1 Year

This post is eligible for the February Birthday Comment Contest.

As we wrap up the end of Elliott's first year, I once again marvel at (relatively) little time it took for Elliott to transition from a helpless newborn to a little person. He has gained weight, gotten taller, grown hair, growth teeth, learned to manipulate the world around him physically (and mentally!), and, frankly, turned into a pretty awesome kid. So at his one year mark, here are a few of the latest milestones:

1. Over the last month, there has been a remarkable transformation in the language department. Elliott has started to mimic English and has even parroted "Its dirty" (about the trash can), and "Delicious" (in response to Auntie Meagan). He also (on his own) chastised Jenny for barking by saying "eh, eh, Nennie" very sternly to mimic what we usually tell her: "Hey, Hey, Jenny!!". He has also repeated a couple of signs on his own, but he doesn't do this often...although who's to say I'm just not understanding the signs he is making! I have no idea at what point you say: 'ok, that was his first word,' because I don't really feel like he is 'talking' yet. But maybe?

2. Walking is so close we can taste it. His confidence level has drastically improved and he even walked four steps down the hall last week. He is usually only taking a couple steps between things, but he seems a lot more sure on his feet and walking with purpose (rather than walking solely when distracted). Apparently I started walking on my first birthday, so who knows, maybe he'll be a repeater!

3. As for sleeping, he is pretty consistently going 12+ hours straight at night. Occasionally he still wakes up in the early morning hours and has trouble getting himself back to sleep on his own (which I blame entirely on the fact that we all still sleep in the same room). Because, except during times of teething, he can get himself back to sleep without fail if we haven't gone to bed yet.

4. He is quickly making up ground for his slow start in the solid foods department. He still has trouble knowing what to do with non-dissolveable or non-smooshable foods (like ground turkey), but thanks to baby puffs, he can now handle chunky foods like a champ. In addition to most kinds of grains, he has eaten (and enjoyed!): peas, apricots, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, potatoes, all manners of squash, green beans, mangoes, bananas, onions, garbanzo beans, prunes, blueberries, corn, turkey, chicken and beef. There has to be a point when you can stop introducing new foods every 3 days, because honestly as he gets closer and closer to eating 'real people-food' that becomes almost impossible. So, I plan to ask the doctor next week about that and see if Elliott can get a pass on that rule and generally eat what is available...except maybe being careful when introducing the 'known allergen' foods.

5. He is also almost completely weened (from me at least). I'm planning a separate post about this topic, but the gist is that he nurses now pretty much only once a day before bed (and probably doesn't get more than about an ounce, because I'm certainly not storing anything anymore). And really, I don't think he'd miss it much if we stopped that as well. He is a food-baby, not a milk-baby. He still gets a bottle of formula before meals (which because of his previous issues of low weight, we don't plan to stop until we get doctor's okay), but its only 4 ounces; 12 total each day. He's never been a 24 ounce a day baby and when we started supplementing my milk with formula, he never seemed to want any more than 4 ounces a sitting, so we never pushed the issue.

6. As he has been since (literally) the day he was born, he continues to be truly fascinated by the world around him. He loves investigating EVERYTHING. He knows immediately if there is something new in the room and usually makes a beeline to check it out. Sometimes its almost as if Elliott is a big cat stalking his prey the way he will circle around the coffee table looking at the (usually forbidden) item, just looking for the perfect angle and perfect moment to strike.

7. Elliott also (finally) started waving this month. :) This delights me to no end. I've even caught him practicing by himself or just watching his hand open and close. If we clapped more (we don't generally, so its been really hard to remember to teach him that), he would probably be doing that now as well.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment...but, Elliott continues to amaze us every day and we certainly can't wait to see what the next (many) year(s) will bring!