One Year Update!

I know I'm very late with his 1 year update, thanks everyone that has reminded me to do it;-) We had his 1st birthday, then his 1st birthday/4th of July trip and then had new carpet installed. Excuses, excuses;-)

Kayden is now a one year old and although the thought of him being a big boy was pretty sad to me at the beginning of June, once the time arrived it was alot of fun and he is just becoming a barrel of laughs and fun. I truely to fall in love with him in a million new ways everyday.

Kayden continues to sleep in his crib for naps (one morning nap around 8:30ish and one afternoon nap around 2-3). Each of his naps are 1-2 or so hours and he still nurses to fall asleep for his naps. His bedtime is around 8 and he usually then sleeps in his crib until 12 or sometimes even 2 and then he wakes up for some num nums and comes to bed with us for some snuggle time. I'm sure I could nurse him in the rocking chair and put him back in his crib but they are only little for so long and he likes to sleep by us and I like him there so until that changes for one or both of us we aren't going to press the issue. He wakes up in the morning around 6 or 6:30, as soon as he wakes up he and I have some morning snuggles and then he calls out for dada and I put him down from the bed and he wanders into the bathroom or the living room to give daddy a hug and a kiss. He usually hangs out with daddy for a few minutes and then when daddy puts his work bag over his shoulder he starts waving bye-bye.

He is eating 3 meals a day, and we started giving him organic meat not long ago. It was hard for me to give him meat but we decided since we aren't vegetarians we had no reason to keep him a vegetarian, he also started asking for what we were eating so I thought it was definetely time. In the morning he usually has some fruit, cheerios, and toast, waffles or pancakes. For lunch he usually has cheese, fruit, and some bread with butter on it (sometimes we mix it up with grilled cheese or quesidilla) and sometimes he has nitrate free lunch meat or cut up chicken breast. For dinner he is now usually having a version of what we are eating, for ex-if we have spaghetti, he will have spaghetti but with his noodles that are easier for him to grab. He still usually has his organic mixed veggies he loves for dinner with butter on them and he really loves to end his meal with yummy blueberries, still by far his favorite fruit! We also have started giving him organic whole milk, not a fan at all, mostly spits it all out. One of my breastfeeding friends said her toddler refused whole milk too (must be smart babies to refuse a calfs breastmilk, really gross if you think about it!)and her baby would drink oat milk. So I gave it a try and the first time he drank some instead of spitting it all out. Now he has oat milk here and there, he is usually disappointed that it isn't water when he gets the sippy but he will drink some of it which is good. But for now he is still a booby baby. He loves to nurse and gets a huge smile on his face and runs for me when I sign milk, I love to see his happy face, especially because I am the only one that gets to see that look. When he wants to nurse he now signs more and taps my chest and then if I don't respond he resorts to pulling at my shirt.

Gross motor wise Kayden is now walking and running! I remember when Tatum started running from Jaclyn after bath time, I thought that was so far off. Now my monkey gets out of the bath, lotioned and runs down the hall as I chase him with his diaper and he laughs the whole way. He is also a climber and climbs onto anything he has a chance too, loved g&g Hingst's stairs in their vacation rental, climbed up and down them over and over. I still get a huge smile as I watch him walking in front of me, I just love the toddling look! His fine motor skills are also developing quickly and his hand eye coordination (important for throwing a football;-) is maturing. He loves to do puzzles with me, turn the pages of books and hammer his balls through the holes of his little hammer toy Sara & Audrey gave him for his birthday.

And last but most importantly (at least for this speechie;-) is language. He is loving communicating with us. He now realizes his sign for "more" gets our attention and he has broadened it's use to "I want" and "again". He also loves the attention he gets when we are out eating or shopping and he signs "more", everyone loves it and he smiles big and does it for them again to get his raisin or whatever he wants, he is a very social little boy and loves to walk around and greet people whenever we are out. Starbucks is one of his favorite places to walk from table to table and smile and show his walking strut off to everyone, the men there think they are going to teach him about the world(there is a group of men there every week that argue about politics in a friendly way and they love to tell Kayden how he should think:-) and the women want to take him home with them. I'm so glad that even though I'm home with him he is a social little man, I have to give credit to my amazing mommy group for this, he has learned so much from those great women and the adorable babies! His new sign as of Wednesday was "fresh diaper" when he has a poopy diaper, he continues to use "doggy, all done, sleepy time, no, baby, and book". He only has to see a new sign a couple times now and he picks it up quickly and uses it. He now says "more" when he signs it, this, that, doggie, mama, dada, yeah, no, and hi, he also barks like a dog;-), quacks like a duck, moos like a cow, and baas like a sheep, I'm sure I'm missing some but I'll come back if I remember them. Receptively he can follow several one step commands, like get the ball, sit in your car, get your sippy, etc. Receptive language develops alot quicker in kiddos than expressive language which is why tantrums are a big issue at this stage of the game, so far no big ones here, he will try to tell me what he wants and gets frustrated with me if I don't understand but he is a pretty happy boy as long as he has his mama! He loves books and flips through them on his own and points and jabbers at all the pictures while he "reads" it too me. He also loves our picture wall and points to each person and says "that and this" as I tell them who they are and we walk down the wall, then he wants to start over again and on we go. Music continues to be a huge hit in our house and we have an adorable little bootie shake whenever it turns on, whether it's his music, our music or a jingle on a commerical he starts to dance. When we are in the car and his music comes on he waves his arms in the air and bobs his head, he is going to teach everyone that white boys can dance;-) He loves doing his name puzzle and wants to do it over and over and his shape sorter is also a favorite, he puts the shapes in and we dump them out and start over again. Body parts are another new favorite, so far he does belly button and ear pretty regularly, mommy's belly button is way more fun to find than his own though! When we were getting ready for the carpeters I found my teddy bear my grandma gave me, so I washed it and gave it to him and it is now his new favorite teddy. He loves to give it kisses and hugs and I am amazed everyday at what a loving little boy I have.

As I say every month Kayden, we love you so much and are so happy for all the joy you bring to our lives!