525,600 Minutes - A Year in the Life of Will

Dear William,

I can't believe it. It was 365 days ago that you were born. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was so scared. Between my water breaking, terribly timed contractions that I dealt with for hours before finally deciding the c-section was necesssary, requiring said c-section that I was hoping to avoid, and hearing that your (amazingly long) cord was wrapped around your neck four times... I was terrified. I will never forget that moment when you let out your first cry though and I knew it was all okay. All of those things no longer mattered. Instead, I was elated, giddy with excitement, and also still a little scared about handling a newborn again (along with a crazy active toddler). We have had our moments this year. From not sleeping through the night until just a few weeks ago (more about that in a minute), to a severe separation anxiety level that ebbs and flows, to not taking a bottle... none of that actually matters when you smile at me or laugh hysterically with your sister, or follow your Daddy around the house like his little shadow. You are one special little boy. I remember being so terrified that I couldn't love another little baby the way I do your sister. I was worrying for nothing. You two are so alike and yet so different but I love you both with all of my heart (even though that seems illogical and impossible). I can't believe we are already here Little Man. Celebrating ONE!!!

On to the meat of this letter, the recap of your 12th month and who you are at this point in your little life. =) You are still quite the big boy. Not like we figured that would change a whole lot. We had your one year appointment today. We finally have solid, true measurements for you. You weigh 21.3 lbs (the measurements on your board are the ones we took for your party) and you are 30.75 inches. That makes you 25th percentile in weight and 80th in height. You are tall and skinny. Just like your sister. You are wearing 18-24 month clothing. Even pants (which you have worn a couple of times in the last couple of weeks) are 18 months for the most part. They are a bit long, but 12 months are too short so we are in that weird in between stage for those right now. All of your shirts are at least 18 months, if not 24 months or 2T. Your onesies (which I am not super fond of but you do have a couple of) are 18-24 months. We had to squeeze you into a 12 month one after we went to lunch with your Nana and Papa about a week and a half ago when you covered yourself in mac and cheese. It was hilarious. Definitely too small. We retired that one as soon as it was washed. You are wearing size 4 diapers still. We got you your very first pair of real shoes for your birthday. You had other pairs before, but this qualifies as your first pair for me because they are your first pair of Pedipeds and I have been waiting to get these for you. We had to order you 18-24 months shoes (or 5.5-6). We also had to retire all of your 12 month sleepers and you are in 18-24 month ones, as well. I remember those tiny clothes you wore the day we brought you home from the hospital. What happened to that little guy? You were so "average" in size that it amazes me to see you so big now. Guess you might get Daddy's height... though only time will tell for sure. You have 6-8 teeth. That sounds weird. I'm not sure how I want to count your teeth though. You have been cutting two teeth for what seems like forever now. They randomly seem to poke through your gums a bit and then almost recede back in. It depends on what day you check, so sometimes you have 6 teeth and sometimes you have as many as 8. Hopefully they cut through for good soon because the drool is getting crazy. The teething process doesn't seem to be bothering you much this time though which is good since these two are taking their sweet, precious time showing up.

This month was tough for me as far as nursing you goes. About 3.5 weeks ago you went on a nursing strike. That quickly turned into self-weaning. It was devastating for me, but this is more about you. If you were done... you were done. It is what it is. I was so surprised because you were my little milk monster for so long. It was like night and day from one day to the next and then you were just done. I pumped for about 2 weeks after that, but I wasn't producing much. We elected to not even attempt formula with you. We just didn't figure you would take it since you were already so particular about taking anything other than water in a straw sippy (and there is no way we were trying that bottle thing again at almost a year old). We could get you to take the breastmilk from the sippy, but I was only pumping about 5-10 oz a day. Eventually, we switched you to whole milk about 1.5 weeks ago. You took to it really well. Despite the fact that it is usually recommended to wait for cow's milk until a year, we elected to go forward with giving it to you a bit early. We have slowly added to the amount we give you and we hope to have you up to your 16 oz a day in the next week. As for eating, that is where you are getting most of the nutrients you need. You still love food. We have noticed that you are a bit more standoffish to vegetables lately, but I can usually put them in with other food and you will eat them. You also seem to like them cold. Weird kid. Other than that, you eat everything we give you. You even liked French Onion soup. I didn't think that one would be a win, but it was. You now require your own kid's meal at restaurants about 90% of the time. It just amazes us how much you can eat. You definitely have your days when you do not want much food, but those are rare. You LOVE fruit still. You and your sister can polish off a container of mandarins (and they are large containers) in about 2 days. I think you would live on mandarins if you could. You require around 2 snacks per day. If you get hungry, you definitely get angry. Once you are fed, you are typically all smiles again.

