Hickster Happenings: ONE YEAR

I can't believe we have a one year old and are quickly approaching toddler days. This is the last super long, detailed post I plan on doing about Gray. He is learning so much every day and to continue documenting every month just isn't realistic. From this point on I will probably write a summary on any major milestones or happenings every other month or so. I know I'll be so glad to look back on all of these monthly posts one day though. He goes back for another well check-up at 15 months so I'll definitely post stats then. Here's what our boy is up to at 12 months...

Growth Stats-Gray had his 12 month well check up on Wednesday. He weighs 20 pounds, 13 ounces (43rd % tile) and is 31 and 1/4 inches long (92nd % tile!!!), which is almost 10 inches grown since he was born. His head measurement is 47 centimeters, which is the 74th % tile-all those smart brain cells take up a lot of space ;) He is wearing size 12 month shorts but mostly 18 month pajamas, onesies and shirts and still wearing size four diapers.

We love Dr. Bill!

Milestones-Several months ago I wrote that I would be shocked if Gray wasn't walking before he turned one. Welp, he is yet to be an official walker so my prediction was wrong. He has been pulling up, cruising, standing and even taking steps here and there for months now but he is in no hurry to become a walker. Although we aren't discouraging it by any means, we aren't putting our arms out 500 times a day begging him to walk to us either. We know he will walk and life will be even more fast pace when it happens so we are just going to let him decide when he's ready.

Gray hit another cute little milestone this month...pointing! This surprised us because we realized we never really modeled pointing, he just started doing it. It's so precious to see that sweet little finger pointing and him associating objects he points at to their name.

Playtime/Interests-The thrill of pulling all of the books down off the book shelf is finally starting to cease (thank you Lord for the small things). He still loves books but is getting better at just picking one or two out to look at or bring us to read. He doesn't seem very attached to any one particular toy right now, he is so busy that he moves from one thing to the next quite often. He is learning how to push the buttons to make certain toys sing or perform their function. His fine motor skills are coming along and he can put some of the shapes in his shape sorter. He loves putting objects inside of things, especially this toy piggy bank that he has. He also sometimes loads toys into the back of his dump truck, which is super cute. He is still really into sharing and spends a good part of the day sharing his food and his toys. We will continue soaking this up before he enters the "everything is MINE" stage. He LOVES dogs right now and it just makes his day to see a dog on a walk or visit friends and family that have dogs. He seems to be getting more attached to his paci, which I think happened two weeks ago when he was sick and I let him have it a lot more. He still never sleeps with it and we have tried to only let him have it in the car or as a last resort if he is super fussy.

Language Development-New words: paci (sound like paci), balloon (sometimes sounds like "boon", sometimes like "baa" but consistently makes one of those sounds when pointing to a balloon), thank you (this has only happened a few times but actually sounded very much like thank you!), basket ball (sounds like bassa), Sophie (sometimes sounds like "baby", sometimes sounds more like "Sophie"), flower (sounds like "bower"), doggie (sounds like "doggie" but sometimes with a 'b' instead). Dr. Bill was impressed with his speech for his age. We talk to him nonstop and I think his love for books certainly helps too.

Eating habits-New foods: blueberry waffles (we haven't introduced syrup yet because he loves them plain), broccoli, chicken, turkey (deli meat style-not a huge fan yet), French fries (shared with Daddy), grapes, rice, shrimp and cake! (not a fan). He loved banana baby food but hated real bananas until this week and he has decided he loves them now.

Gray is still getting four bottles a day but we will be transitioning to whole milk very soon. I don't think weaning him from his bottle will be too hard because he loves his sippy cup but I don't know what he will think of milk. We've saved some frozen breast milk in case we need to mix it in until he gets used to it. Gray's doctor said we need to step up his meat consumption but he says he would rather live off of Puffs, black olives, cheese and goldfish so it's going to take some work.

Sleeping habits-Bedtime has gotten closer to 8:00 and sometimes even 8:30. He is exhausted by 7:00/7:30 but instead of falling right to sleep like he always has at night, he has been playing in his crib until it gets darker out. Some mornings he is still up by 7:00 and some he sleeps until 8:00. Last week we had several dark, rainy mornings and he slept until close to 9:00! We have not wanted to get a curtain for his room for several reasons but I think we might give it a try because he does so much better with a consistent 12 hours of sleep at night. Last week he took two naps every single day, this week he has been going down for a second nap because he is super tired, but then when he gets in his crib he just talks and plays and by the time he is close to falling asleep it's 5:00 and interferes with bedtime. He is so happy in his crib though so we feel like leaving him in there to "rest" for a little while even if he doesn't always fall asleep is ok. I am going to try to put him down a little later each day so we can transition to a consistent one nap a day. He is sleeping like a champ away from home in his pack n play, which makes traveling not a dreaded thing anymore.
If baby boy gets much longer, we'll be switching to a big boy bed sooner than we thought.

Temperament/Personality-We have one strong willed little boy! But we also have a very sweet and silly boy too. He loves people and puts on quite the show when he has an audience. He even has this fake laugh that he does to get people's attention. It's hilarious! Dr. Satterwhite was explaining to us that most parents freak out when their one year old starts having tantrums but that terrible two's actually start then because after a child turns one, they are in their second year of life, which is when they are supposed to start. We have definitely been seeing some meltdowns lately but if he is ignored he gets over them pretty quick. Dr. Bill also said we only have a few more months to enjoy the redirection and distraction methods to tantrums so we'll enjoy that while we can :)

Favorite things about Gray at 12 months-I'd say our favorite things about Gray are still his sweet kisses and hugs. He is at such a fun age right now and just playing with him is the best. I have to admit I love his ticked off face right now. He puckers his lips up and scrunches his little nose and it takes all I have not to laugh.
This picture is pretty blurry but you get the point...