Soooo, that was a fast year?! My baby is 1 year old - insane! Jack had a wonderful day today...I think he would say it was by far his best birthday yet :) We woke up and he opened one of his gifts and we had birthday pancakes for breakfast. We then met Grandma & Grandpa, Auntie Gretchen and all of his cousins and Choo-Choo Johnny's for lunch. I wasn't quite sure if Jack would get a kick out of it or not, but he absolutely loved it. He did not stop smiling the entire time we were there as he watched the train run overhead. We sat at the counter, which has a track for a train to come out and deliver your food, and every time they blew the whistle to signal an order was coming out, he would turn in the direction of it and watch it come around the track with a huge grin or giggle. After lunch we came home and sang happy birthday and gave him his owl smash cake. He ate about 3 bites of it, smeared all the chocolate in his hair, and then didn't want anything more to do with it...oh well. He at least touched it and ate something, so I call that a success. We then opened the rest of his gifts, played a bit and he took a good afternoon nap. I think he knew it was his birthday today or something. He was so happy and so sweet and smiley all day, my heart just melted over and over.
What a fun day celebrating my little man and what a year this has been! This past year has brought us so much love, pride, smiles and laughter and every day truly gets better and better. Jack, you are my world, and every day I thank God for you and for letting me be your Mommy. You are the sweetest, most hilarious, craziest nutball of a little man and I love you to pieces. There is no better feeling than watching you learn something new, and I can't wait to see what this next year brings you!
Speaking of learning new things, here are some of Jack's latest tricks:
- He is walking around everything and can crawl faster than lighting. He isn't too keen on practicing walking on his own, but every once and a while you can see the wheels turning as he tries to go from toy to toy, or he'll let go and stand on his own for a bit when he thinks no one is watching, so I don't think it will be too much longer. Actually, I'm predicting it will happen the week I am out of town for work at the end of the month :(
- He is trying to repeat a lot of things - banana is the most deliberate, but he'll also attempt things like Lucy, Grandpa, Elmo, etc. They are all just grunts, but he's trying so we applaud the effort :) His latest trick is to make the animal noise a sheep says. Trying to get that one on video!
- He gives hugs when asked...and it's awesome. He has also become very snuggly lately and will crawl over to just put his head down on my lap or shoulder randomly to say hi before he heads back over to his toys. So sweet.
- Knock on wood, but he seems to be doing much better with his naps. I honestly think it has been because we've been home so much over the holidays, and he feels like we're around enough for him to relax and get the sleep he needs and he won't have to miss us :) He's also been awesome at going down for his naps too. Once he starts to get crazy, I can ask him if he's ready for a nap and he'll reach for me to pick him up and immediately put his head down on his green blanket on my shoulder. I reallllly hope this is not a phase!!!!!
- He's mastered the sippy cup and bottles should be done soon. We also tried whole milk for the first time today. I did a half and half mixture with the formula and he sucked it down. Hopefully that will be a smooth transition and we will be done with formula within the next couple of weeks. I've given Jack more time to make these changes taking his prematurity in account, and I think it's worked out really well for us so far.
- He is understanding more and more every day and it amazes me. I feel like he understands so much of what we say and ask of him. If you ask him to give you his pacifier or something in his hand, he'll do it. Close/open the door, put the ball there, etc. he is really getting it all!
- We are still sitting at 12 teeth, though I've not looked for any new ones in a bit so who knows!
- He tries his best to eat only puffs, bananas, blueberries and bread and is sometimes very picky to try new things. But, we've made a lot of progress with table food in the last month or so, so I'm confident that he'll be eating everything in sight in no time.
- He fits comfortably into 12 and some 18 month clothes. We've still been rocking the size 3 diapers, but 4s are up once our current box is done. He is still sleeping 11-12 hours at night and taking 2 naps a day.
We head to the doctor on Friday - will post his stats after that!
What a fun day celebrating my little man and what a year this has been! This past year has brought us so much love, pride, smiles and laughter and every day truly gets better and better. Jack, you are my world, and every day I thank God for you and for letting me be your Mommy. You are the sweetest, most hilarious, craziest nutball of a little man and I love you to pieces. There is no better feeling than watching you learn something new, and I can't wait to see what this next year brings you!
Speaking of learning new things, here are some of Jack's latest tricks:
- He is walking around everything and can crawl faster than lighting. He isn't too keen on practicing walking on his own, but every once and a while you can see the wheels turning as he tries to go from toy to toy, or he'll let go and stand on his own for a bit when he thinks no one is watching, so I don't think it will be too much longer. Actually, I'm predicting it will happen the week I am out of town for work at the end of the month :(
- He is trying to repeat a lot of things - banana is the most deliberate, but he'll also attempt things like Lucy, Grandpa, Elmo, etc. They are all just grunts, but he's trying so we applaud the effort :) His latest trick is to make the animal noise a sheep says. Trying to get that one on video!
- He gives hugs when asked...and it's awesome. He has also become very snuggly lately and will crawl over to just put his head down on my lap or shoulder randomly to say hi before he heads back over to his toys. So sweet.
- Knock on wood, but he seems to be doing much better with his naps. I honestly think it has been because we've been home so much over the holidays, and he feels like we're around enough for him to relax and get the sleep he needs and he won't have to miss us :) He's also been awesome at going down for his naps too. Once he starts to get crazy, I can ask him if he's ready for a nap and he'll reach for me to pick him up and immediately put his head down on his green blanket on my shoulder. I reallllly hope this is not a phase!!!!!
- He's mastered the sippy cup and bottles should be done soon. We also tried whole milk for the first time today. I did a half and half mixture with the formula and he sucked it down. Hopefully that will be a smooth transition and we will be done with formula within the next couple of weeks. I've given Jack more time to make these changes taking his prematurity in account, and I think it's worked out really well for us so far.
- He is understanding more and more every day and it amazes me. I feel like he understands so much of what we say and ask of him. If you ask him to give you his pacifier or something in his hand, he'll do it. Close/open the door, put the ball there, etc. he is really getting it all!
- We are still sitting at 12 teeth, though I've not looked for any new ones in a bit so who knows!
- He tries his best to eat only puffs, bananas, blueberries and bread and is sometimes very picky to try new things. But, we've made a lot of progress with table food in the last month or so, so I'm confident that he'll be eating everything in sight in no time.
- He fits comfortably into 12 and some 18 month clothes. We've still been rocking the size 3 diapers, but 4s are up once our current box is done. He is still sleeping 11-12 hours at night and taking 2 naps a day.
We head to the doctor on Friday - will post his stats after that!
