Happy 1st Birthday, Lion!

Happy birthday to the smartest, most adorable, and well, perhaps the biggest troublemaker ;) I know!  I couldn't have dreamed up a better son, and I have enjoyed getting to be his mom.

What I didn't anticipate?  Everyone I know kept getting sad that their child was turning 1.  I kept waiting for it to hit me.  And waiting, and waiting, and waiting.  And you know what?  I'm not sad!  I truly love this age enough that I don't mourn that time is going quickly.  Now...when he moves out of toddler hood?  That may be a different story, but not right now.  I honestly will say that I don't really miss having a TINY baby.  I much prefer this rough and tumble little man who has personality in spades.

Developmentally?  He's talking a bit, but not as much as I would have thought.  He had a word spurt months ago, and then just kind of stuck there.  That doesn't mean he's not doing new things!  He points, and blows kisses, and makes what he wants VERY well known.  He can figure out all sorts of puzzles, like how to get the cans of cat food out of cabinets that have door latches on them.  He now imagines, and truly PLAYS with his toys.  Just this morning, he was opening and shutting the door on his Little People bus and putting the characters in, while saying "door" and "bus" and getting VERY excited when I sang that verse of "Wheels on the Bus".  He's understanding categories, but is making some mistakes, like when he chases Monster saying, "Dog, dog, dog".

Physically?  Walking isn't totally stable yet, but it's getting there.  He still prefers to crawl.  Did I say that he fell into a coffee table and chipped his tooth after his party on Saturday?  Well, he did.  It's not bad.  He is STRONG.  One of his favorite tricks right now is hanging.  From the counter, from the shelves, from the top of the dog cage.  We heard that my parents had to take down all their curtains with me, and I see that coming.  He's been expressing some interest in climbing them.  Oh, CLIMBING.  On his chair.  On his trike.    On the dishwasher.  He wants to get on TOP of everything right now.

Food?  He's eating everything.  Other than I still haven't tried nuts or shellfish.  He's also still nursing.  Full time.  And I'm still pumping.  :/  That was NOT the plan.  However, transitioning to milk is not going well.  He spits it and throws the cup.  He WILL drink coconut milk, but we have not transitioned at daycare.  This needs to be worked on.  Some of his current favorites?  Blueberries and animal crackers.  Last night we had Chinese food for our anniversary, and we let him have an egg roll.  HOO boy.  Kid was in heaven.  Though he kept dumping out the contents for the dog.  So, really?  He enjoyed a fried wonton wrapper.  Oh well.

Teeth?  8 teeth are fully in, one of which is now chipped.  ;)  My mother thinks that all 4 molars have broken the surface, but I have only been able to feel 1 so far.  He's not particularly into people messing with his mouth.  Really, he's been less fussy with the molars than the other teeth so far (hopefully I didn't curse myself).  I think the reason is that he's not running a simultaneous ear infection.  Which...brings us to our debate of if we really want to have tube surgery in a couple weeks.  He's now gone a month and 1/2 without an infection...hmm...we need to decide.

Trouble?  Last night was funny (but don't tell him that).  Robby is AWFUL about diaper and clothing changes.  Full out screaming, twisting, running away.  You have to physically hold him down while getting hit and yelled at.  I have not used a changing pad in months, only changing him on the floor, because he will throw himself off the table.  I'm not even joking.  My mother even started to avoid diaper changes while she was here because she had trouble controlling him.  So, my new tactic is to try and wait him out, and change him once he's calm(er).  Robby had run (naked) into the corner of his crib and the door and taunted me.  I stayed serious, and said, "Robby, come here.  We need to put a diaper on."  And that's all I said.  And all I did.  I sat there, serious-faced, repeating that.  And...patting the floor in front of me, as we might with our dog.  Unfortunately, Robby has LEARNED how we call the dog.  He proceeded to smile, and call ME by babbling and patting his leg.  Little twerp!  FINALLY, after about 10 minutes, he did voluntarily come over and the changing went much smoother than normal.  Hopefully I'm on to something.  

See how much fun he is?  Even when he's causing trouble?  I love you little man, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

      

Harassing the dog instead of taking birthday pictures.  Harper looks so sad!

The Lion's 1st Birthday Party

No, Robby's not 1 yet.  I will deny that fact until Wednesday, when I can't anymore.  But...we did have his party.  Lil man was really well behaved, and seemed to have a great time!

I'm disappointed that my practice cakes all seemed to turn out better than my "real" cakes.  Don't get me wrong, they TASTE fantastic.  I could have done better on the decorations, though.  That's ok.  Robby didn't care to eat too much of it anyway.

The cakes...not surprisingly were a bit of an obsession for me.  I did multiple rounds of test cakes figuring out what the best flavors were, and a couple rounds working on decorations.  I still need to practice decorating, but it's really hard to do without putting a lot of extra weight on your family's waistline!  I did get frustrated with my mom as she kept suggesting that I BUY cupcakes.  Which, any of you that know me know that would never happen.  I may have less time these days, but no.  I would not do that.  Uh uh.  So...I may have only slept 5 hours a night for a few nights in a row, but at least they were mine.  

Robby REALLY loves balloons.  Which is adorable, cheap entertainment, and all of that, but really can be worrisome.  Especially when he starts chewing on the "weight" which is a balloon filled with sand.  Consequently, they've already been disposed of.  I suppose it was fun while it lasted.  

Secondary obsession of mine.  I wanted the cute banners you see everywhere.  But I did not want to pay the exorbitant rates you see.  Of course, I thought, "I can make those, no problem."  The issue is I do not have a cricut or any similar device.  That is ALL done by hand.  And the characters I free-handed and cut out of paper.  One friend said, "I hope you at least bought the circles."  Um...nope.  Traced my tupperware.

Food.  Pretty self-explanitory.  It wasn't fancy.  Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, salad, pasta salad, fruit salad, chips.  Think that's it.  All stuff Robby likes.

As always, Jen took on a lot of the baby-wrangling.  She's a natural.  Even if she usually teaches kids that are a bit older (8th grade).

And, of course my mother-in-law got roped into playing with all the outside toys.  He's obsessed already, but not quite steady enough to do it on his own.

This is about as much as he ended up eating.  I was a little surprised he wasn't more into it.  He LOVES sweet things (mostly fruit), but perhaps this took it a bit farther than he wanted.  Oh well.  

The party was largely lacking in kids.  There were only 4 there including Robby.  Kaden is only 2 weeks younger than Robby, Maddie's 3, and not pictured is Maddie's little brother, Noah who's only 3 months.  They still had a good time.  I hope!  Maddie was very sure she wanted to help with Robby.  It was very cute.

So, there it is.  My little man is all grown up.  Oh, ok, not quite.  But it's hard to believe it's moved so fast!

Reflections on 31

I am now 31 (as of yesterday).  I'm owning it.  Even if I wasn't, my mom was plastering it all over my facebook wall.  (Definitely kidding, I'm just enjoying harassing her.)  For some reason, it does seem substantially older than 30, but it still doesn't bother me.

I recently was at a baby shower and was talking to another guest who was about to turn 30.  She asked if it had bothered me, and I honestly answered, "Not really."  We came to the conclusion that both of us were fine with it because we were where we expected to be in life.  My career may not be where I had thought, but I am married, have a wonderful son, and own my home.  She was in a similar position.

This year it is my goal to be happy with where I am at.  Being part time may have depressed me greatly when it happened, but I am so grateful that I get to spend this time with the Lion.  That change in perspective has really made me resolve to be happy with whatever my current situation is, even if it wasn't part of my life plan.  Here's to a fabulous 31!