A Onederfull Year

 Dear Henry,

Well, happy first year of life!  Let's begin by recounting a few notable events that occurred around the ringing in of your new year.  And what better place to start than cake!  And by cake, I mean cupcakes.  And by cupcakes, I mean, healthy muffins with a light sugary frosting on top as made by your Mom.  While it sounds a bit like a rip off, you actually enjoyed them, probably because they were made with bananas, which you could eat all day.  Your first "party" was just parents and grandparents.
At first, you had no idea what was going on....
 
 It only took you a second to dive right in....

You contemplated what you were tasting...

Ate all the icing off and contemplated some more....


You got a new watertable, a tricycle, and a fort...


Your Mom really liked the fort and especially the slide!

You were excited to get your own John Deere, and are already a big fan of anything John Deere related.

         
Got some other fun presents, and Delilah tried to remind your Mommy that she existed.
         

It was a fun evening...

That next weekend, we went up to Fairfax, Virginia for your Uncle Mark's wedding.  You were the ringbearer.  Here are a few shots from your trip....

You enjoyed Grandma's necklace during the rehearsal diner and during the rehearsal, you and I went down the hill in the wagon.

Note the beginnings of a grimace on your Mom in the picture on the right.  This is when you refused to get out of the wagon and just wanted to stand there and play with it.




After all the festivities, you were just plumb tuckered out...

The next day, we had some fun on a nearby playground, and your Mom again had fun on the slide...



When we got home, we had another party for your here with some friends.  In the picture on the bottom right, your Mom is thinking about trying the slide again.

Speaking of your Mom, she really is an amazing Mom.  You know this as you prefer her more than me, though I'll say you are starting to come around to me at times.  But I want to you know how much she is totally devoted to you.  You wouldn't believe how many times she gets up at night to comfort you.  She has been so nurturing to you and loving.  I know both of us, but especially your Mom, hates to leave you to go to work in the morning.

They say that time flies - especially when you have a kid.  Either because of the lack of sleep or the fact that so much has happened this past year, I'd say that the old saying is true.  It seems like the time when you were just a newborn and you just laid there was such a short time.  Now, 12 months later, you are so big and heavy, almost walking on your own, and much more human-like.  The changes just happened so quickly. You are just into everything.  Many times I find myself just sitting there watching you try to figure something out.  Currently, you really enjoy flipping light switches on and off and can do this for hours.

Usually you are trying to figure something out that is not a toy.  In fact, you don't really like toys that much.  You'd much rather play with a real wrench, a piece of hose, a weedeater, or a cat.  Poor Delilah has been very patient with you pulling her hair, squishing her, and sometimes chasing her.  Sometimes you just pull books off the shelf, or grab a broom and just run around the house "sweeping" or chasing Mommy.

When I say "running" I actually mean that I'm holding one of your hands and you are leading me wherever you want to go.  Same goes for your cars, which you'd rather push than ride.  I don't mind though.  My back might, but I don't because I know next year, you won't need me to do this.  

I remember when we used to look at your little sausage fingers and think they were so cute.  Now, we try to look at them when we try to clip your fingernails and miss the days when they weren't so busy.

Some of my favorite things to do with you are ride the lawnmower,
eat berries right off the vine, read books at night, the time after I read books to you when we play on the bed,

swing you from your arms (until your Mom told me that could actually be bad for you), and just being outside, walking, looking at chickens, or chasing rabbits out of the garden and yelling "Get! Get!"  Watching the garbage truck pick up the garbage, then going inside to read about the garbage truck in my old "Trucks" book that I read when I was a kid.  All of these things you couldn't do when you were a newborn, so life certainly has gotten more excited and I"m glad you aren't going to be a newborn forever.  However, time still goes too quickly.  It could slow down just a smidge. 

Last week, a friend asked me if there was a balance between having a kid and your own personal life.  My answer was a definitive "no."  While I do still find time to do my own things and work on projects or mow the yard, my time is mostly spend with you or cleaning/doing chores.  But my second part to his question was that so much positiveness is added to your life once you have a kid.  And that is very, very true.  The amount of love I feel for you and the amazement you bring to me each day is infinite.

I guess one reason they say time flies is that you can miss so much if you don't stop to step back from a moment and realize you are seeing a moment.   Otherwise, it disappears so quickly.

You know, you weren't the only thing born on your birthday, a new father was born that day too.  So what can I say about being a Dad?

It's wonderful.  It's hard to remember life before you.  The answer to the question "What's the meaning of life?" seems to have been answered more fully the day you were born.  My life has a whole new meaning, and what I think of as important is different because you are so important.  I just want the best life for you and enjoy you learning about the world and life.

