12 Months (9/13/13)

We had to distract you with one of your old nuks from when you were a teeny tiny NICU babe.

Dear Ben,

Happy 1st birthday!!  This has, without a doubt, been the fastest and most wonderful year of my life!  When I think back over the past year, I am simply amazed at how far you've come.  You have more than tripled your birthweight and you are nearly a foot taller--a whole FOOT!  I love comparing pictures of you from when you were a baby to what you are like now.  You are truly an amazing little miracle and you have blessed our lives in an infinite number of ways.  Although you had a rougher road with more obstacles in your way than many, you have grown and developed right on (or ahead of) schedule.  You have been an inspiration to so many people, especially moms who are pregnant with omphalocele babies.  I could not be more proud to be your mom. People tell me on a daily basis how cute you are, which is true, but you're so much more than a cute baby.  Your little personality and spirit are so mature for your age, and you make others smile just as soon as they meet you.  There really are not enough words to describe how truly amazing you are.

Look at how big that black plastic clip used to be!!

GENERAL:  You are just over 17 pounds and around 29 inches, I believe.  Unfortunately, we had to switch pediatricians and we cannot get in to see your new one for a whole month!  (Boo!)  But, we still have a baby scale and I attempt to measure you on my own, so we're pretty close here.  You just seem to get smarter and more grown up by the day.  It makes me happy and sad at the same time.

I totally prefer you on the OUTside of the belly. 

EATING:  Feeding you has been stressing me out!  I am always worried that you are not eating enough, which is the main reason I am bummed about the month wait to get in to see the pediatrician.  You just do not like to eat much.   Only in the past few days have you started to like to eat table food a little more.  You love raspberries and grapes.  You still love your yogurt for breakfast.  You seem to do better when we just leave food on your tray and then you eat it on your own terms.  I will still mix the higher fat/protein baby food jars with some of the other baby foods that you like, and you usually eat that pretty well.  You are even liking the bottle less and less, though you are not too interested in using a sippy cup.  You do like to take sips from a regular cup, but this usually ends up coming right back out.  Although I worry about your eating on a daily basis, I will say you have made a lot of progress from the video below!

SLEEP:  Your sleeping has been all over the place lately.  Some days, you will sleep through the night, and sometimes you will be up every few hours.  I think this is because you're teething quite a bit.  You had 2 little teeth for the longest time, but now there are 2+ starting to make their way through on the top plus another one on the bottom.  This is probably at least part of the reason that you have not been that interested in eating lately.  Back to the sleep, you are going down so nicely for both naps and at night. You only squawk a bit on a rare occasion, but usually you will just go right to sleep.  We can put you to sleep awake and you'll roll on to your tummy with your little butt up in the air and fall right to sleep.

1st day as a 1 year old (looking a bit like a 5 year old :/)

FINE/GROSS MOTOR:  You continue to be the busiest guy in town.  When you are awake, you are constantly moving around!  You walk, climb (stairs and shelves), and you run too.  If you see something you want, you are quite determined to get it!  You like to turn the pages in books and are getting better at listening to the books instead of wanting to rip the pages.  You got one of those shape sorter things for your birthday, and you are pretty darn good at putting the appropriate blocks into the matching holes.   You still love emptying things: drawers, laundry baskets, the bins under your changing table.  You are constantly making a mess.  We finally got wise and put the locks on the kitchen cabinets, so that makes things a little safer these days.  Although, instead of going in to the cabinets, you now like to push chairs around the kitchen.  You just learned that you can push both the tall chairs in the kitchen and your highchair, so you do that whenever you get the chance.  You also like to hid from us and think it is the funniest thing when we find you!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION:  As I sort of mentioned before, you are quite good at getting what you want.  You do a LOT of pointing and grunting.  We are trying to get you to use words or signs, but you still prefer to point.  You will sign "more" but it doesn't always seem like it is related to wanting more of something.  You love to wave and will wave whenever you here "bye bye."  You will also put your little hand to your ear and pretend you're talking on the phone whenever you hear "hi Benji!"  I am not quite sure when you picked that up, as we don't talk on the phone that often, but you definitely like to do it!  You will also hold up your pointer finger when we ask how old you are--so smart!  You still say "mama" and "dada" the most with an occasional "nana" or "Anna" thrown in there.  You love pointing to noses when asked where someone's nose is.  You still have the best little laugh, though you usually bring out the fake one for us.  :)  I should probably add a SOCIAL category to discuss all of your social activities.  You went to your first play group at the library last week.  While I was very sad that I couldn't bring you, Nana sent me lots of pictures to keep me happy.  It looked like you were having so much fun and Nana confirmed that this was the case.  Once I get more organized, I'm going to start taking you to music class on Saturdays.  You love being around other kids.  You still love other adults, but you are not quite as trusting as you used to be.  You still cling to momma in the morning or if there are strangers around, but you can usually be distracted pretty easily.  It breaks my heart to leave you in the morning, especially if you are crying, but you always are smiling when you wave to me as I drive away, so that makes me feel better.

Big boy at play group.

Well, I could go on and on about why you are the best baby ever, but I am eager to get to the post about your birthday party!  I love you soooo much, Benjiboo!  Thanks for a wonderful year!  Happy 1st birthday!  XOXOXO