Sleeping is finally starting to fix itself. Almost a month ago we started night weaning you. Best decision we made to date. It took about 1.5 weeks and you were sleeping through the night. Now, you sometimes wake up once a night every few nights and fuss for less than 5 minutes before you are back asleep. You are typically in bed by 7:30. Waking up is an area we are still working on. Sometimes you wake up at 8. Usually you wake up about 6. Every now and then... you wake up at 4:30 and will NOT go back to sleep. You just scream until someone shows up to get you. We are working on it. It is a work in progress. Yet, I still say that I prefer getting up ridiculously early and having you sleep through the night. Until just a couple of days ago,  you typically took 2 naps a day. I honestly thought it would be a while before you dropped nap #2, but I might have been wrong. Lately, we have been able to push your awake time in the morning and you go down for a nap around 11:30 after lunch. We are still in the transition stage though so if you wake up really early, you might need an additional nap that day. Since we have started with one nap per day, your naps have lengthened. If your nap is super short then we might also have to add a nap, but it is a fluid situation right now. I am actually pretty excited to go to one nap a day. It makes everything so much easier during the day. The only issue I foresee at this point is figuring out naps on Kenzie's school days. Yesterday you actually surprised me (but I guess I should have expected it given your easy going nature). You went down for your nap at 11:30 and were still sleeping at 1:05 when we needed to leave to get Kenzie. I got you out of your bed and into the car where you promptly went back to sleep until I woke you to go inside Kenzie's school when we got there. It was like a reverse transition. It was pretty cool.

This month you have perfected the clap. You have done it for a while, but you are really good now. You like to clap as loud as you possibly can. You are also still waving all. the. time. You wave to everyone and everything you can. The other night your Daddy and I had a good laugh because you were even waving in your sleep. You often say hi or bye when you wave. You have also perfected nodding your head yes. Sometimes you will say "yeah" when you do it. You also typically answer "yeah" to us if you mean yes. I think you are understanding a lot of yes and no questions because you still shake your head no and your answers (whether yes or no) are right about 90% of the time. You are now pointing as well. You point to things you want and you point to things when you want to know what they are. I sort of love the little, baby point stage. That little point is adorable. You love to give kisses and hugs to your Daddy and me now. You will usually do it at our request. You are also still pulling up and cruising along everything. You stand unassisted periodically. That hasn't really changed much over the course of the month. We think you will walk before Kenzie did (almost 14 months... but we could be wrong), but I don't think you will be very soon. You have all the urge in the world, but you haven't mastered the mechanics. I know from experience that doesn't mean that you may not just let go and go one day, but I don't think it will be really soon. I still honestly don't mind. You and your sister keep me on my toes. I am not looking forward to the day that you are able to run in two different directions. Stay little! Please! Haha!  You are a pro at walking with your walking toy. That, combined with crawling makes you an almost unstoppable force. Its funny to think of how we approached walking with you versus your sister. I used to try to get her to take steps towards couches or chairs. I do nothing of the sort with you. I don't know if it is because I just know now that there will be no rushing you or if it is just me hoping that you hold off a while longer. Probably some sort of combination of both. I know that you will walk when you are ready and not a minute before. I also know that you won't be crawling into kindergarten one day. Ah! It's so much easier doing this the second time around. No worries this time. Your Daddy and I have each seen you take a step here and there over the last week or so. It isn't turning into much at this point, but we have both seen it. We aren't calling it "first steps" yet because it has been so random and not really increasing in frequency. Despite not walking... you are still quite the troublemaker. One of your new favorite things to do is to unroll all of the toilet paper in the house. Not cool. Not cool, at all. You are also a pro at opening cabinets in the kitchen and removing whatever you can lift. We still often find that if you can get to your sister's room, you will go there and play with all of her toys. Speaking of playing with her toys, you are starting to show some possession. You now get upset if Kenzie takes something from you whereas before you just let it happen. You are still super easy going in the long run about all of it, but you initially get upset when something is taken from you.

Like I mentioned, we have had to start labeling things for you. You point at things and say "this" because you are looking for the name of something. You also mimic all sorts of sounds. You have done it for a while, but your imitations are getting even better. You heard a baby crying in the store the other day and proceeded to make "ah" "ah" sounds back at him in the same type of voice. You asked me "this" the other night while pointing to a house in a book. When I said "house", you repeated "ouse". You did the same with "star" and said "ar". You are working so hard on language skills. Doesn't surprise me that your physical feats have remained similar this month to last month. Your favorite words currently are Dada and Jack. You get so excited when you see Dada when he gets home everyday. You also ask about him during the day. Kenzie always says, "He's at work, Buddy!!" when you ask. You also love to call Jack but you have started to just refer to him as "dog" despite the fact that you know (and say) his name. The two of you are a mess. You LOVE to toss food to him so as soon as he realizes that you are in your chair and eating, he is right there with you. You also try to follow him around a lot. Since he usually moves away from you (he loves you... but he isn't into how fast you move or how loud you are), you like to chase him out of his bed and lay face down in it. I keep trying to get a picture of that, but you always get up the minute I get the camera out. Just this past weekend at your birthday party, you started saying "oooohhh" when you see something you like. I think one of us must have been helping you open a present and said it. It was all over there. Every present you opened, you said "ooohhh". Super cute! You have done in periodically since when you see something that amuses you.