A short post-birthday event was going to the mall.  You ate Chick-fil-a for the first time, and loved it.  You probably get that from me.

Then you were obsessed with mannequins in Belk's.  We rode the quarter machines and you drove the school bus.  You tore every truck book off the shelf in Barnes and Noble and played with the train.  It was a really wonderful day seeing you really start to take things in now.

It's been such a year, bud.  So much has happened and my life will never be the same.  I suppose yours won't either.  It's been Onederful.  I'll leave you with a quick snapshot of you staring into your second year....

Love,
Dad

What's Dat?

During month 9, Henry continued to be a good sleeper.  He weaned off of his third nap.  His preferred modes of travel continued to be the "wounded soldier crawl" and of course walking around holding onto a big person's hands.  He began pulling up on stuff.  He continued to try different finger foods:  cheese, egg yolk, mandarin oranges (a big favorite), pasta with marinara sauce....He loves food.  However, he also started to voice more preferences for what he likes: peaches, pears, banana, yes-  pureed broccoli, not so much.  It may still be a texture thing.

During month 9, we traveled to Charlotte to watch the Hornets play.  We stayed overnight at my brother's house in Waxhaw and got to visit with him and his family.  Henry did better, but is still not very good at falling asleep in an unfamiliar environment, especially with mommy not there.  When we got back from the game, around 9:30, he was still awake.  Needless to say, once I got him to sleep, he slept all night, which is an improvement over our Pigeon Forge trip back in November.  So, traveling might be in the cards for us again.

I also started taking him to weekly Mother Goose time at the library on Saturdays.  It only lasts for about 45 minutes, which is the perfect amount of time for Henry.  It starts with songs, they read a book, and then put toys out so the kids can explore and interact.  Henry is not afraid to get into the middle of everything, compared to other babies though, he seems very observant and quiet, just watching what everyone else is doing.


Month 10....oh no!  Henry started not sleeping so well again.  It all started with Daylight Savings Time.  I think there are other factors at play though, too.  For one, he started pulling up on EVERYTHING.  I think he does this sometimes in his sleep, and when he wakes up he doesn't understand how he got there.  He also is in the midst of what is called a "Wonder Week"  where he is approaching/experiencing a cognitive milestone.  And, he also has his 7th tooth on the bottom that just popped through the other day.  That is a lot for a little guy to wrap his head around!

He has started to lay himself back down when he is standing in his crib for naps and at night I would say 75-80% of the time.  We give him a little time to work it out.  However, he is one, that if you let him get too worked up, he won't deescalate, so nursing to sleep is still happening sometimes.

We did notice a cognitive shift a few weeks ago.  He was all of a sudden able to play with some of his toys.  Before, he just sort of banged on them or scooted them around, but now, he seems to understand how some of them work.  He has a tool box shape sorter, and he is now able to use the hammer to hit the shapes through the holes.  That is a big deal!  He also has a much longer attention span for reading.  He LOVES books, and being read to, especially right before nap time.  I have a five book limit, or he would have you read to him all day.  His current favorite books are Little Blue Truck, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, and Good Night Sleepyhead....  He wants these books read to him repeatedly.  Repeated readings are good for learning language, though! 

He has started to pick up some language concepts.  We are pretty sure he quacks like a duck, says bye bye and night night (ni-ni), shoes(souz), and ah-ah part of a monkey sound (oo-oo-ah-ah).  There are some others thrown in there, too.

This month he also became an official knee crawler.  The days of the wounded soldier crawl are past.  For a while he would resort to that if he wanted to get somewhere quick, but he has become much quicker and adept with his knee crawling abilities.  He can quickly crawl somewhere, pull up on just about anything, scoot things to get to where he wants to go, as well as cruise between furniture.  He has only had a couple of falls so far- whew! 

He has, yet again, continued to expand his food repertoire.  He began to eat more of what we are eating.  He tried salmon, sweet potato fries,

 

Month 11:  This month has marked an even bigger shift for Henry in all domains, play, cognitive, language, physical, social-emotional.

Henry has continued to become better at playing with his toys.  He can now roll a car, put things back in something instead of just tearing them out, and make a toy animal "walk."  He can also turn pages in a book.  His fine motor skills are becoming much more attuned.  He also has been experimenting with sizes.  He started trying to figure out what was too big to fit under the couch. However, he still prefers to play with non-toys:  vacuums, boxes, etc. 

Henry also LOVES to spend time outside.  He demands it.  He will point to the door and grunt and cry.  He would dig in the dirt, ride the lawnmower, pretend to drive Pa Ted or Daddy's vehicles and/or climb up and down stairs all day long. 

