One Year!

Update 1/14/13: Andersen had his one year check-up today. Official stats: 20 pounds 7 ounces (10-25%), 31 inches (75-90%), 47.2 cm head (75%). So,  to quote our doctor, “He’s tall and skinny with a big head.” And boo for the birthday cold that hit him Saturday eve. Also, one thing I forgot to add that I don’t want to forget is that every time we sang “Happy Birthday” to him, he laughed! It was so cute…

Yup, already!! Hard to believe, I know. Time keeps flying by and our little man hit that mile-stone one year birthday!!  His big day was busy while also being low-key.  Daddy let Mommy sleep in until 9:20 (yippee!) and then I took the two older kids for some errands while Stinker slept.  He was still sleeping when we returned, giving us just enough time to get his gifts ready, so when he woke up we had gift time.  I thought he wouldn’t really be into the rocking dog until 15 or 18 months, but I was wrong.  He loves it!!  He’s still just a touch small for the red bike, which actually works out well, because April has hardly gotten off it since we gave it to him. =)

After gifts and lunch we did cake. Again, he didn’t tear into it, but he also just had lunch so I don’t think he was all that hungry.  I’m hoping to make sure he’s ready to eat at his party next weekend. Maybe we can get one good cake eating episode from one of our kids.  After his nap we all headed to GT for haircuts.  I still can’t believe how perfectly he sat for it, just like big bro.   (Sis screamed through her first haircut, but she was also quite a bit older.  Not sure if that matters or not.)  Doesn’t he look like such a big boy with his new do?!  So crazy how old he looks now…

This past month Andersen did his first sign.  He not only started nodding, but is clearly using it to communicate “yes” to us.  The first time was when I asked him if the pizza was too hot, and we’ve seen it multiple times since then.  He’s also started to verbalize more.  Lots of chattering with a couple words.  Ma-mum is his first official word and buh buh (bye bye) with a wave his second.  He also the other day said “ba” for ball.

Sleeping is pretty good if he isn’t teething.  Over the Christmas Break (Abe had a full month off of school) we FINALLY, at 11 months old, got him on a set nap schedule.  Not only is he now on a schedule but I’m not nursing him to sleep or carrying him around in the Ergo (I wouldn’t at bedtime, but would for naps).  With that said, I now see why we haven’t done it before.  The two nap schedule doesn’t allow us time to do hardly anything during the day.  Hoping we can push it to one long afternoon nap soon.

He still keeps me on my toes.  Stinker loves to climb tables and bounce when he’s on top of them.  He loves taking things out of outlets and the day before his birthday he reached higher than I realized he could and pulled a Compact Fluorescent light bulb off the storage cabinet, shattering it.  (I’m so incredibly thankful I was right there to get him, because so often I’m not.)  Pretty much everything goes in his mouth, but really just to chew, not eat.  Truly though, I think he is just your typical one year old.  A little more typical than the other two were maybe.  When I hear my friends talk about their kids, I’m convinced that if he really is crazy, we haven’t seen it yet.  Yes Angel, Jennifer, Susan, and Angie, I’m talking about you and your adorable crazies!!

He plays hard, but he loves hard too.  Really hard.  My favorite example of this came right as Mike was leaving for a two day trip for work.  He was holding Andersen and kissing me goodbye.  After the kiss, we both looked at Andersen and smiled.  He grinned back, stared for a bit, and then totally went in for a kiss too, smacking me so hard on my nose I thought it was going to start gushing blood.  Love hurts.  I understand; sometimes I want to squeeze him so tight that I have to keep from squashing him!!

That’s our little man in a nutshell; a combination of crazy, sweet, and totally adorable.  Such a perfect completion to our little nuclear family.  More pictures here.