One Whole Year

Kim

One Whole Year

We made it.  Henry made it.  We officially have a one-year-old now...no longer a little baby.  Wow.  It was a good year.  A hard year.  A life-changing year.  A teaching and learning year.  An amazing year.  A love-filled year.  A year of hard lessons.  A year of learning to be selfless.  An INCREDIBLE year.  Sometimes, it feels so much longer than 365 days - I barely remember our life before - but also it has gone by so quickly.  People tell you time flies when you have children and they weren't kidding.  One year ago we had a tiny cuddly newborn who couldn't get enough to eat.  Now we have a tall (80th percentile), always-on-the-move, almost-toddler (who still can barely get enough to eat).  How does that happen?

Henry had his one-year-old check up on Monday.  As I mentioned, he's still very tall (30.75 inches - 80th percentile) and lean (21 lb 14 oz - 60th percentile).  He also still has an extra large noggin, but we're pretty sure he gets that from his dad :) Overall the appointment was fine, but he had to get three shots and a finger prick.  Ugh.  I know it is only going to get worse, but the poor little guy screamed and screamed.  And again, I can tell this week that the shots have knocked him out of kilter a little bit.  They just make him grumpy and more fussy than usual.  At least I know what to expect now. 

At one year, Henry is a charmer.  He's got the best giggle that is my absolute most favorite sound in the world.  He's still an overall happy guy who is pretty amiable to most situations (unless he's tired) and he loves to be busy and have action going on around him.  He can clap his hands when you ask (or when music comes on), and he loves to point at everything.  He also babbles, constantly.  Sometimes it sounds like he's talking, other times it sounds like he's yelling, and sometimes it sounds like he's singing.  So sweet.  He's saying "dada" and "dad" really well now.  He's also good at "bye-bye" and "uh-oh" (although he's still saying "uh-uh" a lot - he's just starting to get the hang of the "oh" sound).  "Mama" comes out every now and then, especially when he's tired or mad, and I'm pretty sure he says, "ball."  He also understands what you're saying.  I can ask him to point to his balloons (left over from his birthday party) or to find his ball and he knows exactly what to do.  He also understand "no,"  but doesn't always listen...we're working on that! 

He's a fast crawler - when he sees something he wants or that he knows he shouldn't have, he takes off! Also, just last week he's started pushing the walking toys around.  It's fun to watch him do this, but it has also really shown us a strong part of his personality that I am pretty sure he gets from me...perfectionism.  I am a lot better than I used to be, but if I can't do something well, I don't want to do it at all..it's a double-edge sword really...not an entirely bad characteristic, but one that needs to be tempered, because let's face it, we can't all be perfect or excellent at all things all the time.  Anyways, we've seen this in Henry before, but with the walking toys it has really come out.  As soon as he hits a wall or road block he melts down.  Even if I am right there to help him turn around and walk back the other way.  Doesn't matter.  Intense melt down of frustration.  It has gotten so bad that after a few rounds, I have to take the toy away and distract him with something else.  We're trying to teach him to turn it himself and it won't be long before he can do that, but whew...poor little guy...you'd think the world ends each time he hits something. 

There's so much more to say about this past year.  One post can never sum it up, but it must for now.  Also, we had the most excellent first birthday party for the babe, but I'll leave that to its own post.  Here's to year two!

This is Henry's new favorite game - he lays down and pretends to sleep, then I say, "Wake up!" and he pops up and grins.  It is precious.  (Although, I think he actually was a sleepy baby in this pic.)