One Whole Year!

Well, my baby boy is one whole year old!

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I feel like Wyatt has done so many new things this past month.

{Communication}

He has really started clapping and waving even more. A week or so ago I think he really realized that people were waving at him, and he stared really waving back. It’s so cute! His whole arm moves up and down. He’s still clapping (louder now), and he looks so proud of himself every time he does it. He also started giving high-fives (1/13)! It’s the cutest thing. I think we’ll be working on blowing kisses next.

Last month I said Wyatt’s first word was “baba”, which he says when he is hungry. But he started saying his favorite word this month (1/15), which is “dog”. It sounds like “dauh”, and he’ll say it over and over again when he sees the dogs. Have I mentioned how much he loves our dogs? Whenever he sees them he gets this big, silly grin on his face, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s one of his first words!

The dogs love him too – they let him pull on their fur, and Harvey (the big dog) licks his face when I’m not looking. I’m sure Wyatt has endeared himself to their hearts even more by intentionally dropping cheerios on the floor so they can eat them. I think he likes to watch them scramble to get the cheerios.

His next word (1/18) was “dada” for Derek – it sounds a lot like his word for dog, so it’s a little hard to distinguish, but I can tell when he’s talking about Derek.

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And finally, he started saying “mama” toward the end of January. The first couple times he said it were times when he needed something (hungry, dirty diaper) and he was trying to get my attention to tell me, but since then he has started saying it just when he is happy too. He’s been saying “mama” and “dada” for months, but I can tell he really means us now when he says it!

At his one year appointment our pediatrician was impressed with his vocabulary and said he’s ahead of the game on that front, so that made me feel good!

{Activity}

As far as activity, Wyatt has started “dancing” (1/26), to music (or just when he’s happy). I came home from work one night, and he crawled over to me, and when I grabbed his hands he started dancing with me! It melted my heart.

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He tried crawling on his hands and knees (1/28), but wasn’t a big fan, and he went back to his army crawl. I asked our pediatrician about the fact that he doesn’t crawl on his hands and knees, and she said that the powers that be actually took crawling on all fours off of the developmental milestones checklist, because what they are more concerned with is that they can maneuver themselves into different positions (particularly belly to sitting), and it doesn’t really matter how they go about doing it. I imagine Wyatt will probably just stick with army crawling – he gets around really well that way, and his belly has always been his preferred position.

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This month Wyatt pulled himself to his feet all by himself (2/4)! He crawled over to the couch where I was sitting and grabbed my legs and just pulled himself right up! He’s liking being higher up and seeing better when he’s standing. He can balance by himself against furniture really well, so next is just to balance without holding onto anything.

{Growth}

I feel like he’s grown a lot in the last few months. It’s actually affected his sleep a little – he used to go 12 hours at night, but for the past month or two he’s been getting up after 10 hours to eat. He’s starting to fall back into his old pattern a little bit, so maybe he’ll be slowing down with growth again soon?

He weighs 20 lbs. 11 oz. (25%), is 30 inches long (55%), and his head circumference is in the 80th percentile. He’s got a big brain in there!

As far as eating goes, he usually gets 4-5 bottles a day (somewhere from 2-6 oz. each), and he eats solids three times a day. We started giving him more chunky solids and finger foods this month, like cheerios, chunks of banana and avocado, etc. I tried cheerios with him a couple months ago, but he choked on them a little bit, so we just decided to hold off a little longer. He does finger foods like a pro now though, and he loves feeding himself.

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Since his first birthday I’ve been giving him food off our plates (I didn’t before in an effort to avoid food allergies), and he’s loving it – and I’m loving being able to feed him anything without worrying about it now.

He has the same four teeth, but he’s working on some new teeth now, so I don’t think it will be long before he gets a few more.

{Personality}

Wyatt is such a sweetheart. He laughs at all my silly antics, and I love that! It’s not hard to make him smile.

He is in the nursery at church now, and he’s been doing well there. When I picked him up one week he was playing with a toy with one of the other babies. He’s pretty good at playing with other kids, and I’m glad.

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He’s getting more interested in books now. When I read to him he’ll stare at the pages, and point at the pictures with his one finger, instead of just squirming. He loves to hold the books after we’re done reading them, so the hardback ones that he can’t crinkle at a big hit right now.

He still sucks his thumb, and I admittedly love it. It’s so adorable!

I think he’s a bit of a ham – he likes it when people watch him, and when they smile and laugh over his clapping, high-fives, etc. He gets this big grin on his face and will usually do something else to try to impress them. If everyone laughs, a few second later he’ll laugh loudly too, which tends to make everyone laugh again. It’s cute!

He hates loud noises. If there is a sudden loud noise, he will cry, and it breaks my heart.

He’s generally a really good baby. It takes a lot for him to have a meltdown – almost anywhere we go he just acts quiet and smiley. I get comments all the time on how cute and good he is.

He is such a sweetie, and he doesn’t like to see me upset. When I’m having an emotional day and he sees me cry, he’ll look concerned at first, and then he’ll give me one of his big grins to try to get me to smile (and I usually can’t help but smile then)!

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Wyatt-Boy,

You’ve grown and changed so much this month! I love watching you do new things. I love how you laugh at the little stuff. You are such a joyful baby, and you bring such joy to your dad and I! You are not that snuggly little newborn anymore, but you are so sweet and so fun the way you are now! I wouldn’t go back even if I could, because I love seeing your personality developing. I can already see what an amazing little boy you are becoming, and I can’t wait to watch you grow over another year!

We love you so much, Sweet Boy, and we’re so proud that you’re ours!

Love,

Mama