People told me time would fly by and, for me, it both has and hasn’t. I would say the first weeks and months actually felt really slow. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I did not feel like time was flying by. Each day was really long. As the year progressed though, time sped up and I would say the last six months have definitely flown by. I’m sure this will continue to be the case, so I want to pause and document James at one year. Going forward, I’ll likely do these posts every three-six months instead of monthly.
Eating
Everyone who visits our home comments on how much, and how quickly, this little guy eats. He seems to take after his Dad lol. He will eat pretty much anything at the moment (except birthday cake…), but his favorites are definitely cheese, peas, blueberries, bananas, black beans, and pizza. He is not much of a meat eater at this point, except for salmon and sometimes a little ground beef. I’m guessing this might change once he has more teeth, but who knows.
We’ve started introducing cow’s milk to him and so far, I’d say he’s confused by it. He drinks some, but also spits a lot out. I think he’s so used to drinking water, anything else surprises him.
I’m still breastfeeding him, but am going to be out of town for a couple of days this month, so wanted to introduce milk so he can drink it while I’m gone. I’m not too worried though since he loves cheese and yogurt and eats a ton.
My favorite thing with his eating right now is, before almost every bite, he holds his food up in the air until someone tells him what it is. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what he’s holding and if we say the wrong thing, he just keeps his little hand up in the air, staring at us until we get it right.
At twelve months he had two teeth, but one of his little top teeth just poked through last week.
Sleep
Sleep is definitely the best it’s ever been. He goes to bed at 7, almost always without complaint. We generally don’t hear from him until the morning, around 6:30 usually. He takes two naps a day, around 9 or 9:30 and 1:30 or 2. He is napping much better these days, which is amazing because it lets me get some things done, but also because he is so happy when he gets enough sleep!
I admit that when I think about when to have another child, sleep deprivation weighs heavily on my mind….
Physical Development
James is walking! He started walking really short distances at 11 1/2 months, but now he is full on walking (and fast!) all over the house. He still crawls sometimes when he’s in a hurry, but more often walks.
He is also climbing all over everything and it is a little bit scary. I need to buy / make something safe for him to practice his climbing skills.
James also learned how to open doors this month. Honestly, I’m not too happy with this new skill, as I’m not kind of terrified that he’ll smash his little fingers, but I suppose he had to learn some day.
Language
James pretty much only says “Dada” and his version of no, “neh neh neh”. He actually used to say “mama,” but hasn’t in forever 🙁 It was really cute though, he called my husband’s dad “Dada” too when he was visiting last week.
While he isn’t talking much yet, I’m seeing so many signs of his growing comprehension and it is amazing! One of our favorite books is Go to Sleep Little Farm
Personality
He is still mostly very happy, very busy, and very curious. He is still clingy with me and I am enjoying every last hug.
I think of 12-18 months as sort of a ‘tween stage between babies and toddlers and it’s been so fun to see parts of his little toddler personality emerge. He loves to test the limits and will look at me before doing something he knows he’s not supposed to do, then throw a mini tantrum after I stop him (this mainly revolves around climbing on his shelf and the tables). Honestly right now it is really cute, but I’m sure I’ll have to work on staying patient as he does this more and more.
He’s also started to interact a little more with other babies at story time. He and another little guy were walking around the room together and James would hand him a toy when he came over – so cute! #babybuddies
His favorite things to do right now are playing outside, reading books, singing songs, and eating.
Honestly, I really thought I would struggle with James turning one, but I’m really not sad about it. I think I was sad beforehand because I loved him being a baby so much and couldn’t picture what it would be like when he was a little toddler. Now that I can see more and more of his sweet personality each day though, I could never wish that away to go back to the baby stage. I’m loving exactly where he is now and can’t wait to see more and more of his personality emerge in the coming months.
Past updates:
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