12 Months

My sweet baby boy,

I can't believe you're not a baby anymore. Technically a toddler! This year has gone by so quickly. I feel like I don't even remember half of it. I again wish I had been with it enough to document your first couple months. There are so many little things I'll never remember. But then again the first couple months were pretty brutal for me so maybe it's better that the memories are fuzzy and I've been remembering how snuggly you were. And how much you slept (not consecutive hours obviously, but cumulatively throughout the day). And how we could take you anywhere at any time because you just slept. 

Not THAT many bear pics for the last month but they were pretty cute!

Anyways, this last month of your first year was pretty exciting. You are doing so many new things. Almost every day. 

You got your first big-boy haircut. You did really well. You were worried for just a minute and then she gave you a bright pink clip and you chewed on that the whole time. You even let her use the clippers!! Such a handsome little man after your haircut and now it's almost time for another one. Your hair is starting to tickle your ears again.

What is she doing to me?!?!

This is delicious!!

Eeeee!!! A little man.

You went to your first Thanksgiving and did a really good job. You LOVED your great aunt cherry's stuffing. That was definitely your favorite. You also got a fun toy from your cousins who had a good time entertaining you.

You wore your turkey outfit during the day.

Then we made you fancy for dinner! With your Great Uncle John!

One fun new trick is the "How big are you" game. Except you've turned into a game you play with us! Rather than us asking you "How big are you" you throw up your arms and smile till we say "SOOO BIG!!!" And then you think it's hilarious and wait a bit and do it again. 

This look on your face is insane. I love it.

You are saying several words now: Mama, Dada, Cat, Cracker and Dog. It's pretty awesome. Cat started out as "ca....ts" but now you say it all the time and shout "CATS" at Viv and Finn every time you see them. And you look for them too. :) Some day they're going to love you if you learn how to pat them even more nicely than you already do. You're quite gentle with Finny until you get excited and squeal and scare him away. 

You are standing on your own for longer periods of time. You've even started pulling yourself up and then letting go to stand on your own for the first time. Usually we have to let go of your hands to get you to stand on your own. You are so fast cruising around the furniture. You are going to be walking in no time. 

You have one more tooth on the bottom and we're waiting for it's match to come through. 

You have started handing us things which is pretty cute. And it's usually things we don't want you to have so that's handy! When I was trying to wrap Christmas presents it was "Thank you Archer for the scissors" and "Thank you for handing me the tape" etc. It's much nicer to have you handing us the things you shouldn't have so we don't have to take them from you--goes over much better. :) 

You are really a smart little cookie. You have started learning how to do things after watching us. We really try and let you play with things however you want. We don't want you to think there's a "right" or "wrong" way to play with your toys so you can learn how to use your imagination. But occasionally we've started "showing" you a couple things. You have a little cookie jar in your room that has a song you love. You really like putting things inside it and really wanted to get the lid back on. You started to get frustrated so I took the lid and slowly put it on and off a couple times. You took it and did it perfectly as well. You've watched us push buttons and done some other things and now you do those same things as if you've always known how to. We're very impressed with you little man!!

You are having major separation anxiety these days. We knew it was coming but man is it difficult to have you crying all the time and flipping out when we leave the room. And you only want your mama a lot which is sometimes nice but sometimes gets really old. It seems like I can't leave you be at all like I used to. I've always got to be lurking. Though this has made you pretty snuggly. Sometimes you'll just crawl over to me as fast as you can and pull yourself up and and hang on my neck. It's a pretty sweet little thing. 

You have started carrying things around in your mouth which is pretty funny. It's like you realized you can be much more efficient at moving around with both hands free.

A youth! (Any New Girl fans?)

Snuggly.

A shoe.

A cloth diaper.

A travel container of q-tips. 

Chocolate.

And this leads to the first time you had chocolate. You had been carrying around the mini chocolate bars (see above; which were actually from your gender reveal party that we used for s'mores in the backyard). I guess I forgot that your sharp little dagger teeth could and would probably puncture one at some point. You got real quiet one day, which is always the first sign you (or any child) are doing something you shouldn't. And at first we thought you were just hilariously stuck under the bar cart. Then we quickly realized you were eating CHOCOLATE. It didn't go over so well when we took it away!

Excellent form.

Wait, what is he doing? HE'S EATING CHOCOLATE!!!

I know how you feel little buddy.

Little man it's so amazing to be your parents. You are a very special little boy and we love you more than anything in the world. We can't wait to see what this next year with you brings.