tolerate being in the stroller for a few minutes at a time and only if it's in motion. The best chance we have of keeping you in there is to feed you snacks or give you toys...which you then throw out. We'd let you walk more if you'd agree to hold our hand, but you want to run free!
Strangers - The typical Stranger Danger stage has taken full effect. Here's the problem: you are a very friendly, smiley guy - people just flock to that smile! When a stranger approaches, you get very nervous. Especially if the person is elderly. For some reason, older people tend to get just a little closer and more in-your-face. It's quite common for you to burst into tears after a few seconds of someone being too close.
Baby Food - We gave up on trying to feed you baby food in the middle of this month. You prefer to eat like the big boy you are.
Baked goods - You are completely unimpressed by baked goods (which breaks your Mommy's heart a tiny bit.) When you were diagnosed with an egg allergy, the allergist told us to slowly introduce baked goods that had eggs baked in them to see how you'd tolerate them. The trouble is you want no part of them. You've eaten the frosting off of a couple cookies this week and took a tiny bite of the frosting on your birthday cake, but that's about as far as you've gone. You love packaged baked goods (graham crackers, animal crackers, etc.) but want nothing to do with the homemade kind. For now, at least.
We are having a ball watching you grow up into this big, smart boy. Daddy just beams with pride as he watches you throw a ball (with your left hand) or make a basket in your "bat-ball" hoop (and he secretly adores that one of your first words is basketball.) Mommy's heart just melts each time you bring her a book & sign "book" and then "please" before starting to climb onto her lap. Even Brooke gets really excited when you learn something new, like how to play with a certain toy or finally do a sign we've been trying to teach you. We just can't get over how bright you are & can't wait to see that little mind expand even more in the coming years.
At 11:55 p.m. one year ago, you completed our family. And today, you bring more joy, more smiles, more love to our lives than we ever could have imagined. Happy birthday, baby boy!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
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