Look who's 1! (and a month...)

This post is a few weeks a month late, as seems to be par for the course for me these days.  What an eventful few weeks it's been too: first birthday, first birthday party, first cold, and a few new achievements to boot.  When I started writing this it was a 12 month update...I guess now we can call it the 13 month update!

Rolling over the odometer
Hard as it is for me to believe, Daniel is now a year old.  On the one hand it's hard to believe he's already been with us a full year, but at the same time, it feels like another lifetime ago that he wasn't here.  It's been the most challenging and rewarding year of my life (and, I suppose, Daniel's too ;)). 

Here's his 12 month picture. 

That will be his last monthly picture with the infant carseat, as we've now graduated to the convertible seats in both cars.  Althought the seat is rated up to 30lb, it is only rated up to 30in, so even though he hasn't even hit 20 lb yet he's already maxing out the height.

Party time!
Kevin and I decided to celebrate his actual birthday by taking off from work to spend the day together as a family.  I think we'll make July 21st an official family holiday and spend it together each year.  In later years we'll go to waterparks or movies together, and vacations, and maybe when he's all grown up and out of the house he'll look forward to meeting up with Mom and Dad for a birthday lunch.  But this year we weren't quite as ambitious.  We stayed at home, relaxed, and played.  It was nice to get some "just the three of us" time in before the weekend, when the birthday celebration went into high gear.

Kevin works at Microsoft and we're friends with many of his coworkers and their families.  We decided to combine party-planning forces with another couple, Charlotte and Alden, whose son Justin turned 3 the week after Daniel's birthday.  We did a joint birthday party at the Coppell Aquatic Center and it was great.  We had close to 50 guests, including many of our friends and their little ones.

Here's Daniel in his birthday shirt.  You can't see the back but it has "Williamson" and then the number 1 like it's a jersey.

























Here are some pictures of the kiddos playing at the pool:
























































And here are birthday boys Justin and Daniel blowing out the candles on their cakes:

And here's Daniel digging into his cupcake with no restraint.  You think he liked it?

12-month checkup

Daniel had his 12-month checkup a few weeks ago and everything looked great.  He's still small and skinny, weighing in at only 18lb 4oz and standing 29.5" tall.  The weight in particular is on the lower end of normal, but we and the pediatrician are not concerned about that.  One, both Kevin and I were skinny kids, so odds are he will be too, and two, he's healthy and eats well.

An unhappy milestone
It was bound to happen sooner or later.  About a week after his birthday and the checkup, he got his first cold.  Fortunately it was fairly mild but it was hard to see him in pain.  He had a runny then stuffy nose and a few days of mid-grade fever, which translated to a few days of crankiness.  His appetite was off but he slept really well, which helped him feel better.  It was nice to see him get better and our usual boisterous happy little boy return!

Eating
Some big changes this month.  We've got him taking at least one cow's milk bottle during the day now and will transition to both daytime bottles being cow's milk in the next week or two.  And now that his daytime milk is cow's milk, we're working on transitioning to taking those bottle feedings by straw cup.  I didn't want to do that with breast milk because I didn't want to risk wasting any of that milk, but if he spills or wastes a cup of cow's milk, it's easy to get more.  No particular target date on when we want to make the full switch from bottles to cups, but I thought now was a good time to start trying.  He takes his straw cup well and can drink from it without assistance, so it might be an easy transition for him.

As far as solid foods go he's still the enthusiastic, voracious eater he's been.  Everyone who sees him eat is amazed at how much food such a little boy can put away!  And we're glad to see that he enjoys a lot of foods you don't typically think of as baby food: mushrooms (he's a big fan of sauteed shiitakes), kale, and fish to name a few.  Maybe a picky phase will come later, but for now he loves his veggies!  A typical dinner involves us feeding him meat and veggies off our plates plus some fresh fruit and sliced cheese or plain Greek yogurt.

Sleeping
Not much to report this month.  He's still doing well with a one hour "rest time" in his crib in the morning, when he usually just talks to himself, and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap at around 12:30.  He's generally asleep by 8 or so and sleeps till 7 in the morning, though lately he's been waking up at night more, perhaps because of a diaper rash that's been hanging around.

New tricks
Daniel has a few new tricks in his bag this month.  One thing he likes to do is wiggle his hand over his open mouth while he's babbling to make an underwater effect.  I'm pretty sure discovered it by accident but now he does it on purpose.  On a related note, he's started making an "oh" noise which is pretty cute.

It's not new, but he's gotten more consistent about giving us kisses on the cheek and about shaking his head when we say "shake, shake, shake!"  He looks like he's saying no, but he's really just playing a game.  And when he's standing up holding onto something and we say "bouncy bouncy," he'll bounce his booty up and down.  Which I haven't adequately captured on video yet but must for posterity.

His biggest new accomplishment this month is learning to crawl down the stairs.  He's been going up them for months but now has learned how to get back down.  He's got a very deliberate process we taught him-turn sideways, slide front leg down, then back leg, then front arm, then back arm.  Here he is in action:

He has also learned how to close (but not open) doors but gets frustrated when the baby gates on the stairs don't close like he thinks they should.  Here he is playing with the gate and just playing in general by the top of the stairs:

The latest, hot-off-the-presses development?  Just yesterday Kevin saw him stand without support for the first time.  He's done it several times now for several seconds at a time.  Are first steps just around the corner?  We shall see...

A few developments we're less fond of

Daniel is really an easy, happy, agreeable baby, but he has picked up a few less desirable habits of late.  One, he likes to throw his food on the floor while he's eating.  Two, when he's nursing he likes to announce that he's done on that side with a playful bite.  And three, he has recently learned to headbutt Mommy and Daddy.  Of course, the problem with any of these things is that the first time it happens it's kind of funny (well, not the biting part, but the big smile on his face when he does it) so it's hard not to laugh, then he feels encouraged.  Headbutts, dropped food, playful bites and all though, we love our little boy so much and feel so very blessed that he's ours.

What an eventful month!