happy first birthday, birthday boy!

Dear Grayson,

You turned one on Saturday. Sorry I'm a little late with my monthly update. We were so busy with celebrating your birthday on Saturday with just the three of us and then throwing your party on Sunday. Plus, right now you're going through your first real cold. Poor baby.

You seemed to have a great birthday. We went swimming in a real pool for the first time, and you had a blast. You took to the water like more of a fish than we expected. You splashed with your hands, kicked your feet like you were trying to swim, and loved when I spun you around. I can't wait to take you back again soon.

I'm kinda glad I'm doing this update late because you've changed a lot since your first birthday. We've been waiting for you to show more interest in walking besides just cruising around furniture, and finally you decided to take off on your actual birthday. Since then you've been very insistent in holding onto our fingers and walking around the room. You get mad at us if we stop before your ready, haha. Then, yesterday evening, we decided to see what would happen if we urged you to walk from one of us to the next - and you did! I'm so proud of you that you took your first real steps at age one. I guess you really took that toddler label to heart!

I got it on video this morning. Too cute! You love walking and seem so delighted with yourself.



Let's see, what else... You have five teeth now and you're working on your sixth. You can wave and clap. You love when we chase you around the room or spin you through the air. You do this silly grin where you wrinkle up your nose and squint your eyes - it's hilarious. You love to laugh while talking. You terrorize Simon and chase that cat all over the house until he finally runs away from you; you keep trying to make friends with him by giving him toys.

You're still breastfeeding every few hours. We're going to start to wean as soon as you recover from your shots next week. I know you're not very ready, but it's really for the best. You're so ready for more fingerfoods. Today, we went grocery shopping and bought a bunch of stuff for you to try. You're so willing to eat anything we give you and you love almost all foods as long as they're not too cold. We're not sure if we can put you on cow's milk, so we'll see what the pediatrician says next week. We've been giving you yogurt, though, and that has gone well.

Sleep is really the most frustrating thing right now. You're usually up for several hours in the middle of the night. We tried cutting your naps down to only one a day, and that sometimes helps, but only one nap leaves you tired and cranky during the day. I hate to say it, but we're going to have to do sleep training soon, especially once I stop nursing you at night.

You're really just the most delightful child, G. You charm everyone you meet. You love to go to the playground at the mall and the zoo and try to make friends with the adults there (you mostly ignore the other children). I can't wait to see you turn into even more of a toddler as you grow more steady on your feet and start communicating more.

Happy first birthday, G!