Your separation anxiety has seemed to return in the last couple of weeks. I think it is a combination of a few things. First, you had a terrible cold earlier this month that has left you continually congested, you have been cutting those two teeth at once, and there is a pretty big wonder week around this age. The effect? Clinging to me. A lot. Grandma and Grandaddy stayed with you a couple of days to prep for when I go to my conference at the end of October and the first time you were okay as long as you were being held, but you were definitely unsure because I wasn't there and you were fussier than usual. I have noticed that you have even been fussier than usual with me lately. The second time they stayed, you were much better. You played a lot after your morning nap. I hope that you are either starting to come out of it or your comfort level in increasing. I really think a lot of it is this wonder week. I know it will pass. We know you did better at church this last weekend and you were pretty good for your party so maybe it is passing, finally. It's tiring... but it means you are learning something new, too. So, we will let it play out. You have already started to pick up even more cool tricks. Your favorite is playing ball. You can roll a ball back (sort of in our direction... the best you can do with your current coordination) to us. You also like to put things away now. You like to take them out, too, but you copy us if we tell you to put things away. You hand things to us without us requiring gestures. By that, I mean that I can ask you to hand me something you are holding and not put my hand out for it and yet you will still hold it out to me. When I put my hand out, you will put it in my hand. You don't always let go (but that is a normal developmental thing at this age), but you know to hand it to me. That also means we are getting into the "feeding" stage. You know. That fun stage when you decide to try to put half chewed, soggy cheerios in our mouths because you are convinced you need to share your food with us. You are also starting to try to stack blocks. You are definitely picking up sequencing. It is so cool. Although you like to try to stack them,  you still love to knock them down. You laugh hysterically usually after you ruin my (or your sister's) towers. You have also gotten really good at flipping your board book pages. You like to help me turn the pages when we read together. We have also noticed that you are starting to do hand movements along with songs we sing. You love when we sing. You like to do Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Say Say Oh Baby the best. Anytime we are in the car and I need to keep you awake, I can start to sing Say Say Oh Baby and you immediately perk up with this huge smile on your face. You will do some of the hand movements and if Kenzie is in the car and doing them too, you will do even more (all while laughing at her doing them).

You love to be outdoors. If we open the back door, you can spend quite a lot of time going in and out. You take toys out to play with and get super excited when Kenzie carries one of your larger toys out for you. If we go out front, you crawl all around the driveway and usually try to follow Kenzie around. Outside is definitely your happy place. It always has been. It was always one of the best ways to calm you when you were upset. I love that you are enjoy being outside so much.

Your first birthday party was last weekend. You were adorable in your John Deere outfit. You did pretty well going to different people. You were not into that whole smash cake thing. We thought you would love it being that you love food so much. Turns out, you love people singing the Happy Birthday song to you (go figure since you love any singing) but you didn't want to smash that cake. You did end up eating most of my piece off my fork. We think it was just your lack of exposure to it. Kenzie didn't like it either but the kid loves cake. After that, we allowed you to have your first Publix cookie when we went the following Sunday. You loved that. We try to hold all sweets until after your smash cake at your first birthday. We don't do sweets often, but I allow the Publix cookie when we go. The regular people in the bakery have been asking to give it to you for months (they keep thinking you are older than you are) so they are going to be super excited when they get to give it to you next time.

I think one of my favorite things to watch you do this year was grow in your amazing relationship with your sister. You guys are so close. You simply adore her. She thinks you are crazy funny (most of the time). As you have gotten older, we have seen more of the sibling conflicts arise but they aren't bad and are totally normal. I would say that 90% of the time though, you two are loving being together. You have already started to conspire with her, it appears. She is teaching you crazy things. Just the other day you two went in and trashed her room. It looked like a tornado had gone through. Daddy and I were vaccuming so I wasn't hanging around really close (2nd child thing... "Where's Will?" "I guess I should find him." That sort of thing.) and the two of you decided to then go into your room and trash it. You had to do it together though because Kenzie had to open the closet for you guys. When I found you, both of you just grinned at me. You knew you were supposed to stay in Kenzie's room but it was more fun to take all of your toys out apparently with your co-conspirator. Like I said... don't walk. The two of you give me a run for my money enough as it is. I don't need you going in two different directions.

Wow! ONE year. 52 weeks. 365 days. 525,600 minutes. You have been earthside for one full  year. You are truly an amazing little boy. We are so lucky to have been chosen to be your parents. Thank you for the last year, even the tough times. You have taught us so much and we are all (even that crazy sister of yours) looking forward to watching you continue to grow and learn.

Happy 1st birthday, Little Man! Here's to toddlerhood!

XOXO,
Mommy

Went to bed an infant...

... woke up a toddler!