He has become much more assertive in voicing his preferences and has begun to pitch some "fits."  We are still trying to figure out the best way to deal with these as it is very frustrating when you don't have the language to express what  you want. However, this little guy will have to learn the word "no" at some point, or we won't be doing him any favors in the long run.  I have just been calmly telling him no, and then helping him work through his "big feelings."  By the end of it, he just needs a few mommy cuddles to assure him that he is still loved, and he is ready to move on to something else.  He has started to play a little rough, too:  grabbing faces and squeezing with his nails which are

impossible to clip, pulling hair, etc.  Yesterday, I was nursing him, and he grabbed my face really hard.  I told him "No" very firmly, and his face turned inside out like I had broken his heart.  I don't think he will be a hard one to scold, and hopefully he will learn his lessons quickly.  He has the most pitiful pucker.   On the flip side of this emotional shift, he is also learning how to show affection.  He can show "love"  by laying his head on you, or on the cat, which is a step up from grabbing and yanking fur (it still happens occasionally).  He can also act very shy around strangers, gazing downward and looking serious, or putting his head on mommy's shoulder. He has a silly side as well.  Let 's just say that he is very well rounded. 

He has also become a pretty choosey eater.  I sometimes think that he is going to survive on cheese and bananas.  He would eat that at every meal.  Hopefully, this is just a phase, and he will be back to eating green stuff and anything with texture again. 

Henry has also developed many more PCFs (phonetically consistent forms) and words.  He says "boo" for "moo" in reference to a cow.  He started saying "mamama."  He can say "go" and "rock" as well.  He says "rock, rock, rock" when he is making a rocking chair rock.  He will tell the cat to "go" as well when she tries to jump on the table when we are eating dinner.  He also has a very Southern "bye" "hi/hey" and sometimes "bye, bye" he says accompanied by a wave.  It is amazing how quickly he can catch on and tries to mimic words we say.  He still likes to read the same books, which will help him expand his vocabulary.  He loves reading about animals and trucks.  He makes a fish face whenever he sees a fish, and "arf" when he sees a dog, he also makes a "brum, brum" sound when he sees anything that has a motor. 


Gross-motor wise, Henry took  his first steps this month.  I was on the back porch with him.  I stood him up, facing me, and he took 3-4 steps to get to me.  He did this three times.  Every once in a while when you set him up for it, he will take steps between people, but most of the time he just sits himself down, looks abandoned or confused, and sometimes cries.  I just don't think he is ready to really take off just yet.  He will, though, one day, and he won't stop, so maybe we should stop forcing him.  I also think he is a little headstrong and doesn't want to be forced to do anything, but would rather do it on his terms.  Hmmm, I wonder where he gets that trait from? 


Unfortunately, this month also marked the first time Henry has gotten really sick.  He had a fever between 99 and 101.5 for three days and definitely didn't feel like  himself for 5 or 6 days.  He was pretty pitiful.  We took him to the doctor, and she said it was just a virus.  He had some lingering congestion, but it is hard to say what all of his symptoms were.  All we know is that he felt pretty miserable.  His sleep took another turn here.  He started waking up twice a night again, but we are working our way back down to one time a night, which I can live with. 

He also had his first Easter.  He was looking pretty dapper, got a pretty sweet Easter basket, and got to "hunt" Easter eggs.

This month, I also turned the big 3-0.  I feel ok about it, though.  Thirty is a good age.  I feel like I have lived long enough to have obtained a little wisdom and experience, but I don't feel old.  Thirty is a respectable age.  Although, I am pretty sure that people think I look 18(or maybe this is just what I hope they think).  I definitely don't get carded for a drink when we have Henry with us, though.  I guess if I am a mom, that automatically makes me old- or maybe just earns me the right to have a drink from time to time.   Anyways, I can still do a cartwheel. 

I have also been sick.  I think the culprit might be Henry.  It ran through the grandmas, too.  I missed three days of work.  I, too, had a fever, and what the doctor said was a sinus infection.  I haven't been this sick since I had the flu 6-7 years ago.  I am still getting over it, and it is day 8.  Luckily, I had the help of grandparents, which allowed me to actually rest on the days I was out of work.  Henry definitely didn't understand what was wrong with mommy and why she didn't feel like playing. 

Other than that, we are just counting down the days until summer.  Five weeks, I do believe, give or take a few days.  May will be a busy month as we have Mother's Day, Mark and Sarah's wedding to travel to in Fairfax, V.A., and Henry's first birthday!  Wow, where does time go.  He has changed so much this year!  He is such a bright, happy, fun baby and has brought so much to many lives! 





A trip to Carl Sanburg's House.  Henry thought the goats were just okay.