My baby is almost 1

Dear Ryan,

Ahhhh, slow down, buddy! Ok, I won’t freak out until your actual 1-year letter, but it’s coming soon! You’re 11 months old (well, now you’re 11.5 months old) and I look at you every day in amazement. At least once a day my eyes start watering, usually while you’re nursing and I sing you a song or tell you that I love you. Remember when your entire little body used to fit in my arms? And now your legs hang off my lap and sometimes I can barely hold you.

You’re walking! I think it’s safe to finally call it that now. You’ve been taking steps for probably a month now, but only a few at a time… then half way across the room… but you’d always drop and crawl if you really wanted to get somewhere. In the past few days, though, you’ve been walking everywhere–and almost running, even! You chased after the cat and moved faster than I’ve ever seen you walk before. Daddy calls you Frankenstein, the way you walk with your arms straight out in front of you, haha. It’s exciting, but also crazy to watch my lil man walking!

We took you outside for your first snow! Okay, your first snow was last year, but you were just a tiny little 7 pound thing and we kept you inside, nice and warm! This year we put on your snow suit and mommy couldn’t stop laughing… all bundled up, you look like an oompa loompa 🙂

You do the cutest thing if we ask you a question, like “Where’s grandma?” and she’s not there… you put both your hands together, palms up, like you’re shrugging your shoulders and saying “I don’t know!” Some words you can say: mama, dada, kitty cat, hi… and of course you understand many more.

Daddy likes to joke that you’re a more grown up eater than mommy. I’m a really picky eater… a trait I hope I don’t pass on to you (but I like to claim I have super taste buds ;)). So far, you’re doing really well! Daddy makes you eggs for breakfast with squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onion, garlic, spinach… and you love it! He bakes acorn squash and sweet potatoes, but you’re particular about your sweet potatoes–daddy has to make them “Ryan’s way,” which includes onion, garlic and cream cheese, haha.

We’re really excited for your first Christmas! We need a new “Baby’s 1st Christmas” ornament because we bought one last year and it says 2009… and you stubbornly decided to be 9 days late and miss Christmas by 2 days! But it’s better this way because now you can enjoy the holiday and play in the snow and open your presents 🙂 We have our stockings hanging on the fireplace and yours is already packed full (mommys and daddys are empty, haha).

Mommy still co-sleeps with you, but you’re getting better at sleeping (knock on wood)! You go to bed around 7-8pm and *most* of the time sleep until around midnight, which is when I take you to bed with me. Sometimes you wake up around 10pm and I put you back to sleep (in your crib) and then you sleep till 3-4am and then come into bed with mommy. I will miss these co-sleeping nights one day!!! You’re my snuggle bug <3

Some stats: you still have just the 6 teeth, you weigh just over 19 pounds, you’re wearing size 12-18 month clothes, size 4-5 shoes and your hair is getting long! It’s now over your ears a little bit–where’d my bald baby go?! You’re still in size 3 diaper, but we only put you in those at night–you’re mainly in cloth diapers and still mainly breastfed (with 3 meals of solid foods a day).

Things we’re working on: blowing kisses, sitting still for diaper changes (HA!), being more gentle with the kitties and signing “milk!”

We’re so proud of you, little boy. You’re the best thing in our lives and we love you to the moon and back 9,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 times,
<3 Mommy and Daddy

8 comments to My baby is almost 1

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>